Science  Write  Now

In this episode, Jess talks to Claire Bowen and Kevin Vinsen about Storyburst, a writing project that they established in 2020. They invited Australian writers of all ages to collaborate with researchers to write science-inspired monologues. The monologues can be performed in any of 15 languages including Auslan, and can include diverse performance styles such as puppetry, dance, and song.

Claire Bowen

Claire has been a storyteller since she was able to read and write. She has a Bachelor of Arts from UWA, specialising in Holocaust History and the Myths of Britain, and she completed an Honours Thesis concerned with the distortion of history in Science Fiction and Fantasy genre literature.

Claire was a founding member of the Stages WA Writing Group and was instrumental in implementing the workshops and monologue performance nights that developed the group to the point of producing their work in a festival. When Stages WA was defunded during George Brandis’ raid on the Australian Council for the Arts, the group became Western Edge Performance Writers, and they initiated and managed a monologue competition at their own expense for five years. Claire was the co-creator, co-producer and writer of two comedy stage plays that enjoyed sold-out runs at The Blue Room in the Perth Fringeworld Festival, then worked to develop the script A Scandal in the Weimar for wit incorporated which was professionally staged in Melbourne in 2017.

Claire relocated to Melbourne to become a company member of wit incorporated for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. She has completed production roles for the National Indigenous Dance Forum and Yirramboi First Nation Arts Festival in 2017 and was the recipient of Maribyrnong City Council art development grants in 2017 and 2018. Claire has had a monologue performed in Baggage Productions’ Madwomen Monologues in both 2018 and 2022. After returning to Perth, Claire and Kevin co created StoryBursts in 2020, a writing program that invites Australian writers of all ages to collaborate with researchers and write science-inspired monologues. The monologues can be performed in any of 15 languages including Auslan, and can include diverse performance styles such as puppetry, dance, and song. The first collection of monologues were showstoppers in Italian, Thiinma and English, with one by 10-year old who illustrations were animated to create a very charming video on Supernovas.

Kevin Vinsen

A/Prof Kevin Vinsen: Kevin’s main research interests are ExaScale computing for data intensive astronomy, developing methods for the automated classification of galaxies and gravitational waves using multi-wavelength data, machine learning algorithms and modelling complex systems. Kevin considers himself one of the luckiest geeks on the planet. He is paid to do what he loves - astronomy and computing with some of the biggest, baddest, computers on the planet. He has spoken at events such as Raise the Bar, TedX and MALA. He is passionate about conducting STEM outreach in West Australian schools and volunteers at the Perth Children’s Hospital with Starlight Children’s Foundation.ll also publish her upcoming book Funnier: A Theory of Comedy with Practical Applications.   

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The Science Write Now (SWN) Podcast is a monthly podcast for people who love science and the arts. If you’re interested in learning more about great books, plays, and films; writing, research or editing; the lives of scientists; and creative insights into contemporary science … then you’ve come to the right place!

The SWN Podcast is hosted by Amanda Niehaus and Jessica White and produced by Taylor Mitchell with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.

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Our opening song is 'Balmain' by Pure Milk: https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/pure-milk.html