at Dumbo feather HQ! It will be in subscribers’ letterboxes any day now and in newsagents by Friday.

[*Spoiler warning* If you want the five people in Issue 15 to remain a surprise until you receive your copy - read no further]
Issue 15 features these delicious and remarkable individuals…
Photograph by Luke Davies

Luke Davies: is best known as the author of the best-seller, ‘Candy’, which he describes as “a thinly-veiled autobiography.” It is the harowing and poignant story of a drug addict struggling for life. In 2006 it was made into a film (starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish) of the same name. Luke co-wrote the screenplay with director Neil Armfield which won the 2006 Australian Film Indstry award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s not the first award for Luke; his poetry, short stories and fiction have been winning them for a decade. Luke’s now been clean for 18 years, has recently published a novel which has been 14 years in the making, and is taking on a new challenge - Tinseltown.

Photography by Sabrina Ward Harrison

Sabrina Ward Harrison: I think Sabrina’s dad says it best when he says, “Sprout… You can scribble scrabble and you can tell how it feels…” Sabrina sure can tell it how it feels, and she sure can ‘scribble scrabble’ - definitely his words not ours, we’d be more likely to use ‘create absolutely stunning artworks’, but hey. When she was just 23, Sabrina’s journals were published under the title ‘Spilling Open’. Indeed, in them she frankly and openly spilt, and in doing so gave others the permission to spill too. She quickly established an almost cult-like following amongst readers, mostly young women, also grappling with the perils of life and adolescence. How the journals came to be published is a longish (but wonderful) story which involves her making a call to the ‘inspiration line’ of best-selling author, Sark. Now, over 10 years on Sabrina’s published several more books, conducted numerous workshops, been commissioned to illustrate Burton snowboards and spent the past 18 months or so ‘in the woods’ hatching her latest adventure, The True Living Project.

Photography by Julian Wolkenstein

Mehrdad Baghai: is a very smart guy. That much is obvious even after a quick meeting or the briefest of glances at what he’s done in his life. That’s important, but what we think is more important is that he has an imagination big enough to see a different kind of world, one in which all people respect one another and live as equals. He also has the drive to make it a reality. His current project, which is in many ways his life’s work, is the High Resolves Initiative. Mehrdad and his wife Roya founded High Resolves together in an attempt to ‘inoculate’ the world’s children from prejudice and conflict. The programme has been an amazing success and there’s far more demand for it than they can deliver. They’re rolling it out as fast as they’re able. Here’s their story…

Photography by James Braund & Saffrine Nydegger

Carolyn Imlach: is many things; successful (by her own definition, no one else’s matters), unconventional (no television for this household), camera shy (try pinning her down for a photo shoot) and a true original (we’ve never encountered anyone quite like her)… See, Carolyn views life’s curve balls as opportunites. It’s an attitude that has seen her establish and grow a fabulous wholesale and retail business on the back of hand-rolled soap balls made from the highest quality, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil. Following her initial soap-ball success, Carolyn developed a range of body products made of similarly high quality ingredients. Her wholesale customers can’t get enough, her beautiful store serves a stream of devoted customers and the phone rings off the hook… Time to expand and cash in on the millions? Not for Carolyn, not in the slightest…

Photography by Toby Burrows

Roger Metry: was recommended by a friend as ‘best shoe repairer in town.’ A couple of years, many pairs and even a few tears later we thought it was time to share Roger with you all. Roger has lived a remarkable life, a tough life, but as he says he’s still learning… from both the good and the shit. Equal parts philosopher, craftsman, friend, gentleman and charmer he’s also the man entrusted with Tap Dogs’ taps, Sydney Opera’s shoes, and Billy Elliot’s footwear. As you’ll see, when we visited Roger out the back of his shop, he took a little while to warm up to the idea of being interviewed, but once he got going he became his usual chatty self…