Nadia Johansen and Bianca Valentino (L-R). Images: Supplied
In partnership with State Library of Queensland’s black&write! Project, we’re thrilled to announce Nadia Johansen and Bianca Valentino as KYD’s First Nations Editors-in-Residence in 2022. From June, Nadia and Bianca will commission, edit and publish original pieces alongside KYD’s regular publishing program on an ongoing basis. Nadia and Bianca build on the fantastic work of previous editors-in-residence Allanah Hunt (2021) and Jasmin McGaughey (2020).
More information on how to pitch and submit your work to Nadia and Bianca is available here. All contributors are paid, and Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander writers are invited to submit without a KYD subscription.
State Library of Queensland’s black&write! Indigenous Writing and Editing project supports the development of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers from across Australia. This publishing partnership with KYD enables our organisations to offer pathways to publication for First Nations writers, to advance the careers of emerging First Nations editors, and to foster the creation of new works in a culturally safe setting.
Meet Nadia Johansen
Nadia is a Gungarri woman from south-west Queensland, living and working on unceded Jagera and Turrbal land. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts in creative writing and has a background working in Indigenous community organisations. She was runner-up in the inaugural SBS Emerging Writers competition and was this year’s Writer-in-Residence at the Kyogle Writer’s Festival. Nadia edits and writes because she believes stories help us to see the past, present and possibilities of the future.
Nadia is looking for work that subverts the marginalising stories told about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; for example writing about blak queer joy and mischievous blak body liberation. Nadia is also interested in pieces that explore how different forms and genre affect storytelling, and how storytelling shapes how we see ourselves and our futures.
Meet Bianca Valentino
Bianca is a Blak editor, award-winning writer, artist and musician living on Yugambeh Country. She is the first Indigenous publisher/editor of a music publication—Gimmie zine—in Australia. Her work has appeared in Rookie, Rolling Stone, No Cure and more. She is passionate about First Nations stories, supporting storytellers and community.
Bianca is interested in First Nations stories, observations and experiences within creative arts spaces, new voices, feel-good pieces. She is also interested in sovereign creatives making their own path outside of traditional industry systems, their triumphs over adversity, and the challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives to be seen in a colonised world.
Read pieces published by our previous First Nations editors-in-residence here.
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