On Wednesday morning, RUSSH welcomed over 200 guests to the State Library of NSW for its second annual Literary Showcase – a morning that honoured not only the written word, but the invisible architecture of voice, lineage, and possibility that underpins it. Now in its second year, the initiative continues to make space for under-recognised Australian writers, driven by a belief in writing as an act of connection. Buoyed by a 40 per cent swell in submissions this year, the response has reaffirmed the need for accessible, supportive platforms that celebrate originality and intent.
Among those in attendance were our 2025 Showcase winners – Readers’ Choice winner Lauren Shallow, Editors’ Choice winner Carielyn Tunion, and our Judges’ Choice Winner, Sheree Joseph – alongside a wider community of literary creative minds, from publishers to poets, novelists to editors, all gathered in celebration of the craft.
Beneath the vaulted ceilings of the Library Auditorium, the morning opened with a heartfelt address from RUSSH Editor-In-Chief Jess Blanch, who reflected on the enduring potency of literature as a vessel for humanity, memory and dreaming. "Literature is not just the spirit, but also the record of our times and this developing culture," Blanch said. "We write from inside ourselves to connect, human to another human, to share what feel in the hope that someone else will feel the same. We write for that one sentence that will be underlined."
Blanch's address was followed by a reading from 2025 Judges’ Choice Winner, Sheree Joseph, who read an excerpt from her winning piece, Lava’s in the Air, a luminous embodiment of the Showcase’s intent – to champion voices that move us into new ways of seeing – and after Joseph's reading, the morning's panel kicked off.
Moderated by award-winning journalist, podcaster, presenter and author Elfy Scott, the panel conversation between this year’s judges – writers Winnie Dunn, Lamisse Hamouda and Kavita Bedford – traversed the inner and outer worlds of the publishing industry. What emerged was a frank, generous dialogue on access and agency, cultural gatekeeping, creative resilience, and the small revolutions that occur when marginalised voices take up space. Dunn reflected on the profound empowerment she found through formal writing training, describing it as a framework that gave shape and momentum to her creative voice. Bedford spoke to the urgency of demystifying the often opaque thresholds of the publishing world, advocating for greater transparency and accessibility. Hamouda, meanwhile, explored the concept of ‘narrative therapy’ – a practice of transforming lived trauma into language – as both a healing modality and a radical act of self-definition.
Together, they offered a constellation of insights and anecdotes – not as instruction, but as illumination. And as the morning came to a close, what lingered was a sense of communion – of being held in a space where story reigned sovereign, and where the future of literature felt not only possible, but radiant.
This project would not have been possible without the support of CHANEL.
