On Saturday 25 July, 90 people gathered at Glebe Town Hall for In Other Words: Spanish in Focus / En otras palabras: el español en primer plano, a new multilingual literary festival presented by Lost In Books. For this afternoon, Spanish was the language of the room. 

Writers, readers, translators and community came together for conversations about literature, language, migration, displacement, translation and belonging - experienced in Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation into English. 

And what emerged was something that felt quite different from simply making an event available in another language.

Mersija Ilic is an emerging writer who lives and works in the South -Western Sydney suburb of Campbelltown, NSW.  

She is from a bilingual and bicultural background, and this weaves its way through her storytelling. In her writing, Mersija explores the issues faced by women when confronted with domestic violence, lack of education and fear.

Neel Banerjee is an intercultural theatre practitioner based in Sydney, Australia. An emerging creative leader in Western Sydney, Neel was born and raised in India and now resides on Dharug land as a proud first-generation settler. His work spans cultural development, audience engagement, community capacity building, education, and training, all rooted in the transformative power of live theatre. 

Elizabeth Mora (she/her) is an educator, self-taught creative, and emerging multilingual writer living on Bidjigal land and working across Western Sydney. A first-generation immigrant and descendant of Ecuadorian and Latin American diasporas across the Global North, her work traces indirect paths to community, belonging, and freedom.

Mark Mariano is an award-winning Filipino writer, model, comedian and content creator from Blacktown, in western Sydney, on Darug land. Proudly queer, Mark’s editorial work spans across BuzzFeed Australia, SBS FOOD, ABC, Queerstories and iHeartRadio. He is also part of the Sweatshop Western Sydney Literacy Movement, through which his debut poem collection ‘Down From Doonside Station’ was published in 2019, and where he contributed to their 'Racism' (2021) and 'Stories Out West' (2023) anthologies.

Amani Haydar is an author, visual artist, and advocate for women’s health and safety based on Dharug land. Amani’s ground-breaking feminist memoir The Mother Wound (Pan Macmillan, 2021) explores the effects of domestic abuse and state-sanctioned violence on women and has received several awards including the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2022 Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year.

Emele is a Tokelauan (Te Kaiga o Fagatiale, Nukunonu, Te Kaiga o Koloi, Uea) Fijian (Kaideuba, Navua) woman & multi-disciplinary storyteller working across live performance as an actor, writer, director, producer & facilitator.

Maria Tran is a community, cultural & development practitioner with celebrated skills in digital storytelling and film-making. Her writing skills have derived from scriptwriting for award-winning short films such as “Hit Girls”, “Hot Bread Shop” and “Happy Dent”, and playwriting. Maria has joined writing rooms for film and television.

Zarlasht Sarwari is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University (WSU). Her research explores Afghan Identities in Australia with a particular focus on negotiation of hybrid identities, transnationalism, nationalism, racism, immigration and multiculturalism.

Meet Elizabeth, a Sydney based composer and founder of The Music Box Project. Elizabeth will be hosting two Fairfield Found Sounds workshops at Lost In Books from 22-23 January.

Lillian is an internationally acclaimed bilingual storyteller. She is the Forked Tongues Multilingual Storytelling Lead at LOST IN BOOKS.

Safdar Ahmed is a Sydney based artist, musician and academic. He is an Illustrator and Director at Refugee Art Project.

Jemma is a children’s music specialist, puppeteer and performer with a great passion for musical play and storytelling. She is our Sound System (Early Childhood) Artist at LOST IN BOOKS.

Harri Harding is an award-winning composer, performer and educator. He is the Wandering Books and Sound System Lead at LOST IN BOOKS.

Rawah will be facilitating the Multilingual Writing Collective at LOST IN BOOKS.

Monikka Eliah is Assyrian-Australian writer at LOST IN BOOKS.

Sepora is a Sydney based musician and Sound System Mentor at LOST IN BOOKS.

Marcus Whale is a musician, singer and composer from Sydney. He is a Sound System Mentor at LOST IN BOOKS.

Ida Warhol is a singer and producer who creates celestial visions wrapped in intricate harmonies, melodious harp plucking and a bucolic warmth. She is our current SOUND SYSTEM Musician in Residence (2019 - 2020).

Hussein Nabeel is an Illustrator and Designer at LOST IN BOOKS.

Huy Nguyen is a Sydney-based visual designer. With a background in architecture, experience in publication and marketing, Huy knows a thing or two about creating striking imagery that demands attention and delivers the message.

Rachael delivers LOST IN BOOKS’ NESA-accredited training and Professional Development Course: “Strengthening Multilingual Literacies And Creativity In The Classroom”