BOORANGA NEWS
NEWSLETTER FOR BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE OF
WAGGA WAGGA WRITERS WRITERS INC.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
Special Guest Writer: Ivy Alvarez
During September and October of 2008 the poet Ivy Alvarez will be travelling from Wales to Australia, to participate in a number of
literary events, including the This Is Not Art festival in Newcastle. Thanks to a cultural grant awarded by the Wagga City Council,
and funding from Wales Arts International, Ivy will also be visiting Wagga Wagga, from 23rd September to 1st October. While
here she will be performing her work at a reading, giving workshops on experimental poetic forms at local high-schools, and running a workshop for members on professional development – gaining residencies and work as a writer.
Ivy Alvarez was born in the Philippines, and grew up in Tasmania, Australia. She is currently resident in Cardiff, Wales, having
previously lived in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.
Ivy’s first full-length collection of poetry, Mortal, was published by Red Morning Press, out of Washington DC, in 2006. Her other
publications include a limited-edition tinyside, 1 Doz. Poison Hay(na)ku (Big Game Books), which sold out on its first day of
release, and three chapbooks. Her latest chapbook is what’s wrong. She is also the editor of A Slice of Cherry Pie and We Don’t Stop
Here, poetry chapbook anthologies inspired by David Lynch’s cult TV
show, Twin Peaks and his film Mulholland Drive.
Ivy’s visit to Wagga will be a great opportunity for members of all ages
and backgrounds to further develop their skills: Ivy has previously
enjoyed the support of both the Australia Council for the Arts and the
Welsh Academi to continue work on her second book. In 2005, she
received prestigious residency fellowships from MacDowell Colony
(USA) and Hawthornden Castle (UK). She also accepted an Arvon
Foundation bursary, and the honour of Special Poetry Guest to Dublin’s
Trinity College/Florida International University poetry summer program in 2004. Recently Fundación Valparaíso invited her to attend a
writing residency in Spain, in April 2008.
Saturday 27th September: Poetry Reading, Wagga City
Library, 3pm
Sunday 28th September:
Writers Development Workshop
at Booranga Writers’ Centre, 2-5pm
(Please book your spot - [email protected])
Ivy Alvarez - image by Rachael Duncan
Booranga Writers’ Centre (McKeown Drive) 2008 Office Hours:
Staff will be in every Monday (9am - 3.30pm), Tuesday (9 - 11.30am), Thursday (9 - 11.30am).
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BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Booranga Writer-in-Residence for
October: Alice Pung
Alice Pung is a writer who has lately has received much acclaim – she has had stories and
articles published in Good Weekend, Meanjin, The Monthly, The Age, The Best Australian
Stories 2007 and Etchings.
Her first novel Unpolished Gem, a memoir about growing up in Australia, won the 2007
Australian Newcomer of the Year award in the Australian Book Industry Awards, and was
short-listed for several other awards including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the
New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year 2007. Unpolished Gem has also been selected as a text for year 12 students in NSW from 2009. It is
currently being used by secondary students in lower years and tertiary students in a variety
of subject areas including Literature, History, Society and Culture, and English as a Second
Language. It was winner of the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards Newcomer of the
Year, and was selected for the 2007 Books Alive Great Reads Guide.
Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, has praised the book, saying “Alice Pung is a gem.
Her voice is the real thing.”
Alice has most recently edited Growing up Asian in Australia, an honest, moving and often
hilarious collection of stories about growing
up Asian, and Australian. Contributors to the
collection include Caroline Tran, Shaun Tan, Annette Shun Wah, Vanessa Woods, Tom
Cho and many more.
While a guest at Booranga Alice will be participating in our regular program: there will
be featured reading / Q&A sessions at the Wagga Library and at the Albury Library;
workshops in Wagga and Griffith; and school visits. Once again our Booranga monthly
writers’ workshop will be scheduled to coincide with our writer-in-residence’s stay, and
will be held on October 26th, at the Historic Council Chambers.
