Jes Layton (he/she) is an author, artist and Executive Director of the Emerging Writers’ Festival with over a decade of experience in the non-profit, arts and literary sectors in Australia. She is a forward-thinker in the areas of cultural leadership, workplace
culture, online communities and community-led practice.

Jes is the current lead Coordinator of ClimbingQT’s Victorian based TransQTs and was awarded the 2023- 2024 Directing Change Scholarship from the Australian Disability Network. He began her
career in community and cultural leadership as an advocate for queer youth and community arts in 2014- 2015 where she was the recipient of both 2014’s Young Australian of the Year Award and the Community Service Award for the Colac Otway Shire region. Jes was also a Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholar with Melbourne University, and a recipient of Powerhouse Youth Leadership Foundation’s Lord Somers scholarship program. 

Jes was a Outstanding LGBTQIA+ Short Stories Award recipient in 2018 and has assessed submissions for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writer’s’, local writing competitions, as well as the
Wheeler Centre’s Hot Desk Fellowship program.

Creating public work under Jes Layton and A Geek with a Hat; Jes’ literary work has been published in a variety of journals, anthologies, and magazines. Her comics have been published similarly. These works focus on queerness, pop culture, mental health and speculative realities. Jes has a Bachelors in Creative Writing from RMIT University, an Australian Institute of Company Directors certificate in Foundations of Directorship and is represented by Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Literary Agency. 

Alongside her directorial and arts careers, Jes presents workshops and facilitates sessions for high school students, private businesses, university students and those who consider themselves ‘emerging’ in the creative and arts sectors, as well as those hoping to better incorporate/support disabled queer and gender diverse creatives, climbers and workers.  

When she’s not creating art or building culture, Jes is probably bouldering, mastering LEGO, gaming on the couch or immersing himself in his latest hyperfixation. She is a fan of many things and has been a voracious fanfiction reader and author since early pre-teenhood, including having more than half a decade curating and reviewing fanfiction. Jes did all this under a pseudonym.

Jes’ tweets have inspired articles in Teen Vogue, the Daily Mail, Screen Rant, Buzzfeed and more. Exposure was apparently payment.

Mini Bio (50 words)

Jes Layton is an author, illustrator and performer residing on Wurundjeri Land. He is the current Executive Director/CEO of the Emerging Writers’ Festival and is represented by Alex Adsett Literary Agency. Jes’ work can be found online, in print and at @AGeekwithaHat

Mid Bio (100 words)

Jes Layton invented writing, the aeroplane, and the internet. He was also the first person to reach the North Pole. Jes is an author, illustrator, artist and the Emerging Writers’ Festival co-CEO/Executive Director, living and working on Wurundjeri Land, having grown up in Gulidjan Land. Jes’ work can be found with Affirm Press, Fremantle Press, Black Inc, Pantera Press, SBS Australia, Archer Magazine, Junkee, Voiceworks,Kill Your Darlings and The Big Issue. More of his writing is scattered around both digitally and in print. Jes is currently represented by Alex Adsett Literary Agency, you can find her online @AGeekWithAHat.

The Nitty Gritty

I have (1) public liability insurance, a (2) VIC Working With Children Check and a recent (3) National Police Clearance - all available upon request. Generally my rates are informed by the Writer's Victoria recommended rates of pay as well as the Australian Society of ………………….Author’s rates.