BOORANGA NEWS
NEWSLETTER FOR BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE OF
WAGGA WAGGA WRITERS WRITERS INC.
JULY - AUGUST 2007
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
3-day novel contest
As a lead up to the Twentieth birthday celebrations of Wagga Wagga Writers Writers this year, Booranga Writers’ Centre and Scribbles’ Café are sponsoring four intrepid local writers competing in the 3-Day Novel Contest,
a quirky international competition that has its home in Vancouver,
Canada. The competition is now in its 30th year, and the grand prize is
publication of your novel.
Louise D’Arcy (Albury - below), Jen Thompson (Oura - right),
Caitlin Tunstall (Wagga) and Steve Sharman (Batlow) will each attempt to write a novel over
seventy-two hours between
one minute after midnight
on 1 September and midnight on 3 September in a
public space. You’ll be able
to watch the process and,
quietly, cheer them on.
Jen and Louise will write
in the window of Scribbles Café, Fitzmaurice Street while Caitlin and
Steve will be either at Booranga itself or the Wagga Library. Don’t miss the chance to wander past and observe
the often private habits of a novelist.
Further information about the contest and its history can be found online, at http://www.3daynovel.com/index.
Website Upgrade
The Booranga website is currently being overhauled by the webmistress at Charles Sturt University. Currently
only the fourW submission guidlines are up on the site. Check back on August 31st though to view the new site
featuring up-to-date links, news, and much more...
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2007
Lee Kofman Residency
Lee Kofman has now completed a successful
residency at Booranga. Members and friends
of WWWW enjoyed Lee’s reading at the
Wagga library on 18 July. Lee has a very clearsighted approach to the writer’s voice, especially fascinating because of her sense of being
both outside and inside different cultures as an
immigrant writer. As a Russian immigrant to
Israel, then an immigrant to Australia, Lee’s
work-in-progress is a memoir intertwined with
the personal experiences of other Russian Australians. The audience heard extracts from this
work called The Russian Book of Lost Love.
On the 21st Lee conducted a writing workshop
on ‘finding one’s voice’. Writers attending the
workshop felt inspired and more confident
about their own work, thanks to Lee’s thoughtful approach to writing and editing.While here
Lee also mentored WWWW member Susan
Beinart. And Susan writes: “I can’t tell you
how delighted I was with Lee Kofman’s input
into my novel.I am about to begin the third draft at Varuna in three weeks’ time and will now have some
definite ideas with which to work. As you can imagine, I am really excited at the prospect of commencing
Draft Three whereas before, I was feeling great trepidation. All I can say is that Lee is miraculous: she zoned
in on the points and details that will improve my manuscript. She is generous, intuitive, warm and really
talented. She is also unbelievably hardworking.”
Got a story to tell?
Booranga is calling for anecdotes or photographs from writers involved in the early Wagga Wagga
Writers groups. We would like to feature the material in this newsletter and also in our 20th birthday celebrations. Scribbles’ was one early meeting place as was Romano’s. If you were one of the people involved, or if
you know someone who was, you can send your material to Booranga, Locked Bag 588, CSU 2678 or email to
[email protected]
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2007
fourW update...
This year we have been inundated with submissions - aproximately 200 people sent in sontributions of
poetry prose and artwork. It is pleasing to see that alongside many local submissions we have also recieved
work from across Australia and across the globe. The selection commitee is currently working their way
through the large boxes of material. In the meantime dates have now been confirmed for launches in Wagga
and Sydney. The launch at Wagga will be combined with the 20th birthday celebrations of WWWW, so it
should be a great event.
fourW eighteen launch:
Saturday 10th November, Wagga City Library, 2.30 pm
Saturday 17th November, Gleebooks Sydney, 2.30 pm
School Script Development
Chris Ferrari visited Nangus Public School in June to
help the school’s fourteen students develop the scripts
for three short films.
The students, Adam, Andrew, Brooke, Danian, Harry,
Indi, Jack, Kalem, Mitch, Nicole, Nikki, Sabrina,
Taliah and Tom are highly creative and most enthusiastic. Their teachers, Bronwyn and Charmaine, had
worked with the children regarding the sort of stories
they enjoyed reading and viewing. Pirates, sword fights
and fantasies were popular as were ‘snow stories’ like Happy Feet and in the end the children came up with ideas and
workable plans, characters and locations for three scripts that they’ll develop and shoot over the next two terms.
Bruce Gater, camera operator extraordinaire from CSU’s Television Production, has since offered some practical advice on scene breakdowns, filming and editing though Bronwyn, Charmaine and the children most definitely own the
project. Chris was delighted to play a part in the development process.
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2007
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
Competitions
tralia. The winning writers will each receive $700. A further ten
runners-up will have their stories published on the ABC website
and will receive $50 ABC Shop gift vouchers. Website www.abc.
net.au/shortstories
Closing 17 August
John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers
Entries are now open for The John Marsden Prize for Young
Australian Writers, a national competition for young writers
under 25, presented by Express Media.
Best-selling author John Marsden, Express Media’s patron,
will judge the best poem and the best short story / first
chapter of the novel entered into the competition in two age
categories: under 18 years of age and 18 to 24 years of age,
and award $4,500 in prize money. The winning entries will
also be published nationally in the December 2007 issue of
Voiceworks magazine.
Entry forms with guidelines can be downloaded at www.
expressmedia.org.au/events.php?content_id333.
For more information contact Rohini Sharma at artisticdirec
[email protected], or on 03 9663 4155.
