Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Silence Awareness Existence program / JANUARY 2023
Callum Williams
Australia
About
Callum is a writer of fiction living in the Adelaide Hills in
South Australia. He is currently completing his PhD in
Creative Writing at Flinders University, focusing particularly
on the genres of Science and Speculative Fiction (though he
dabbles in pretty much everything). Central to his work are
the themes of Space Junk, Progression, Existentialism and
the Human Condition. Callum is in the midst of writing his
creative thesis, a mosaic novel comprising a number of short
stories that revolve around detritus and the near-infinite
future. When Callum isn’t writing fiction he messes around
with music composition, recording and performance. He has
a dog named Goose (who is an absolute goose).
Junk and Robots
At Arteles I took a deep dive into the creative aspects of
my PhD thesis. I didn't have a particular plan other than to
write as many first drafts as possible. I ended up writing a
500 word vignette every day as part of a collective project
detailing the possible AI that might one day inherit the Earth.
I would start each day with a vignette before transitioning
into writing for my thesis (and working on a novel that has
nothing to do with anything).
I was able to write more than I expected and came away with
a few surprising ideas and stories I hadn't expected. I found
inspiration in the cold and silent north, as well as through
conversations with other artists and that classic collective
experience of trying to figure out exactly what we're all
doing. I think there might be some snow fields and pine trees
featuring heavily in whatever I end up producing at the end
of my doctorate.