Mersija Ilic

July 21, 2026 by Rachel Haywood in LOSTINBOOKS, Artist, WRITER

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

July 21, 2026 by Rachel Haywood in Artist, WRITER, STORYTELLER, MULTILINGUALWRITERS, LOSTINBOOKS

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

July 21, 2026 by Rachel Haywood in LOSTINBOOKS, Artist, WRITER

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

July 21, 2026 by Rachel Haywood in Artist, WRITER

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

July 21, 2026 by Rachel Haywood in Artist, LOSTINBOOKS, MENTOR, WRITER, FEATURED

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.