Alice’s visit to the region is supported by a grant from the Australian Government, issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Public Program
Thursday October 16th: Reading / Talk, Wagga City Library, 5-7pm
Wedneday October 22nd: Reading / Talk, Albury Library, 5-7pm
Sunday October 26th: Writing Workshop, Wagga Historic Council Chambers, 2-4pm
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Booranga Fellow:
Nathan Curnow
The Booranga writer-in-residence program (supported by Wagga City Council & Arts
NSW) continues to prove valid, and vital to continued literary activity in the region.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that our writer for July and August, Nathan
Curnow, impressed everyone he came into contact with.
Nathan began his program here by attending Kooringal Primary School to talk to a
group of sixty kids about writing poetry. Their interest was evident in the close attention they gave Nathan, and the many questions posed to him at the end. The kids were
particularly interested in Nathan’s adventures while writing his ‘Ghost Poetry’ manuscript during 2007; but they were also thoroughly entertained by his performances
- Nathan recited a couple of poems from memory that were very appropriate for this
audience.
Performance poetry was of course a focus of Nathan Curnow’s visit: he gave a
workshop on performance as part of the Write Around the Murray Festival in Albury,
and then also performed to a captive audience at the official festival dinner. During
his second week here Nathan visited a few more schools; presented a workshop in
Griffith; gave a feature reading at the Wagga City Library (ably supported by local
writer John Muk Muk Burke); and finished his stay with a writing workshop at the
local Historic Council Chambers.
All of the events Nathan Curnow participated in generated an enthusiastic reponse
from members and writers. I’m sure you’ll join with me in wishing him well for the
future - and make a point a point of seeking out his Ghost Poetry Project, a collection
of poetry that should be published sometime in 2009.
Nathan Curnow
performing at the
Write Around the
Murray Festival
3
2008: Calendar of
Booranga Events
23rd September - 1st October
Special Guest: Ivy Alvarez
* Saturday 27th September:
Reading at Wagga City Library
3pm onwards
* Sunday 28th September:
Writers’ Workshop at Booranga
2-5pm
14th - 28th October
Writer-in-Residence: Alice Pung
* Thursday 16th October
Reading at Wagga City Library
5-7pm
* Wednesday 22nd October
Reading at Albury City Library
5-7pm
* Sunday 26th October
Writers’ Workshop at Wagga
Historic Council Chambers
2-4pm
15th November
Launch of fourW nineteen
(Wagga)
22nd November
Launch of fourW nineteen
(Sydney)
BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
National Poetry Slam 2008 - NSW Heat 4 - Wagga
Got something to say?
Wagga Wagga... your time starts now!
All contestants are given a mic, a live audience and two minutes to
impress the judges with their spoken word, poetry, hip hop or stories.
“Contestants can speak, sing, scream, rap, howl or even whisper their
words,” says Spoken-Word Artist Tug Dumbly (pictured), who will
showcase his work as part of his MC duties at Wagga’s SLAM.
Register your interest to either perform or to participate as a member
of the audience by contacting Wagga Wagga City Library or phone
69269700.
Tug Dumbly MC Wagga Library SLAM 2008
More information on Tug Dumbly available at:
www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=2780en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Tug_Dumbly
Date: Saturday 20th September, 3pm
Venue: Wagga Wagga City Library
August - Tara June Winch reading
An enthusiastic audience of over 30 came out during August to attend this
special one-off event. Tara was staying at Wagga for only a week - here to
research part of her new novel - and while here kindly agreed to read some of
her work at the Wagga Library.
Tara talked about her association with Wagga Wagga; read some selections
from her new work-in-progress; also read selected passages from her prizewinning work Swallow the Air; and finished by answering questions from the
audience. Members of bookclubs associated with the Wagga Library enjoyed
the opportunity to quiz the author of one of their set books, and younger
audience members also enjoyed the opportunity to meet the author of a book
which will next year be set on the HSC English Text list.
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Obituary: Pat Skinner 1960-2008
Sydney writer Pat Skinner had a long association with the Booranga
Writers Centre. She was first published in the annual anthology fourW
in 1995, and had a story in every issue from that year on. In 2001 she
received a Booranga Writers’ Fellowship. During her stay in Wagga
Wagga she made firm friendships that continued to the end of her life.
