One in five Australians experience a mental disorder each year. Fiction can provide a platform to discuss mental illness in everyday life and help reduce stigma. Stories can show that people are more than their illness. Alejandra Martinez and Bel Vidal have created characters with complex lives, experiencing both good and difficult times. There are times when mental health conditions can be disabling and at other times, people can thrive.

Writing characters living with mental health issues can also give readers space to reflect on their own experiences.

Alejandra, author of the new release Salsa in the Suburbs, is an Australian-Uruguayan writer based in the Blue Mountains; Bel, author of Exuberance (2023), is an Australian-Bolivian writer based in Hornsby. Alejandra and Bel will talk about writing mental illness into stories, and how their own lived experience informs their work. Veronica Macdonald, Lifeline Macarthur Western Sydney CEO, will be the MC.

'Salsa in the Suburbs is a stunning and original overview of Latin communities in both America and Australia... inspiring in its well-developed characters that carry humour, trauma and Uruguayan history with immense strength.’
– Magdalena Ball

'Exuberance is a poignant story about living with a mental health condition, offering insight and hope.'
– Anne Buist, co-author of bestselling novel The Glass House & Chair of Women’s Health, University of Melbourne