Entries close 15th August
Workshops
The Digital Factor
This seminar will identify key ways for filmmakers to enhance
their expression of story through visually powerful images. Shilo
McClean (author, consultant and producer) will facilitate this day
of ideas, case studies and discussion. She will be joined by guest
speakers from industry who will discuss their work in digital
visual effects, storytelling and the collaborative process. This
event is vital for all creative contributors to the visual media.
Museum of Sydney(Corner of Bridge & Phillips Streets) Sydney
CBD
Cost: $75 (Light lunch and afternoon tea provided)
Booking and prior payment is ESSENTIAL
Register ONLINE before 10 August
For more information about the guest speakers and schedule
check http://myregistration.aftrs.edu.au/sr.cfm?v=E587w1Friday
17 August 200710 am - 5 pm
Broken Hill Poetry Competition
This is an open themed poetry competition which the Broken Hill Regional Writers’ Centre is running in the lead-up
to our 2007 Poetry Festival, which will run from the 1st
- 7th of September.
There are three categories for this competition: Category
1 - Open, Category 2 - Youth (13-25 yrs) and Category 3
- Junior (12 yrs & under). There are cash first place prizes of
up to $300 for each category.
For entry forms enquire to [email protected]
Novel Writing: Your Unmistakable Narrator with Louise
Wareham
The most important person in your novel is your narrator. Is
yours strong enough to carry your novel? This workshop will
look at both your narrator and at unmistakable narrators in literature - from Benjy in The Sound of the Fury to Jane Eyre, Tristram Shandy nd Holden Caulfield. What makes them alive? How
are they unique? Can you tell an author by his or her narrator?
Other writers to be studied include Gertrude Stein, Franz Kafka,
Marguerite Duras and Walter Abish. Each session will include an
exercise to create new voices and strengthen those we have.
Venue: Workshop Room, ACT Writers Centre, Gorman House,
Ainslie Ave, Braddon.
Cost: $70 concessional members and member early bird bookings by Fri 27 July, $75 members plus non-member
concessions, $120 non-members. Payment by cash cheque or
Entries close 27th August
ABC Radio Short Story Project
If you’re a regional writer and you’re eager to be discovered, the ABC Radio Short Story Project wants to hear from
you. The project is open to Australian residents who live
outside the metropolitan areas of major capital cities. Stories
must be original, previously unpublished and less than 800
words in length. They should be imaginative but need not
necessarily be fiction. We’re looking for a great yarn that
will engage the reader and translate well to radio. Ten winning stories will be produced for radio and broadcast on
Radio National and ABC Local Radio stations around Aus-
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2007
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
credit card at time of booking, on 6262 9191 or online www.
actwriters.org.au.
Sunday 12 August from 10-1 and 2-4pm
Humanising the Historical Novel with Gary Crew
In this workshop, Associate Professor Gary Crew will look
at the human face of historical fiction. It’s people who make
history come to life, not facts. He will investigate ways of
making both famous and not so famous historical events leap
off the fiction writer’s (and reader’s) page.
Venue: Workshop Room, ACT Writers Centre, Gorman
House, Ainslie Ave, Braddon.
Cost: $36 conc members & member early bird bookings by
Friday 3 August, $45 members plus non-member concessions,
$90 non-members. Payment by cash cheque or credit card at
time of booking, on 6262 9191 or online at www.actwriters.
org.au
Tuesday 21 August from 10-1pm
Getting Published Workshop for Young Writers (15-23)
with Rachel Longhurst
Writing articles for magazines is a great place to start for
novice writers. The ACT Writers Centre and lip magazine
are running a workshop for aspiring young writers (aged 15
to 23) who are interested in advice about how to get articles
published in magazines. The workshop presenter is Rachel
Longhurst editor of lip magazine and Youth Project Officer.
Cost: $70 / $40 concession for members and students
Venue: ACT Writers Centre Bookings ESSENTIAL on phone
6262 9191 ACT Writers Centre, Gorman House, Ainslie
Avenue, Phone/fax: 6262 9191, or online at www.actwriters.
org.au
1am - 4pm Saturday 25 August
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2008 Bundanon Workshop (formerly the Wollongong
Workshop)
The Bundanon Workshop aims to improve the quality of participants’ poetry. The workshop encourages the development
of an understanding of the nature of the poetry industry, and
the establishment of supportive networks for poets, especially
those in more isolated areas.
The Bundanon workshop (formerly held in Wollongong) has
established itself as a major event on the Australian literary
calendar. It is not designed for beginning poets, but rather for
those established or emerging poets who feel that they would
benefit from eight days of intensive lectures, seminars and
workshops in the company of their peers, seeking to perfect
their art.
There are seven elements to the program:
1. The workshops. Poetry brought to the Workshop by participants is discussed in small groups .
2. The Lectures. Each of the workshop leaders will give one
lecture on topics related to the writing of poetry.
3. The seminars. Each workshop leader will give the same
seminar twice, with half the group in attendance each time.
These are practical sessions.
4. The readings. Each evening there will be a reading by one
of the workshop leaders and other members of the group.
5. The consultations. Participants are entitled to consult with
one of the workshop leaders, to be arranged at a mutually
convenient time.
6. A bookshop will run for the duration of the
Workshop, to which participants may bring and sell their
books.
7. The Bundanon Workshop anthology. We will publish an
anthology featuring two pages of work by everybody at the
Workshop.
NB: Please note that accomodation is very limited. To secure
your place, please send a nonrefundable deposit of $100, made out to
Australian Poetry Centre Inc. Please also include 10 pages of
poetry UNLESS you’ve had a book published, or have previously attended the
Wollongong Workshop.
Price* $665.00 (APC members) $725.00 (non-members)
Price includes all food, accomodation & tuition.
January 9-16, 2008
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