Pat Skinner was dedicated to writing and the writing community. Her first
novel, Brolga, was published in 2006. She also had two short fiction collections published, Bonding with Boofy (2000) and Spirit of the Rose (2002), collected from nearly eighty individual short fiction pieces published in literary
journals and magazines. She received an Australia Council grant for new writing in 2003. At the time of her death she was working on a Doctor of Creative
Arts degree at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Many writers will recognise Pat Skinner’s name from her work as editorial
assistant of Southerly literary journal, a position she held from 1997. Her
generosity in replying to fiction submissions with encouragement and advice
sustained many aspiring writers from that time.
Pat Skinner died on the 18th of August 2008, suddenly, shockingly, sadly.
Pat is survived by her mother, Jean.
She will be missed. And she will be remembered.
- Contributed by Jane Downing
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BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Booranga Membership Rates for 2009
At a recent meeting of the Booranga Executive Commitee, it was motioned (and moved by the committee) that membership rates
be raised for 2009. The rates have been static for the past few years, and this raise was deemed necessary to simply keep up with the
cost of inflation. The propsed rates are listed below, and will be voted on by all members at the AGM for 2009.
Group membership (including one copy of fourW): $55.00; Single membership (one copy of book): $36.00; Single membership without book: $25.00; Concessional membership (one copy of book): $26.00); Concessional membership (without book): $15.00; Student
membership (without book): $11.00
But Wait! For a limited time Booranga are making you a special offer. If you want to get in early, and obtain your membership for
2009 now, you will be able to purchase 2009 membership under the old rates. To take advantage of this offer please get your completed form in by 31st December 2008. (As you will notice the rates listed on the membership application on the back page of this
newsletter have not yet been raised).
Members’ News: Varuna Residency
Booranga offers congratulations to member Joan Cahill, who has been offered, and has accepted, a LitLink residential week at
Varuna, September 8-13. There will be two other poets staying with Joan at Varuna House for one week - Peter Lach-Newinsky from
South Coast, and Laura Shore from Byron Bay. Joan writes: “On the heels of last years’ mentorship, it is a good opportunity and I am
looking forward to it, albeit with some trepidation.” A huge list of successful Australian writers have stayed at Varuna in the past, and
this is sure to be a great opportunity for Joan.
(Note: Details of the Varuna Manuscript Development Award are featured this issue, in our Opportunities section)
fourW nineteen update
It was a huge job but Editor David Gilbey and his panel of readers have now read all work submitted for inclusion in this year’s
fourW, and made their decisions. The work is now being handed over to our designer Adam Bell, and we are on track for our launch
dates in November. The nineteenth edition of fourW looks like being another great anthology: once again, we are including many
regional writers, but also some great writers from across the country. Stay tuned for a full list of contributors in the next Booranga
News.
fourW has been made possible in 2008 by support from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University.
Launch Dates:
Wagga - 15th November, 2pm, Wagga City Library
Sydney - 22nd November, 2pm, Gleebooks
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Olivia’s Choice
Booranga would like to welcome our new sub-editor, Olivia Markham, who will be handling all contributions
to our members’ work section, now re-named: Olivia’s Choice. (Send contributions of creative writing for
Booranga News to [email protected] and place ‘Olivias Choice’ in the subject line). In the coming issues Olivia will be giving you prompts for new writing,
riting, as well as giving her feedback.
Memoirs - Waves of Recollection by Olivia Markham
‘MY CHILHOOD is something of a blur to me now but there are several episodes that stand out, entrepreneur Richard Branson of
Virgin Group reveals in his recent memoir Business Stripped Bare. ‘I do remember that my parents continually set us challenges.
My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles from our house and
made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.
Memoirs, today, are increasingly popular. We passionately preserve our history connecting generation with generation. Shorter than
autobiographies, memoirs cement a span of time or a series of related events within our lives. Branson’s memoirs focused on waves
of recollection surfing through a happy childhood to present day adventures.
