Let's Talk
I am available to:

  • Facilitate writers workshops

  • Facilitate podcasting workshops

  • Participate in arts programming

  • Write sensitivity reports on trans and gender diverse topics

  • Consult on anti-discrimination policies and procedures

  • Speak on community arts panels



Please contact me via email at:
spillingthetcollective@gmail.com

Wanna hear about what I'm up to? Sign up to https://samhellkin.substack.com Photographer: Rachel Main
Shortlist
Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Humour)
2025
Highly Commended
Kill Yours Darlings New Critic
2023
Winner
Griffith Review Online Contributor Series
2023
Shortlist
Hardie Grant Spark Prize
2022
Winner
Scribe Varuna Fellowship
2022
Winner
ABC Homespun Storytelling Competition
2021
Winner
Transdemic: Excellence in LGBTIQA+ Media Reporting at the GLOBE Awards
2021
Shortlist
Deborah Cass Prize
2021
Finalist
Audio Originals Writing Competition for Transgender Warriors
2020
Shortlist
The Ada's Biographical Writing Prize, Williamstown Writers Festival
2020
Winner
Australian Society of Authors, Award Mentorship
2020
Finalist
Westfield Local Hero for Transgender Warriors
2020
Finalist
The Joanne Burns Microlit Awards
2020
Winner
Wheeler Centre Next Chapter Fellowship
2019
Finalist
LGBTIQ Outstanding Short Stories
2016
(Featured)
Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga (Book)
Writing
Published:
2023
My debut narrative non-fiction book Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga will be published by Upswell on Friday 3rd May 2024. ...See More
(Featured)
Beware the Funky Murals: Artwashing the Suburbs (Essay )
Writing
Published:
2023
A HIP PINK and teal mural appeared outside the St Albans Woolworths in Melbourne’s outer north-west recently. In the image a young woman in a patterned headscarf and sneakers squats by a small child, perhaps her daughter, as they separate organic from recyclable waste... ...See More
(Featured)
Trans Histories and the Legacy of Jack Jorgensen (Essay)
Writing
Published:
2023
In 1893, a 42-year-old man died on the floor of a rickety old stockman’s hut in Elmore, a small Victorian town on the lower reaches of the Campaspe River. He’d refused multiple offers to be taken to the nearby hospital in Bendigo and took his last gasping asthmatic breaths huddled in a dusty blanket......See More
(Featured)
Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (Anthology)
Writing
Published:
2022
Nothing to Hide is Australia's first mainstream anthology of trans and gender-diverse writing, a powerful contribution to Australian letters....See More
(Featured)
Queer View Mirror on 3RRR (Talk Show)
Podcast
Published:
2020
Weekly show on Triple R covering queer culture and current affairs...See More
Podcast (6)
7am Podcast -TERF Wars (2023)
I appeared on the 7am podcast discussing the woman who calls herself Posie Parker and why Australia is importing anti-trans activists....See More
Crossing Time: ABC History Listen (2023)
In the last few decades, there has been a huge social transformation in the way people express and talk about gender......See More
Best Day Worst Day (2020)
Long-form interviews with LGBTIQA+ activists and artists; a mental health peer support podcast...See More
Queer View Mirror on 3RRR (2020)
Weekly show on Triple R covering queer culture and current affairs. Tune in Wednesdays from 1pm to 2pm. ...See More
Transdemic (2020)
Trans and gender diverse experiences of the pandemic...See More
Transgender Warriors (2020)
Long-form interviews with trans and gender diverse creatives on Joy 94.9 ...See More
Writing (31)
Library Week 2024 Online Talk (2024)
The Victoria Legal Aid library is running an in-conversation with me for Library Week. Please join us for an informal chat about transition narratives, LGBTIQA+ experiences of the justice system and the law in general. Date: Thursday, 1 August Time: 1-2pm, zoom (AEST) RSVP to Library@vla.vic.gov.au for zoom link. ...See More
Melbourne Free University Talk (2 May 2024 )
From anti-trans rallies, global attacks on trans health care, exclusion of trans athletes, doxing and campaigns of online hate and disinformation, the rights of trans and gender diverse people in Australia in 2024 feels increasingly precarious. In this talk, we’ll discuss some of the current challenges facing the trans and gender diverse community in Australia, including discrimination, unaffordable healthcare, higher rates of homelessness and lack of employment opportunities. We’ll consider current opportunities to mobilise against hate such as the Rainbow Community Angels safety initiative, peer support projects like the Key Change Choir and the Trans Justice Project’s inaugural organising retreat....See More
Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga (2023)
About the Book: In Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, Elkin relates his bumpy journey from lesbian to transgender lawyer in the aftermath of the 2017 marriage equality postal survey. As the inaugural lawyer of Victoria’s queer law service, Elkin is quickly immersed in thorny debates around trans inclusion in sport, children’s access to puberty blockers, birth certificate law reform and the Christian right’s demand for enhanced religious freedoms. ...See More
Griffith Review – The Tubs (2023)
I’VE BEEN WRITING in journals for the last twenty years, and my piles of completed notebooks are getting bigger, heavier, more cumbersome. The contents are a combination of teary confessions and notes for half-completed short stories, interspersed with black, swirling, anxiety-ridden doodles. ...See More
UnMagazine – Resist – Yesterday, a man pissed on the arts centre (2023)
