Nevertheless, She Persisted

Lilian James is a Melbourne-based playwright and emerging writer who graduated from the VCA. Her work has been published in The Big Issue and performed across independent theatre stages. She writes about identity, belonging, and the particular exhaustion of being young and figuring it all out. Her storytelling is sharp, warm, and disarmingly honest.

Connie Cao is an author and gardening columnist whose work appears regularly in ABC and The Design Files. She writes about the intersection of culture, memory, and the natural world — often through the lens of her Chinese-Australian heritage. Her stories are grounding, generous, and full of unexpected humour.

Koraly Dimitriadis is an award-winning poet, playwright, and author whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and across stages nationally. Her writing explores desire, identity, and the complicated inheritance of culture. Unflinching and lyrical, her storytelling stays with you long after the night is over.

Mariam Issa is a community builder, life coach, and published author who has dedicated her life to empowering women and young people. A refugee who arrived in Australia with nothing and built everything, her story is one of extraordinary resilience, warmth, and hard-won joy.

Michelle McCann has spent decades in education and community activism, fighting for workers' and women's rights across Australia. She brings wisdom, humour, and a lifetime of hard lessons to the stage — and a refusal to be anything but completely honest about all of it.

Liz Hicklin is a 95-year-old author who launched her stand-up comedy career at 92 and has absolutely no plans to slow down. She is proof that the best stories come from a life fully lived — and that it is never, ever too late to take the stage.