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Writing

Highly commended 
for my poem Amygdala Hijack
in the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize 2023 

Co-writer
for the screen adaptation of
The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham

We received the second round of funding from Screen Australia in November 2023 for the screenplay development of Vivian Pham's critically acclaimed debut novel, The Coconut Children.

MẸNU Poem

I wrote a poem titled, MẸNU for the MÌNH Art Exhibition at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery. Through the work of artists and writers, MÌNH explores Vietnamese and Chinese diasporic life in Australia today, and questions what it means to be who we are now. Presenting 17 contributors, the exhibition reveals these collective memories, yearnings and preoccupations.

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MÌNH is an everyday word which refers to our bodies and selves, but it also means us; about who we are as individuals as well as how we exist together.

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Curated by Sheila Ngọc Phạm in collaboration with FCMG. 

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Featured on Broadsheet! Click HERE to read 

2022 Heyman Mentorship Award Winner

I was awarded the 2022 Heyman Mentorship Award for my novel manuscript Bird Hands Beaver a Fishmint Bouquet. 

Co-writer
for the screen adaptation of
The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham

We received funding from Screen Australia in August 2022 for the story development of Vivian Pham's critically acclaimed debut novel, The Coconut Children.

THE WRITING ZONE

Anthology

SKYCONVERSATIONS_TheWritingZone_Ilhan_Abdi.png

I was part of The Writing Zone, a mentoring program for emerging writers and arts workers from Western Sydney, managed by the Writing & Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University.

 

The program culminated into two publications, Sky Conversations (2020) and The Wayward Sky (2021) which features excerpts from my screenplays.

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Starry Eyed

STORYBOX Video Art

My short story Starry-eyed was commissioned by STORYBOX, Australia’s first interactive digital storytelling box and was exhibited in Parramatta Square October 2022. Click below to watch my video art and read an article about the program in The Daily Telegraph. 

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STORYBOX is led by ESEM Projects in collaboration with ABC Content Ideas Lab, Western Sydney University, Story Factory, FORM Dance Projects, Sam I Am and Curious Works.

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I am a settler living on the unceded lands of the Dharawal people. 

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I pay my respect to the Elders, past and present and emerging. 

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None of us are free until all of us are free.

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Always was, Always will be, Aboriginal land.

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