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Healing with the Heelers

“I had someone who works in foster care say, ‘This show is probably the only example that some kids have of a functioning family,’” says Melanie Zanetti, better known as the voice of Bluey’s mum Chilli on what is arguably Australia’s most successful TV show.

With the Heeler family set to unleash their biggest episode yet, we had a chinwag with Zanetti, plus Bluey’s executive producer Daley Pearson, about their favourite episodes, the healing power of play, and the little dog’s quest to take over the world from Brisbane, one heart at a time.

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The Big Issue’s 18th Fiction Edition has arrived!

The time has come, The Big Issue‘s 18th Fiction Edition has arrived, on sale now! This is our second Fiction Edition of 2022, after publishing a Summer Fiction Edition in February, and we’re pleased to share the new work of 12 incredible writers.

The Fiction Edition is the biggest-selling fiction magazine in Australia and has become a permanent staple in the Australian literary community. The edition is always highly welcomed and anticipated by The Big Issue readers, and The Big Issue vendors as a much-welcome income boost.

The best way to purchase a magazine is from a vendor (and many vendors now take cash, card and phone payments) but if you are not near a local vendor you can purchase a copy at our online store.

With 16 more pages than usual, this edition was made possible by the generous support of the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.

Stories were judged anonymously by Melissa Fulton and Claire Cao, as well as The Big Issue editorial team, and selected from an incredible 905 open submissions from all around the world, Illustrations are by Adelaide-based artist Guy Shield.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry and congratulations to our successful writers!

KERRY MUNNERY

Kerry Munnery is a Melbourne writer who likes to explore the overlap between the everyday, and the unfamiliar or uncanny. She has won or been placed in several major short story awards, and has also published creative non-fiction and children’s stories. She lives and works on Wurundjeri land.

VRINDA BALIGA

Vrinda Baliga is the author of three short story collections – Mixtape, Arrivals and Departures and Name, Place, Animal, Thing. Her work has appeared in The Best Asian Short Stories 2019, Asia Literary Review, Himal Southasian, The Indian Quarterly, The Bombay Review, and New Asian Writing, among others. She lives in Hyderabad, India.

BEC KAVANAGH

Bec Kavanagh is a writer, literary critic and academic whose research focuses on the representation of female bodies in literature. She has been published in a variety of publications including Overland, The Big Issue and The Guardian. Bec is the youth programming manager at the Wheeler Centre, and a sessional tutor at La Trobe University.

JENNI MAZARAKI

Jenni Mazaraki is a writer living on Wurundjeri land (Melbourne). Her short story collection I’ll Hold You was highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for an Unpublished Manuscript 2020. Her work has been published in the Australian Poetry Journal, The Suburban Review and Overland.

KATHERINE SMYRK

Katherine Smyrk is a writer and broadcaster, currently working as a reporter in north-east Victoria on Waveroo and Dhudhuroa land. Her novella was shortlisted for the Lord Mayor’s Literary Prize 2017. She is the former deputy editor of The Big Issue (and has always wanted to be published in the Fiction Edition).

BENJAMIN HICKEY

Benjamin Hickey writes short stories and essays in Naarm/Melbourne. His pieces have won the 2022 Newcastle Short Story Award and the 2019 Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Fiction Award. Ben teaches professional writing at RMIT and is working on a collection of interconnected stories about people struggling to connect under capitalism.

CLARE FLETCHER

Clare Fletcher was born and raised in St George, in regional Queensland. Her debut novel Five Bush Weddings was published in August. In 2021, her story ‘Death’s Waiting Room’ won a prize at the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. Clare lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter.

EMMA DARRAGH

Emma Darragh lives and works in Wollongong, on Dharawal Country. Her writing has appeared in Cordite, Westerly, Meniscus and TEXT. Emma is soon to complete her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong, where she is also a sessional academic. Her website is www.emmadarragh.com. 

LINDS SANDERS

Linds Sanders (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist in Montana, USA. Her poetry enjoys burrowing in small literary magazines and occasionally fetches a prize. Her artwork darts in and out of art galleries and national/international publications. At the end of the day all her work comes home to rest at www.LindsSanders.com.

SEAN WILSON

Sean Wilson is a writer from Perth, now based in Melbourne. His short stories have been published in Australia and internationally, including in Island and Narrative, and he was shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwrights Award by Sydney Theatre Company. His debut novel, Gemini Falls, is released in September.

CLAIRE AMAN

Claire Aman lives in Grafton, NSW. She has worked as a forklift driver, roadhouse cook and environmental planner. Her short story collection Bird Country was published in 2017. Her stories have appeared in Southerly, Island, Heat, Griffith Review and Best Australian Stories, and short-listed twice in the Elizabeth Jolley Prize.

GWEN ANDREWS

Gwen Andrews has had several short stories published in magazines and anthologies. One of her stories was a prize winner in the Roly Sussex Short Story Award. Her debut novel is currently under consideration by an Australian publisher. She lives and writes in Yamba, NSW.

GUY SHIELD

Guy Shield is an Adelaide-based illustrator with an obsession for colour, light and storytelling. He spent his formative years selling newspapers opposite Big Issue vendor, Carol, outside the Prahran Market in Melbourne and is thrilled to be on board for this edition. He primarily works digitally, for a variety of clients around the world.