In a special series of events, Your Favourites’ Favourites sees our most beloved writers speak with a breakout Australian author from the past year. Hear renowned playwright, actor and director Nakkiah Lui in conversation with Madison Godfrey about their critically acclaimed memoir of poetry, Dress Rehearsals, which documents a decade of performing womanhood in a non-binary body. Nakkiah, who published the collection under her new imprint, Joan, speaks with Madison about a genre-blurring work that explores coming of age, gender euphoria and the complicated colours of memory and desire.
Supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
Madison Godfrey (Australian)
Madison Godfrey is a writer, editor and educator who lives on Whadjuk Noongar land, with a rescue cat named Sylvia. They have performed poetry at Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall, and Glastonbury Festival. Madison is a previous recipient of the Kat Muscat Fellowship, the Varuna Flagship Fellowship, and a WA Youth Award. Their new poetry collection Dress Rehearsals was published by Allen & Unwin in March 2023 and “sounds like the score of a rebellion” (Nakkiah Lui).
Nakkiah Lui (Australian)
Nakkiah Lui is a writer/actor/director and Gamillaroi/Torres Strait Islander woman. She began her playwriting career at Sydney Theatre Company under the artistic directorship of Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett, and since then she has worked with every major theatre company in Australia. In 2012, Nakkiah was the inaugural recipient of both The Dreaming Award from The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board of the Australia Council and the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright Award. In 2018, Nakkiah was also the recipient of the Patrick White Playwrights Fellowship at STC. Nakkiah was actor/writer/producer of the ground-breaking series, Black Comedy, which ran for four seasons from 2014-2019. From there she went on to create/write/star in the award-winning series, Kiki and Kitty, which aired on ABC in 2017. Most recently, Nakkiah is the co-creator/showrunner/star of Preppers, as well contributing to a number of Australian drama and comedy series. Nakkiah is a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community. She is a regular guest on ABC's Q&A, The Drum and Channel Ten's The Project, as well as contributing to The Guardian, The New York Times and a variety of other news outlets. Nakkiah has been a columnist for Australian Women's Weekly and is the co-host and co-creator of the award-winning podcast series, Pretty for an Aboriginal and Debutante with Miranda Tapsell. In 2020 Nakkiah teamed up with Australia's largest independent book publisher, Allen & Unwin, to launch her own imprint, JOAN.