The motivation to write a memoir depends on a variety of reasons, and it is not always exclusive to professional writers. In Australian
Lives, An Oxford Anthology, Ned Kelly wrote in protest against injustice in the Jerilderie Letter,2 and for Jill Ker Conway, memories
of her early years on an isolated property in NSW is recreated through tales of hardships and challenges in The Road from Coorain.3
The expatriate Clive James’s strong ties to Australia continue to pulse sending out ‘invisible waves of recollection’.4 In Unreliable
Memoirs he recalls ‘The longer I have stayed in England, the more numerous and powerful my memories of Sydney have grown…
Sydney is so real in my recollection that I can taste it. It tastes like happiness.’5
Memoirs reveal and omit selective items of one’s own history. Clouded in subjectivity and often written in the first person, the line
of truth or perception is sometimes blurred. In James’s words: ‘Nothing I have said is factual except the bits that sound like fiction’.6
Tolstoy kept a daily record from 1847, and wrote, off and on, for 63 years recording his political, moral and literary beliefs from
which he carved his fiction.7
Interestingly, memoirs can be written in the third person giving it another dimension. Morris Luri’s representation of his immigrant
Jewish parents in Whole Life: An Autobiography describes how ignorance and family dynamics isolated them in the new land of
Australia. ‘There once was a family with a miraculous servant’, he describes his mother in the third person… ‘And twenty years later
his son, his elder son, the son whose story this is…’8
Once a memoir is unleashed to the public it is out of our hands. Public reaction can sometimes expose us to unfavourable criticism as
author and former ABC gardening commentator Mary Moody discovered following her publication Last Tango in Toulouse in which
she reveals an affair. In the ensuing book, The Long Hot Summer, Moody said the responses to her affair were mixed. The women’s
reactions differed from the men, more so in the media.9
Moody’s biggest surprise came from George Negus, who selected a piece from the book and launched into an attack. ‘What gives
you the right to say these things about your husband?’ he asks with furrowed brows. ‘Why do you need to write about your marriage
this way?’ 10
(continued over page)
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BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Moody realised Negus had not read the book. ‘If you had continued reading that same chapter, I had said some absolutely wonderful
things about my husband. You can’t just pluck a few sentences and use them out of context. It’s a whole book about a whole story.’11
The interviews Moody had with Negus and other like-minded male journalists illustrated to her ‘the sort of attitude that some men
have towards women who are brave or mad enough to write and talk about the way they really feel.’12
If you are brave enough to write about how you really feel then it is time to preserve your history. Tell us in 1500 words or less your
story.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 virgin.com/AboutVirgin/RichardBranson/RichardsAutobiography.aspx (sourced August 29, 2008).
2 Joy Hooton, Australian Lives, An Oxford Anthology, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998, p.XI.
3 ibid., p.XIV.
4 ibid., p.XIV.
5 ibid., p.146.
6 ibid., p.IX.
7 R.F. Christian, Tolstoy’s Diaries, Flamingo, London, 1994.
8 Hooton, op. cit., pp.125-129.
9 Mary Moody, The Long Hot Summer, A French heatwave and a marriage meltdown, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2005, p.238.
10 ibid., p.230.
11 ibid., p.239.
12 ibid., p.240.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Year’s Resolution:
TO WRITE, TO WRITE, TO WRITE.
contributed by Booranga member, Joanne Wilson-Ridley
Day 1:
Feeling inspired
This is the year to take action
Dedicate it to my unfulfilled wish
I have desire, focus and discipline
I’ve cleared three evenings a week
Moved the computer to a remote corner
Purchased a new pack of shiny black pens and a stack of white
clean paper
Five story lines smouldering
Time to give them substance
As my dear friend Joy signs off all her correspondence – Carpe
Diem
Day 2:
No writing of the story lines today
I did pen fifty two thankyou notes for received Christmas
wishes
Any writing is practice – right
8
Day 3:
Whilst no actual writing I did a solid night of research
I treated myself for Christmas to the Writer’s Handbook Manual
I started to plough my way through the tome
Committing pearls of wisdom to memory
Day 4:
More Handbook reading
Enlightening stuff
The exercises look appealing if writer’s block ever sets in
Day 5 – 7:
The Weekend
No writing
It feels slightly decadent taking the weekend off
I have applied myself this week - gone out strong
I don’t want to overdo it at the start as I’m in it for the long haul
JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Day 8:
The tennis is on at night
Gripping matches
Hard to pull myself away from the TV
If only the computer was more integrated into the living areas
I’d feel more encouraged to write
Day 16:
The Handbook suggested reading as widely and as often as possible
It will help create my own style
Identify what is good writing
What works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work
How on earth can I hope to put pen to paper when I’ve not read
the master writers
The Dickens, Austens and Shakespeares
Perhaps I rule out taking on the literary giants
Confine my writing to an easier genre
Day 9:
I read a depressing chapter in the Handbook
Writers receive less than 10% of each book sold
Authors lucky enough to make it through the cull
Successful known writers
Novice writers are at the mercy of the random process of submitting manuscripts
Or self-publish!
