Emerging Illawarra writers release their third anthology
Rhys Lorenc and Helena Fox celebrate the growing dynamism and latest achievements of a group of Illawarra writers
Do birds pity us for not being able to fly? What does sunlight taste like? Is everything going to be okay?
These are some of the questions members of the Young Writers Collective of the South Coast Writers Centre love to ask each other on a Sunday afternoon.
Their fondness for interrogating the world, literally, metaphorically and existentially, has been the inspiration for the Collective’s latest anthology: Untestable Questions, a collection of prose and poetry created, edited and designed entirely by Collective members.
The Young Writers Collective (YWC) is a group of emerging young adult writers aged 18-27 who meet fortnightly to write together on Dharawal land. They are mentored by award-winning author Helena Fox, founder of the SCWC Young Writers Program (YWP).
The collective began in early 2020, born from a conversation between Helena and two of her talented mentees, Rhys Lorenc and Jamil Badi. Their idea was to create a workshop-based program for writers who had aged out of the YWP and wanted to keep writing together.
The resulting collective offered members the opportunity to run workshops for each other, respond to writing prompts, share their work, provide feedback and build a diverse, supportive and inclusive writing community. While the individual members of the group have changed over time, the collective has continued to meet for over six years.
Since 2020, the collective has had some beautiful adventures. They have presented many public readings; members have also been published in literary magazines, performed spoken word poetry on stages such as the Opera House, and have been shortlisted for and awarded prestigious writing prizes.
Our anthology cover artist has illustrated a collection of short stories for Affirm Press, and a number of collective members now facilitate writing groups for the Young Writers Program. Last year, the YWC kicked off an exciting collaboration with the University of Wollongong creative writing department. The collective has also won grants with Culture Bank Wollongong in 2023 and 2026, for which they are very grateful.
The collective has also published three anthologies: Uncommon Words (in 2022), Days Since (in 2025), and Untestable Questions, all of which have been launched in conjunction with the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival. Last year’s anthology, Days Since, sold out its initial print run. This year, Untestable Questions was awarded a Culture Bank Wollongong grant to support the anthology’s production, and it is available for sale via the South Coast Writers Centre and bookshops in the Illawarra.
For the past six years, the Young Writers Collective has provided a vibrant, supportive and safe space for emerging writers. The collective plans to keep on creating together, and they are very pleased and proud to offer their published work to the Illawarra community!
As part of the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival, Untestable Questions will be launched at 7pm on Friday, July 24 at the Thirroul District Community Centre. Tickets to the launch are free, and are available to book via the South Coast Writers Centre website. The anthology will be available for purchase at the Festival, as well as via the SCWC online shop and at Collins Booksellers Thirroul (with more bookshops to be announced in the future).
About the authors
Helena Fox is an author, poet and creative writing mentor, living on Dharawal Country in Wollongong. She is the author of the prize-winning and internationally published novels, How It Feels to Float and The Quiet and the Loud. Helena founded the Young Writers Program at the South Coast Writers Centre, and she is passionate about helping people of all ages find and speak their voice. Helena’s third novel, to be published by Picador in September 2026, is titled Loneliness is a Molecule.
Rhys Lorenc is an educator and University of Wollongong graduate (majoring in creative writing and English literatures) living on Dharawal land. Rhys co-founded the Young Writers Collective with Helena Fox in 2020 and has been leading writing workshops for the YWP and YWC since 2019. Their work can be found in the YWC anthologies — Uncommon Words and Days Since — and in Alteracation Magazine.
