The fourth year of RMIT’s Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange Program saw five international writers reunited with Established and Early Career writers Christos Tsiolkas and Ellen van Neerven in Melbourne following a residency in the Philippines earlier in the year. Tsiolkas and van Neerven joined three Emerging Writers, who are all current students of RMIT Writing Programs – Else Fitzgerald, Jennifer Porter and Susie Thatcher, in the Philippines earlier this year, along with five outstanding international writers – Steven Winduo (PNG), Daryll Delgado and Martin Villanueva (The Philippines) Nha Thuyen (Vietnam), Norman Erikson (Indonesia) and Australian documentary filmmaker and RMIT Adjunct Professor, John Hughes.

The writers all reunited for a residency on the Great Ocean Road in August, as well as participating in the Queensland Poetry Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival. The 10 day long residency and public events culminated in key events at MWF, Writers Across Borders, and On Revolution at Deakin Edge on Sunday 3 August where writers shared their experiences and work in front of an appreciative audience of 400.