Thank goodness I’m not reliant on writing for a living
Not that my day job is anything to write home about
My dream is to be the one in a million success story
Plucked from obscurity with a stunning debut novel
But I can’t afford to chuck in the paid work trusting my fanciful
idea of becoming a writer will pay the current bills
Chick Literature, airport novels, romance
Day 47:
Ditched the Handbook
Getting bogged down in theory and process
I’ve spent a fruitless month falling asleep whilst reading half-wit
romances
Need to get back to basics
Just write, write, write
Day 10:
I thought of writing this evening but I was too depressed after
last night’s research
Day 48:
Five story lines
Which one to go with?
I have a favourite story
It does need a sizeable chunk of background research
Do I really want to attempt my best story first?
What if I ruin it?
I’ll start with the story requiring least research
Hit the ground writing with the ready made yarn
Day 15:
I finished reading the chapter about writer’s motivation
Apparently, I am embarking on an epic journey
First drafts, editing, second drafts, re-writes
Re-starts, scrapping of characters, subplots, whole books
It was recommended I have a clear understanding of my motivations
If I’m completely honest I write to seek revenge on all the injustices I’ve suffered
To right the wrongs I’ve endured
For the teasing in primary school, bitching in high school, bullying at university
For the cliques at work, power-hungry incompetent managers,
rude customers and uptight in-laws
I’ve logged each into the memory bank
Made a mental post-it note to include them in a story at a later
date
From the motivations offered by the Handbook revenge was not
listed
I hope it’ll be enough to get me through the epic journey
Day 49:
Stuck on names for my characters
I have a thing about names
It’s my starting point
Once names are assigned I bond with my characters
The tricky part is my stories are mostly autobiographical
Give or take a re-jig of sequence
It’s proving challenging to substitute names
9
BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
Day 54:
Crap, crap, craptacular
I had four attempts at starting my story and they all stink
Utter rubbish
I think the names are wrong
I’ll resort to using the real names with the hope of substituting at
a latter date
Day 75:
Nothing
I sat at the computer for two hours and wrote nothing
I’d try the exercises from the Handbook to get the juices flowing
Except I binned the book
Day 86:
I read a comforting quote today
Tolstoy was plagued by crippling doubts about his talent
Searching for inspiration, confirmation really, that I could write
I resorted to re-reading this diary I must’ve had one too many
wines on day 15
Day 94:
What is the point?
Writing shouldn’t provoke agony
This resolution was meant to be enjoyable
Instead I’ve been weighed down by doubts, fears, procrastination
Slogging away in my free time after work
With little end in sight and a slim chance at being published
I’ve approached writing from all the wrong angles
I should write for the pleasure of writing
To please myself
Find my voice
Live my dream
Day 150:
I’ve discovered my true motivations
I want to write because I love reading
I love books
I want to have one of my own with my name on the cover
I have a picture in my mind of the cover design
I’ve even worked out who I’ll dedicate my book too
And on days when I am truly enveloped with the fantasy I
dream of the testimonies written on the book
Uncanny how agony can reveal one’s true desires
Is it bad to want to write for the love of the final product?
Is that not the motivation of other professions – artists, architects, designers?
10
Day 365:
It will sound corny but I write because I can
The words and stories swirl around inside my mind willing their
way out
Writing is how I make sense of the life I live
I went back to my favourite story
I’m on draft two
I found a job in a second-hand bookstore
When I self-publish I’m planning to distribute through the store
I don’t care if it doesn’t sell
As long as I can savour my own book with my name on the
cover
I’ll even offer to autograph the copies I sell
New Year’s Resolution:
TO WRITE, TO WRITE, TO WRITE.
