Grainer, Mouhajer awarded Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers
Affirm Press and Sweatshop have announced Phoebe Grainer and Adrian Mouhajer as the recipients of the 2024–25 round of the Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers.
Grainer is a Kuku Djungan, Muluridji, Wakaman, Tagalaka, Kunjen, Warrgamay and Yidindji woman from Far North Queensland. She is a playwright and actor who recently contributed to the BlackWrights program at Ilbijerri Theatre Company and had a leading role in the SBS television series While the Men Are Away.
Mouhajer is a queer, non-binary Lebanese-Australian writer, fighter and editor from Lakemba. They have performed their poetry for Bankstown Poetry Slam and Queerstories, and they edited the 2023 anthology Stories Out West (ACON).
Sweatshop director Mohammed Ahmad said: ‘Sweatshop is incredibly proud of Phoebe and Adrian, who are destined to continue the inspiring legacy of this important award with their own original contributions to our national literature. Sweatshop is also thankful to our dear friends at Affirm Press, who have demonstrated what all Australians—Black, Brown and White—can achieve when we work together.’
Grainer and Mouhajer are the fifth and sixth mentees in the program, and will collaborate with Affirm editors over two years to develop their writing into books. Affirm receives the first publishing option for the manuscripts.
Said Grainer: ‘I’m happy to be a part of this mentorship and start my journey of creating my first manuscript. It’s exciting to dream up story. I’m so thankful for my Sweatshop family and Affirm Press for supporting my storytelling.’
Said Mouhajer: ‘I’m deeply grateful to Sweatshop and my mentors for continuously supporting me in the cultivation and refinement of my own creative voice. I’m excited about the opportunity to further my creative development with Affirm Press. I’m excited to develop my own debut manuscript, where I can share my experiences with testing and bending the boundaries of combat sports, along with gender and sexuality as a self-identified “Lesbanese” Muslim.’
Affirm commissioning editor Ruby Ashby-Orr, who coordinates the mentorship, said: ‘Sweatshop’s emerging writers are consistently some of the most dynamic and inventive in the country, and we love working with them. Both Adrian and Phoebe have unique voices and incredible stories, and we’re excited about helping them develop their full-length manuscripts.’
Earlier this year, Affirm acquired world rights to the books of Egyptian-Australian writer Daniel Nour and African-American-Australian writer Tyree Barnette, who were the recipients of the 2021–23 Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers. Nour and Barnette worked with Ashby-Orr to develop manuscripts over the three years. Their books will be published in 2025.
The Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers was established in 2018 to support and represent members of the growing collective of culturally diverse writers within the Sweatshop Literacy Movement.
Category: Awards Local news
