Bankstown Poetry Slam - Grand Slam

Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of over fifteen books for adults and children, including the ABIA and Indie award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the critically acclaimed bestselling memoir The Hate Race, the self-illustrated picture book When We Say Black Lives Matter, which was longlisted for the UK’s Kate Greenaway medal, and the CBCA Honour Book The Patchwork Bike (illustrated by Van T Rudd), which won the 2019 Boston Globe Horn Prize for Best Picture Book. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, which won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, How Decent Folk Behave, It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people, which won the 2024 ABIA for Book of the Year for Younger Readers and the recently released Beautiful Changelings and Stuff I'm (NOT) Sorry For: 99 more poems for young people. Maxine was the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne (2023-2025).

Filipino and Murrawarri artist DOBBY (Rhyan Clapham) is a rapper, drummer, composer and producer whose work blurs the lines between hip-hop, classical and cultural storytelling. Self-described as a “drapper” (drummer/rapper), DOBBY fuses hard-hitting beats, live instrumentation, and urgent lyricism to deliver performances that are both electrifying and deeply moving.

An award-winning artist and fierce advocate, DOBBY’s music speaks to truth, justice and connection to Country. His debut album Warrangu: River Story (ABC Music, 2024) blends Indigenous languages, orchestral arrangements and field recordings to tell the story of the Barka (Darling River) and the fight to protect it. The record won the 2024 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album and was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize.

Beyond the stage, DOBBY is a sought-after composer, speaker and educator, creating works for Vivid Sydney, the Art Gallery of NSW, Parrtjima, and major cultural festivals across the country. Whether fronting a festival crowd or leading a workshop, he uses music as a tool for empowerment, truth-telling and change.

DOBBY’s artistry is bold, uncompromising and rooted in community — a voice that resonates far beyond the beat.

Arantza Garcia Ferrand is an emerging Peruvian writer, living and performing on Kaurna Country. Arantza uses her story-teller voice to bring life into the dead, quiet moments that surround us, as she explores her ever-evolving cultural identity, and the silent poetry of our everyday lives. She is an organiser, co-host and designer for The Gathered Sound, a poetry open mic platforming the voices and experiences of poets of colour. She was shortlisted for the Deep Creek residency for 2025, and has had her work published in a Pure Slush anthology. 

Arantza is the 2025 Australian Slam Champion, having competed in the national finals at the Sydney Opera House, and has performed at several festivals, galleries, and charity events. She will tour her poetry internationally during 2026, along with publishing a poetry chapbook.

Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator living on unceded Gadigal Country. His debut book, rock flight was published with Giramondo in 2024 and won the Mary Gilmore Award and the NSWLA Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry.

Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, poet and essayist from southwest New South Wales. Her poetry, short stories, critique and essays have been published in Australian Poetry Journal, Antipodes, Westerly, Cordite Review Overland and the Sydney Review of Books. Jeanine has published widely in the areas of Aboriginal literature, writing otherness, literary critique and creative non-fiction.  She taught Creative Writing and Aboriginal Literature at the University of Melbourne from 2016 -2024. Jeanine’s collection of poetry, Gawimarra gathering (UQP 2024) won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize at the NSW Literary Awards 2025.

Luka Lesson is a writer, spoken word performer, recording artist and educator of Greek heritage.

His work critically dissects culture and society, emphasising the nuance of the human condition as he breathes new meaning into adages and fables, examining contemporary moments through history’s looking glass. As a performer he embodies the lineage of oratory performance, captivating audiences with the musicality of storytelling, and earning accolades from some of the world’s most respected poets and speakers.

Luka has written commissions for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the BBC, The National Gallery of Victoria, The National Poetry Library of Scotland and The Institute of Non-Violence. He has also toured across the planet, from shows with Akala (UK) and Tiki Taane (NZ) to festivals like South Africa's OneBlood Festival and The Auckland Writers' Festival. Luka's own poetry has been placed on English curriculums throughout Australia, and he has taught writing and performance technique in Australia and overseas for more than a decade, including a lecture for China’s most celebrated living poet Xi Chuan, in Beijing. Luka Lesson is also a former Australian Poetry Slam Champion (2011).

Omar Musa is an author, visual artist, rapper and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia. He has written two novels (including Fierceland), three books of poetry, five hip-hop records and two plays, Since Ali Died and The Offering (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio), with cellist Mariel Roberts Musa. His work has appeared in The Best Australian Stories and Best of Australian Poems.

His debut novel Here Come the Dogs was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award and Miles Franklin Award and he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015.

He has had several solo exhibitions of his woodcuts, including his most recent, All My Memories Are Mistranslations.