Meet the writers who listen and write the stories you want to read.

Kayla is a professional fangirl who moonlights as a music journalist so she can justify how she spends her time and money. Bylines: Wall of Sound, Scenstr. Instagram: @kaylazomboid

Bernau writes his vices into material so he can keep it together everywhere else. Mostly. Instagram: @bravo.bernau. Substack: @isaiahflandez

Bianka writes about women, bad decisions, and knowing better. Substack: Bad Bitch Hotline. Instagram: @biankaismailovski

Jared writes the stories that make you stop scrolling. Bylines: Vertigo Magazine

Sidra tells people-first stories to challenge the dominant narrative. Bylines: 2MFM, AMUST. Instagram: @sidra.ghanawi

Elodie writes to connect people and provoke thought, amplifying voices often unheard. Bylines: Unseen Journal. Instagram: @elodiericaud

Arielle writes because she literally can’t shut up. Bylines: VICE, SBS News. Instagram: @rari.ferrarri

Angel writes from the space between cultures so anyone who’s felt out of place can feel at home. Bylines: Esperanto Magazine. Instagram: @angel.tully

Alina writes to show how change affects people’s livelihoods. Bylines: MOJO News

Jewel Nichols writes because she’s been told some things shouldn’t be said out loud, so she’ll publish it permanently on the internet instead. Bylines: VICE, Synchron Magazine. Instagram: @jewelnicholss

Will writes to unpack himself and his world, one extended metaphor at a time. Bylines: PULP Magazine

Dante writes realist fiction to hold a mirror up to the exploitative and corrupt side of contemporary culture. Instagram: @thebogfather_

Quincy writes to explore culture and society, often using food as the lens. She also runs @gruelclub. Bylines: The Age, Broadsheet, Time Out. Instagram: @quincepaste_

Patrick writes half-drunk in a vintage YSL blazer and tracksuit pants, covering food, wine, fashion and subculture. Bylines: MORE PLATES, to Be, Harrolds. Instagram: @houseoflumes

Liam writes to make psychoactive plants, fungi and their chemistry easier to understand. Author of Psychoactive Plants & Fungi. Founder of The Mescaline Garden. Researcher at NICM Health Research Institute.

Ben writes about Australian music, with a focus on emerging artists. Bylines: Junkee, VICE Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and NME. Instagram: @benmaddenwriter

Scott writes about the systems that make life harder than it needs to be, and the people pushing back. There’s a little ego involved too. Bylines: Junkee Media, Overland. Bluesky: @Jstscottthings

Graham, better known as Carmouflage Rose, writes from a career that has taken him from triple j Unearthed to gold records, major-label deals and festival stages across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe.

Ben writes about things to understand them: comedy, subculture and his own mistakes. He’s a stand-up comedian, writer and ageing punk idealist who performs around Australia and co-hosts Oblivious Maximus, a show about heavy music. Instagram: @searlo_

Alex writes and shoots the strange, funny edges of public life. She grew up in Minneapolis, where the Black Lives Matter movement pulled her into journalism. Bylines: Crikey, Star Observer, The Age, The Guardian. Instagram: @zucco.alex

Mayatu writes to explore subcultures and shine a light on communities that deserve a platform. Bylines: Frocket Magazine, Rosario Journal, Somersault Magazine. Instagram: @mayatunova, @nova.archives_

Freya writes about music, subcultures and the emotional lives of sound. Bylines: r00ts Australia. Co-host of The Hip Hop Show on SYN. Instagram: @freyad4vis

Nathan writes because investigating the mundane is where the most honest stories tend to live. Bylines: The Betoota Advocate. Instagram: @monkeyboy.sydney

Kimia writes to tell the small stories that fall between the cracks. Bylines: Vertigo Magazine. Instagram:
 @kimia_nojoumian

Krishan writes with the belief that stories can create change. Bylines: Sound of Life, Post-Trash. Instagram: @krishan.meepe

Jack writes to show how policy and power shape daily life, and what that means for people beyond the headlines. Bylines: VICE, Rolling Stone, SBS. Instagram: @byjackrevell

Ajok writes to make young people feel seen. Bylines: ABC News. Instagram: @ajoktheipdor