ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Arts Salon, Four Winds
Discover the artists, writers, musicians and performers featured in the multidisciplinary arts salon at Elizabeth’s book launch, How To Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort held at Four Winds on 15th August 2026.
Support their work, read more about their practice, and follow the links below to discover current projects, publications, performances and exhibitions.
In order of appearance at the salon:
Elizabeth Walton
Writer, Artistic Director, Musician
How to Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort
Elizabeth Walton is a writer and musician whose first short collection asks how music and science can respond to climate change in poetic form. How to Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort is published by 5 Islands Press. Presently completing her PhD in Creative Writing, her work has been published and recognised in national and international lit mags and awards.
Richard Lawson
Composer and Collaborator on
How to Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort
Triple ARIA-nominated Richard Lawson was the first drummer to play on ABC’s RAGE and toured internationally with Iggy Pop, The Ramones and Blondie as punk rock drummer for The Lime Spiders. Richard has released 25 recordings including his song cycle for string quartet in collaboration with Elizabeth’s book being released today. Richard plays 100 shows a year.
Peter Frankis
MC and Guest Poet
Peter Frankis is a multi-award winning writer who lives and writes on unceded Wadi Wadi land in Port Kembla south of Sydney. His poems have appeared Australian and international literary journals and anthologies and his chapbook, Shorely, was published by Ginninderra Press.
Justin Pearson
Fine Arts Painter
Based in the Southern Highlands following earlier art studies in London, Justin Pearson’s paintings adapt mythological narratives into evocative figurative archetypes. These recurring motifs bring a layered psychological symbolism to his epic paintings.
Davey Hilder
Improvisational Guitarist
Davey Hilder is influenced by Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Jimi Hendrix. He recorded his first solo album with John Freese (The Vandals, Devo, A Perfect Circle), which featured on the ‘The Cable Guy’ movie starring Jim Carrey. Davey is a regular on the south coast music scene.
Christopher Wade & MayaRae Navarrete
Fling Theatre Improvisational Dancers
Christopher Wade is an independent contemporary dance artist and choreographer currently based on Djiringanj country, Bega Valley. Christopher has been moving and creating work around Australia for 10 years, always looking for exciting ways to expand his practice.
MayaRae Navarrete is an emerging contemporary dance artist based on Djiringanj land, Bega Valley. MayaRae has an ongoing interest in the strength of the body and its capacity for artistic expression, consistently searching for ways to involve herself in the arts.
Nigel Featherstone
Featured Poet
Nigel Featherstone is a queer writer whose work has been listed for the Patrick White Playwrights Award, ARA Historical Novel Prize, ACT Book of the Year, Queensland Literary Awards, ACU Prize for Poetry, Newcastle Poetry Prize, and Flying Islands Manuscript Prize. A former ACT Artist of the Year, Nigel lives with Gundangara Country.
Sandra Renew
Featured Poet
Sandra Renew’s poetic exploration of dissent, protest and lesbian and gay rights has received the Canberra Critics Circle Award, ACT Writers Notable Poetry Award (2021), ACT Writing and Publishing Poetry Award (2020). She writes on Ngunnawal, Ngambri and Yuin land. She Goes to Town (Life before Man/Gazebo Books) was published in 2024.
Di Dibley
Guest Poet
Di Dibley (LLB, PhD {Human Ecology}) is an emerging literary writer and textile/fine arts practitioner. As well as being a bookstore owner, Di has worked as an environmental advisor, lecturer and policy maker for Australian Conservation Foundation, Greening Australia, University of Canberra and Co-Founder ZeroSE.
Jenn Webb
Featured Poet
Jen Webb is a Canberra-based poet. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Creative Practice at University of Canberra, co-editor of the literary journal Meniscus and the scholarly journal Axon: Creative Explorations. Her most recent poetry collections are The Daily News (Recent Work Press 2024), and the Authorised Theft collection for 2025: Grief.
Kate Liston-Mills
Guest Poet
Kate Liston-Mills is a neurodiverse author, artist, poet, librarian and rubbish-picker-upperer based in Djiringanj and Thaua Countries. Her short collections are set in regional Australia. To Heal a Lyrebird (2025) explores fashion, music, theatre, art, poetry and installation. Kate received the ACT Writers fiction awards in 2022 and 2025.