Thaluun

Jessica McKechnie-Hart

About Me:

Poetry for me is a form of proactivity that allows an extra layer of connection to the issues we face today. My poetry gives the reader the distance to see the world objectively as well as the closeness to self to see it subjectively; it is were the environment and self unite.

Credentials:

• BA Arts, majoring in English Literature, James Cook University, where I completed an editing/ proofreading internship for LiNQ Journal
• Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, Trinity College UniMelb, inaugural winner
• Publications – Overland Literary Journal, Under Bunjil, Rabbit Journal
• QLD Semi Finalist – Australian Poetry Slam
• Poetry/ videography collaboration shown at Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane
• TEDxJCUCairns speaker
• Written commissioned poetry for large-scale Cairns Festival art instalments

I am a proud Thiithaarr Warra person and activist for the preservation of my traditional lands of Elim Beach/ Cape Bedford Far North QLD Australia.

About the Name:

Thaluun is my Guuguu Yimithirr name, which means on or with the ocean, the sea, salt water or the colour blue.