Today we introduce our final writer for the 2010 anthology season, Melbourne writer Benjamin Solah. Benjamin has the enviable position of being the final writer in ‘The Yang Book’ and the youngest of our team of writers.

A Marxist horror writer who writes agitational fiction aimed at exposing the horrors of capitalist society from exploitation, to wars, to oppression, Benjamin uses the metaphor of horror to draw out the violence and darkness within society.

His  influences come from two sides; The Goosebumps books when he was a kid and Stephen King from his teenager years inspired his horror side, whilst writers like John Steinbeck and German revolutionary, Rosa Luxemburg provide the roots for the unashamedly left-wing streak in his writing.

When asked what he was looking forward to about Chinese Whisperings, and perhaps what he might also be a little anxious about, Benjamin had this to say:

I think the main thing I will enjoy is the satisfaction at the end, as well as seeing how my political plots and characters interact with the other stories. I’m nervous also about how my politics will interact with the other writers as I don’t pretend that everyone agrees with me. I also have trepidations about meeting a tight deadline.

You can read Benjamin’s full biography or follow his writing at his blog.

Over the past month we’ve introduced our team of writers, our eight returning writers and our twelve new ones. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know everyone who will be writing this year a little better.

Next week we’ll throw the spotlight on contributing editors Paul Anderson and Jodi Cleghorn, then we’ll explain a little about how the anthology will work this year. Until then – look out for our Saturday wrap up of weekly fiction.