A chance encounter with a sea lion changed writer Laura Jean McKay’s world view. Photo by Samuel Scrimshaw on Unsplash.
‘Human breath is about all we’ll be left with if we’re not careful. Why not try to breath alongside others? Why not try to make the stories that matter?’ asked keynote speaker Laura Jean McKay in a keynote at this year’s Small Press Network’s Independent Publishing Conference.
‘Sea lions exhale before submersion and store oxygen in their blood. I could write that breath into a whole word! This sound is the story and it’s my job as a writer to use what little I have to communicate that in words. It’s the sound of encounter; the moment that a large hairy mammal who lives in the water breaks the surface to look directly at me…’ McKay enthused.
Thuy On is the former Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
