Catherine Johnstone, from Naarm/Melbourne, was longlisted for the Blake Poetry Prize 2026 and has had poetry and creative non-fiction published in Rabbit, Westerly, Meniscus and Going Down Swinging. A booklet of her poetry, Bead Fireworks, was published by RMIT (with Judith Zarrella’s Casualty). She was shortlisted for Narrative Non-Fiction in City of Melbourne Writing Awards 2024 and has received fellowships from Varuna (2022) and KSP (2023). In a previous career as writer/director of short films, she won Best Australian Short Film at Melbourne Queer Film Festival. You can find her at www.catherinejohnstone.com.