(Pictured above: Sharon, Dimity and June)
Delighted to be on a panel with these two insightful women, Sharon Orapeleng, and Dimity Powell, to discuss the challenges and gifts of Diaspora to – community, writing, and publishing.
The session is fully booked out, and is happening before the Queensland Writer’s Centre, Christmas Party in a couple of weeks.
Sharon Orapeleng is a behavioral change expert and a mental health professional. Through Psyched Solutions Training and Consultancy – Sharon is on a journey to create a much more compassionate community that cares by embedding the African philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’’ – I am Because We Are, in all she does. A renowned speaker and community advocate, Sharon works with workplaces, businesses and communities delivering workshops on mental health awareness and wellbeing as well as facilitating cultural diversity conversations. She also works for the Queensland Government as a strategic policy and program lead for mental health community support programs delivered by non-government organisations.
Dimity Powell is the Managing Editor for Kids’ Book Review. Amongst her 30
published stories and six books are the recent Oswald Messweather (2021), and
the forthcoming This is My Dad (2022), Discover more at dimitypowell.com
June Paisa Perkins, author, poetry advocate, educator, and director of gumbootspearlz press, defines herself as a world citizen in the diaspora ocean whilst looking outwards from Brisbane. She has edited two community collections themed Cassowary Coast and recovery from cyclones, and independently published two poetry collections. WQ 275 is her first commissioned editing position.
@gumbootspearlz.
A huge thank you to the Queensland Writers Centre for their support of Diverse communities.
Ripple Poetry 