Sharona Lin

WRITING

I’m a jack of all trades, but first and foremost, I’m a writer.

I’ve worked as a professional speechwriter for ambassadors and ministers, where I’ve made the case for international development funding; delved into Australia’s history and identity; reflected on the history of the United States; and laid out trade policy.

I’ve worked as a media liaison and social media manager, where I’ve written press releases, Tiktok captions, and everything in between.

And I’ve written under my own name, as you can see below.

If you’re interested in seeing clips of my speeches or op eds, please email me at sforsharona at gmail dot com.

Otherwise, jump to: Lifestyle and travel/Personal essay/Culture/Music

Lifestyle and travel

I Hate Hiking And I’m Tired Of Pretending I Don’t | We Are Explorers

I love the outdoors. I love majestic mountain ranges and silent forests. I love campfires and beaches and lakes. I love climbing things and I love to explore. However, it turns out that I hate hiking. (We Are Explorers’ best performing piece of the month.)

Should I give up trying to save the planet? | Refinery29 Australia

Individual sustainability efforts aren’t a silver bullet for the climate, no matter what fossil fuel companies say. But it’s also not inconsequential, and it’s something we can actually do, right now.

Don’t talk to me about ‘authentic’ food | SBS Voices

Give me cheeseburger spring rolls and deep-fried ice cream drizzled in Nutella. Give me burgers with bao for buns and fries loaded with roast duck and plum sauce.

Personal essay

I signed up for my childhood nightmare of playing team sports | SBS Voices

I agreed to play, and spent most of the match trying to be helpful but not so helpful that I might actually get my hands on the ball and need to actually do anything. We didn’t win.

Why I decided to buck safety warnings and hitchhike on my own | SBS Voices

I’ve always wanted to travel by myself. It took me 24 years to finally get around to it, and when I finally did, I decided to not just travel solo, but hitchhike. My best friend says it’s typical of me. I mention wanting to do something offhand—starting a Masters, getting a dog, hitchhiking across another country—and the next minute, I’m doing it.

Culture

‘Star Wars’ Doesn’t Belong To You: A Message To The Men Harassing Kelly Marie Tran | Junkee

So when sci-fi films imagine all the possibilities of a futuristic world — with robots and spaceships and aliens — but stop short of imagining people of colour, it says that the people who make and consume this media don’t see people like me in the future. It says that people can suspend their disbelief for space battles and laser swords, but not for more than one person of colour.

Glitch Is The Terrifying Aussie Genre Hit You’ve Been Waiting For | Junkee

Glitch draws on the symbolic and physical power of the Australian landscape, a show very much a product of where it is set. But that’s not a weakness, it’s a strength. In doing so, the audience can see their own country, in all its beauty and danger, anew. And Australians can start to imagine science fiction or fantasy, not just in America or in the distant future, but in our backyards.

Review: FAG/STAG | Pop Culture-y

As Jimmy, Fowler runs the emotional gamut from cheery to blasé to his absolute lowest point: his monologue at that point is heartbreakingly honest. Isaacs as Corgan also seems to excel in those quiet, internal moments of contemplation and despair, but has some big, loud scenes which are difficult but equally truthful.

Music

Glass Animals on the Dangers of Adopting a Persona | Junkee

When Glass Animals burst onto the scene with debut album Zaba, it felt like the album had sprung into existence fully-formed, in all its psychedelic glory.

To say it was an overnight success would be misrepresenting facts — years of work had preceded the album. Still, much of the critical conversation around Zaba centred on how confident and assured together the record was, how comfortable Glass Animals were in their sound.

2020 will be the year of Kwame | Tone Deaf

You probably know Kwame is doing big things. Maybe you’ve caught one of his fire sets at Splendour in the Grass or Spilt Milk or his sold out tour, or maybe you’ve heard his huge new tune ‘STOP KNOCKIN’ @ MY DOOR’, from his upcoming 2020 EP, which has hit the internet and our eardrums like Miley Cyrus’ proverbial wrecking ball.

Kwame is proud as hell of it. “When I first made it I was like, I know this is huge,” he says. “Like this is on some like, international, world-respected, hip hop-type track, and I just wanted to sort of come out with something super different.”

José González, The Scientist | BMA Magazine

In another life, JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ might have been a scientist.

It seems like a world away from where he is today, but before the release of his first album, Veneer, González was on his way to a PhD in Biochemistry. “It was very serious,” he says to me, over the phone. “I did my Masters and went into a research group that was studying the copying of viruses.” After his music career took off, he left it all behind, but he admits that he still thinks about research – science is still part of his life. “I think that was a really close call.”

Why You Should Pay Attention To Canberra’s Hip Hop Scene | Cool Accidents

For Citizen Kay, it’s all gravy. “As long as that we keep going down this road like we’re gonna, no doubt in my mind, be a hub. People from LA will be like, going to Canberra for six months, gonna be working with this person…like that’s like my vision for Canberra.”

Kirklandd laughs. “Well I’m fired up. I’m ready to go, man!”

 

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