I didn’t notice that his fly was down at first. I thought maybe he was a bit out of it as he leaned on the front window to support himself. I peered at his face from the other side of the glass. He looked serene, beatific even, with a soft, gentle grin on his face. Then I saw the puddle forming beneath him......See More
TERF wars and neo-Nazis (2023)
Last Saturday, March 18, 2023, opposing rallies met outside Parliament House in Melbourne. They were ragtag bunches of loosely aligned people, the groups split into two by dozens of police officers......See More
New Newsletter, Who Dis? (2023)
Sign up to my substack here to get regular updates: https://samhellkin.substack.com/...See More
Beware the Funky Murals: Artwashing the Suburbs (2023)
A HIP PINK and teal mural appeared outside the St Albans Woolworths in Melbourne’s outer north-west recently. In the image a young woman in a patterned headscarf and sneakers squats by a small child, perhaps her daughter, as they separate organic from recyclable waste... ...See More
Trans Histories and the Legacy of Jack Jorgensen (2023)
In a moment of growing backlash towards the transgender community, I’ve been drawn to the history books. The story of a Victorian man whose death in 1893 became a sensationalised headline reminds us that gender non-conforming people have always been here....See More
No Love Lost (2023 )
'Brandon of the Never Ever' in No Love Lost - A zine mausoleum for love poems that have not stood the test of time....See More
Griffith Review: Counterfeit Culture 79 (2023)
Excerpt from Detachable Penis: Gender Dismembered WHEN I FINALLY got up the courage to call Mum to tell her I was on testosterone, she took a long pause before responding.......See More
Verandah Journal (2022)
I am a man in a car and he is a cat in a bag. It's a nice bag; rich, chestnutty pleather, and ample air-holes for breathing. Two plastic viewing stations on either side; you could get lost in all the possibilities. A minimalist masculine metrosexual's catty bag, bought in more prosperous times....See More
Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (2022)
...See More
Resilience (2022)
My story 'Elasticity' is part of Resilience, an anthology of poetry, fiction and essays by Mascara Literary Review and Ultimo Press...See More
Growing Up in Country Australia (2022)
My story 'Bindoon' about life at the Catholic Agricultural College in Bindoon, WA...See More
Grattan Street Press – Intermissions (Nov 2021)
The Monster of Ravenna...See More
Fruit Journal (UK) – Magic Waters (SEP 2021 )
CREATIVE NON FICTION...See More
Baby Teeth Journal – The Nub (AUG 2021)
Creative Non-Fiction...See More
Kill Your Darlings (Apr 2021)
The Guilty Pleasure of the Aldi Mystery Aisle...See More
Kill Your Darlings (MAY 2021)
KAYA WILSON – AS BEAUTIFUL AS ANY OTHER...See More
The Victorian Writer (Jun 2021)
BODY LANGUAGE - FACIAL FAT DEPOSITS MAKETH THE MAN...See More
GriffithReview (May 2021)
The sad stats - The trauma of community law featured in the states of mind edition of the Griffith Review...See More
Bent Street 5.1 Anthology (JUNE 2021)
‘Soft Borders, Hard Edges’ is a special edition of australian LGBTIQA+ journal focusing on the trans and gender diverse community...See More
Antithesis Journal (OCT 2020)
THE EVIDENCE – FEATURED IN Antithesis VOL.30. ANTITHESIS is Australia’s long-running graduate journal of contemporary theory, criticism and culture...See More
Overland Literary Journal (April 2021) (Apr 2021)
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS/VIOLENCE - We want more justice for Mhelody than the system can ever give to her...See More
Overland Literary Journal (May 2020) (May 2020)
our plague year - CORONAVIRUS/HEALTH/HISTORY...See More
Archer Magazine (FEB 2020)
Trans masc writers: Looking for stories like mine...See More
Overland Literary Journal (March 2019) (Mar 2019)
The first Pride March in Footscray was everything a Pride March should be...See More
Queer Stories (May 2020)
i’ll ride with you - Working at a community legal centre, Sam makes an unlikely friend...See More
ABC Homespun (MAR 2020)
How a car crash helped Sam transition into his true self...See More
Baby Teeth Journal (APR 2020)
creative non fiction - Passport Control...See More
About
Sam Elkin is a non-binary transmasculine writer, event producer and co-editor of Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (Allen & Unwin). Born in England and raised on Noongar land, Sam now lives on unceded Wurundjeri land. Sam’s essays have been published in the Griffith Review, Australian Book Review, Sydney Review of Books and Kill Your Darlings. He hosts the 3RRR radio show Queer View Mirror and his debut book is Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga (Upswell Publishing) is out now. Sam uses he/him or they/them pronouns.
Events
3pm Sunday 23rd March 2025
You Gotta Laugh: Celebrating Humour Writing, Clunes Booktown Festival
Price: $25
Where: Clunes Town Hall, Clunes

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Book Tickets
Sunday 30th March 2025
Closing Night Readings: From the Belly of The West, Footscray West Writers Fest
Price: $30
Where: Harley and Rose, West Footscray

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Book Tickets
Thursday 13 May, 5.30–8.30pm
Own Voices Writing Workshop , Writers Victoria Semester 1 2025
Price: $100
Where: The Wheeler Centre

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Book Tickets
Wednesday 14 May 2025, 7pm
In conversation: Sam Elkin and Savannah Hollis, Moonee Valley Author Talks
Price: FREE
Where: Sam Merrifield Library, Moonee Ponds

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Book Tickets