Mandy has a Research Masters in Creative Writing from QUT and teaches Creative Writing at Griffith University. She was the Poet in Residence at the State Library of Queensland and has been published in Griffith Review, Black Inc. Australia’s Best Poems, Cordite, The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Journal and many more. So far in 2018, Mandy has been shortlisted for the Overland Fair Australia Award. In 2017 Mandy was a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow, and was shortlisted in the Overland VU Short Story Award, the Overland Fair Australia Prize and the Rachel Funari Award. In 2016, Mandy was a  Fresh Ground Resident at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and guest editor for the October Fiction edition of Overland Literary Journal. In 2014 Mandy won the prestigious MOTH International Short Story Award and was shortlisted for the, The Overland Fair Australia Award, The Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship, Val Vallis Award, The ACU Poetry Award and the Newcastle Short Story Award. She has had her writing commissioned for the side of Brisbane’s Ferries, for the State Library of Queensland, for Brisbane Festival, and for telephone signal boxes on the streets of Brisbane. She served as one of the managers of the Queensland Poetry Festival and ran the Brisbane Writers Festival poetry events for many years. She was also the Director of Poetry After Dark at the Zoo nightclub and the very popular SPOKEN events at the State Library of Queensland. She has been a guest at festivals such as the Brisbane Writers Festival (including the hugely popular Liner Notes in 2013), Brisbane Festival, Tasmanian Poetry Festival, Queensland Poetry Festival and the National Young Writers Festival. Mandy also is a member of the advisory committee for Arts Queensland Literature grants.

Photo Credit: Helen Kassila