Meet the Toolkits: Digital Storytelling 2026 Participants
Introducing the Toolkits: Digital Storytelling participants for 2026!
Facilitated once more by Aries M. Gacutan, Toolkits: Digital Storytelling is a practical developmental program guiding writers under 30 through the world of digital literature, with its many platforms and potentials.
A very warm welcome to this year’s cohort! Read about them below:
Sammy Cook
Samantha (Sammy) Cook (she/they) is an emerging writer and poet who lives and writes on unceded Whadjuk Noongar country. She is a devoted enthusiast of the poetry and philosophy of Mary Oliver. Their writing at its core often explores wonder, nature, community, social/political justice, the spiritual, whimsical, and all things fantastical. They were a Micro-residency poet at KSP Writer’s Centre as part of Perth Poetry Festival.
Andrew Cordon
Andrew Cordon (he/him) is a writer and artist working on unceded Wurundjeri land. His writing explores how culture shapes and interacts with embodiment, lived experience, and spectatorship--applying these ideas within the intersections of queerness, horror and the transgressive. His work has been published in MIFF's Revue, Liminal, and he was a participant in MIFF's 2026 Critic's Campus.
Jasper Dean
Jasper Dean (he/they) is in his third year studying Conservation Biology and English Literature at UWA. A self-declared “insect enthusiast”, their literary interests lie in examining human/Other boundary lines, interrogating concepts of fate and free will, and the generous application of invertebrate motifs. When not waxing loving poetics about bugs to all within hearing distance, he captures autobiographical musings in metaphor, such as those catalogued within in previous issues of Pelican, Pulch Mag & Peafowl.
Katie Duckworth
Growing up in Cairns, Katie Duckworth (she/her) was always drawn to stories that highlighted the everyday lives of those in far off places. She is looking forward to pushing herself creatively and collaborating with other young writers.
Esther Lin
Sunny Tandoc
Sunny Tandoc (they/he) is a Naarm-based multi-disciplinary artist. They work across traditional and digital mediums. Their practice explores themes of coming-of-age, curiosity, the mundane and human connection, informed by their experience as a queer Filipinx/o-Australian with lived experience of mental health.
Hannah Torregosa
Hannah Torregosa (she/her) is a Filipino-Australian writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She works as a sub-editor and writer for Flicks.com.au. Hannah spends most of her time watching things on big screens and writing about them on smaller screens.
Emma Waters
Emma Waters (she/it) is a narrative game developer and occasional blogposter, living and loving on Kaurna land. She works to leave marks that will outlast her, writing about games, her experiences of gender and neurodivergence, and her love of absolutely awful puns.
About the facilitator
Aries M. Gacutan is a Filipino poet, editor, and digital writer living and working on stolen Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land. They have a passing interest in the end of the world. They were a recipient of Red Room Poetry's Emerging Poets Residency in 2024, and currently facilitate Toolkits: Digital Storytelling with Express Media. They have written for Meanjin, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Liminal Mag, Crawlspace, Archer, and more. Find out more about their staggering feats of bravery at <thearieszone.neocities.com>.
Interested in participating in Toolkits? An annual Express Media membership lets you access our full range of programs. You’ll also receive regular updates from us, including news about upcoming Toolkits streams.
Toolkits is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.