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Contact: dilan.gunawardana@gmail.com
I am a writer, editor, and web content specialist based in Melbourne, Australia.
I have undertaken several website content projects for a number of organisations, and my writing has been published extensively by the literary/arts magazine Australian Book Review, where I was Deputy Editor (Digital) under the Editorship of Peter Rose (2017 – 2018).
I write about dark, comic, and transgressive subjects. My areas of expertise are film, television comedy, history, arts festivals, contemporary design, performance art, graphic novels, internet culture and experimental music.
After a brief career as a science presenter at Museum Victoria in the mid-late 2000s (I was a zoologist in a previous life) I decided to pursue a career in communications and media studies. In 2011 I completed a Masters Degree in Communications and Media Studies from Monash University. I was the recipient of the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence. My research thesis explored the use of social media by Iranian youth as a platform for protest during the 2009 Iranian presidential election. For my research I drew on studies of transgression, duality, social spaces, youth studies, emerging social media platforms, internet culture and Persian history.
In 2014, I quit an unfulfilling job in advertising and rented out a room in a jewellery gallery's artist studio in Fitzroy (using all my savings at the time), to develop my skills as a writer, editor and graphic artist, and to network and be involved in Melbourne's arts scene.
In 2015 I was given a room at Glenfern Writers' Studios, St Kilda East, to further develop my art and writing portfolio. During this time, I got a job as a digital content specialist for business management consultancy Tridant, responsible for marketing, social media, website maintenance, blogging, and graphic design. I founded, designed, edited, and published the quarterly company magazine, The Dashboard.
In 2016 I undertook a paid fifteen-month internship with Australian Book Review where I assumed the role of Assistant Editor. In July 2017 I became a deputy editor of the magazine, responsible for arts and digital. I reluctantly resigned in mid 2018 following the illness and subsequent death of my father.
From July 2018 to September 2019 I took a break from my career as an editor and worked casually as a consultant for Kids Own Publishing, before becoming an online engagement officer at the Department of Justice Victoria.
In October 2019 I began working for ACMI (The Australian Centre for the Moving Image). I currently manage the website and edit the Ideas (blog) section. I am responsible for coordinating content and implementing new processes and guidelines for ACMI's upcoming new website.
Outside my professional career, I'm interested in travel and self-sufficiency (permaculture, landscaping, gardening), and I'm an avid reader of history and mythology. I'm a devotee of Arsenal FC.
Website Coordinator (2019 - present)
Deputy Editor (Digital) (July 2017 - July 2018)
Assistant Editor (March 2016 - June 2017)
Resident Writer (2015)
Glenfern Mansion, St. Kida (National Trust)
Digital Content Specialist (January 2015 - March 2016)
Masters Degree - Communications & Media Studies
(Dean's Award for Academic Excellence)
Monash University