Community and Collaboration
Support from local businesses and arts advocates is vital to our festival. These contributors offer not only financial backing but also volunteer services and in-kind support, helping us create an inclusive and vibrant event. Their commitment enables us to celebrate and promote storytelling in a way that truly involves the entire community. Each profile on this page highlights a story of passion and dedication to the arts. These individuals and organisations are the backbone of our festival, infusing it with creativity and collaboration. Dive into their stories and celebrate the remarkable impact they have on our regional storytelling communities.
Our Partners
As a foundational partner of our festival, Federation University, Australia not only funds our short story competition but also enriches our initiatives by providing dedicated interns and mentors. Their commitment ensures a vibrant platform for regional voices to shine.
Gippsland Writers Network partners with us in varied and essential ways to support the smooth running of the festival and facilitating the provision of events. They have also provided prizes for the lucky door raffle.
Latrobe City Libraries not only provides spaces and platforms for local storytelling, but also enriches our festival with crucial resources like podcast training and facilities, and integrating their events into our festival program, fostering a deep connection within the community.
Paper Road Magazine is a key partner of the Rise Up! Regional Writers Rise Short Story Competition. Not only are they publishing selected winning stories, but their team has been integral to the judging process and to promoting the festival more broadly. Their ongoing support helps amplify regional voices and celebrate Gippsland’s emerging writers.
Writers Victoria supported the 2025 Regional Writers Rise Festival by sponsoring three 12-month memberships for our short story competition winners, promoting festival events, and sponsoring the author chat Beyond the Personal: Truth and Authenticity in Memoir. Their support has helped amplify regional voices and celebrate the power of personal storytelling.
Thanks to a grant secured by our partner, the Gippsland Writers Network, Delburn Wind Farm funded two workshops as part of the 2025 Regional Writers Rise Festival. We were fortunate to have two extraordinary Gippsland writers lead these sessions: Activating Your Writer Self with Shelly Beamish and Yes, I’m a Writer with Amy Espeseth, both held on Sunday 22 June 2025. Their workshops inspired confidence, creativity, and connection among emerging local writers.
Morwell Innovation Centre generously provided the venue for our 2025 Rise Up! Short Story Competition Awards Ceremony. Their support helped us celebrate talented storytellers from across regional Victoria in a spectacular space, bringing our community together to recognise the power of local voices.
Gippsland Orthodontics generously supported the 2025 Regional Writers Rise Festival by funding catering for our Rise Up! Short Story Competition Awards Ceremony, along with several smaller festival events. Their support helped create a welcoming, celebratory atmosphere for our storytellers and community.
Tough Guy Book Club was founded in 2012, and is a network of men’s book clubs in local pubs. They’re about reading books, hitting the pub with the goons, and rowdy conversations. Their club is about putting real decent conversations back in the pub. They have provided prizes for the lucky door raffle.
Reader’s Emporium is proudly supporting the Festival. Visit the stand and buy a book.
Gippslandia was a dynamic partner, promoting the festival, mentoring our interns, and enhancing the competition with subscriptions and publishing the winners. Their comprehensive support helped spotlight and elevate the diverse voices of our regional communities.
Championing community wellbeing through the power of storytelling, the Latrobe Health Assembly funded the Latrobe City Rising Digital Storytelling Pilot Project.
Our Supporters
Vicky Daddo
She/Her
Vicky Daddo lives in Hazelwood South, Victoria and is President of the Gippsland Writers Network and a Regional Ambassador for Writers Victoria. Her stories have appeared in The Big Issue, Award Winning Australian Writing and other anthologies. She has placed in competitions including the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, the Hope Prize, the Scarlet Stilettos and the FAW National Literary Awards. Her manuscripts have been selected for the QWC/Hachette Manuscript Development Program, and longlisted for Adaptable and the MsLexia Novel Competition.
Jessica Obersby
She/Her
Jessica is an emerging writer living on GunaiKurnai Country who believes in the power of stories to change people’s lives. Her work in progress is YA speculative fiction that has a protagonist with mental illness. Jessica is a graduate of the RMIT Professional Writing and Editing degree and in 2019 was a recipient of a Writers Victoria Writeability Fellowship. She is currently studying Environmental Science. Her rescued animals outnumber humans in her household twenty to two!
Join Us
Become a part of our story! Explore how you can contribute to the Regional Writers Rise Festival through volunteering, sponsorships, or participating in our events. Let’s make this year’s festival the best one yet!
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