Olivia’s Commentary:
Good on you Joanne for being brave enough to discuss your
feelings on the art of writing in New Year’s Resolution: TO
WRITE, TO WRITE, TO WRITE.
Written in a diary format, we relate to Joanne’s daily struggles
in pursuing her art and the frustrations of her heart.
Day 1, Joanne is ‘feeling inspired’. Day 49, she is ‘stuck on
names for my characters’ and by Day 75, ‘nothing’. Finally, on
Day 365, Joanne reconciles herself: ‘It will sound corny but I
write because I can.’
JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
Prose
HARPERCOLLINS VARUNA AWARDS FOR MANUSCRIPT DEVELOPMENT 2008/2009
Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards
The intention of the literary awards is to honour Rolf Boldrewood, the pen name of Thomas Browne. During his time as
a police magistrate in Dubbo, Browne wrote Robbery Under
Arms, one of the first major Australian novels. The competition
aims to foster the writing of prose & poetry with an Australian
content.
HarperCollins Publishers and Varuna –The Writers’ House have
been partners in this program of recognition and development
for new and emerging writers since 2000.
Two new novels developed through this program will be
launched early in 2009 –Tasmanian Katherine Johnson’s thrilling novel of a sea-chase in the icy Southern Ocean, Pescador’s
Wake, and South Australian writer Siew Siang Tay’s sensitive
and beautifully sad evocation of the world of the mail-order
bride, Handpicked.
Entries can be submitted in the following categories:
Prose - fiction, article or essay (including family history) to a
maximum of 3000 words, on an Australian theme.
The essential feature of the program is that 5 senior HarperCollins editors select 5 projects and work with 5 writers in the supportive residential environment of Varuna –The Writers’ House
in the Blue Mountains of NSW. This is a wonderful opportunity
for engagement and industry experience, and often for profound
and unexpected development for both writer and editor. There’s
no guarantee of publication, but manuscripts are selected on the
basis of their potential for publication.
If you’re serious about a project of fiction or narrative non-fiction, and if it is developed to the point where an editor would
have something solid and absorbing to work with, an application to the HarperCollins Varuna Awards for Manuscript Development is a valuable port of call. In the cases of Katherine
Johnson and Siew Siang Tay it was the turning point in their
writing careers.
Poetry - in any form or style to a maximum of 80 lines on an
Australian theme.
An entry fee of $10.00 must accompany each entry, along with
an entry form for each piece of work. Cheques or money orders
must be made payable to Macquarie Regional Library.
Entry forms can be downloaded from: http://www.mrl.nsw.
gov.au/portal/user_files/boldrewood%20entry%20form%2
02008.pdf
Entries close Friday 19 September 2008.
Applications for the 2008/2009 program are now open (deadline October 30 2008) and full information, including guidelines and application forms, is available at www.varuna.com.
au
11
BOORANGA NEWS
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
Katharine Susannah Prichard Short Fiction
Award
The winning poem will be published in the magazine.
Entries close Friday 7 November 2008.
Closing date: Friday September 26, 2008
Entry forms can be downloaded from: http://www.overlandexpress.org/poetry_prize.html
WORDS: Minimum 1000 Maximum 3000
2 Sections:
Mundaring Community Bank Open Awards
Mundaring National Young Writers Awards (20 years and
under)
Awards announced and presented at the Celebration of
Katharine’s Birthday KSP Writers’ Centre, 3 pm Sunday,
December 7, 2008. No entry form required – both sections are
open to all Australian residents.
Entry fees: Mundaring Community Bank Open Awards
- $7.50 per story, to be paid by cheque or money order only,
payable to: KSP Foundation Inc.
Shire of Mundaring National Young Writers Awards – no entry
fee.
Poetry
2008 OVERLAND JUDITH WRIGHT POETRY PRIZE
for NEW and EMERGING POETS
THE FAW JEAN STONE POETRY AWARD 2008
Entries close 30 September 2008
Prize: $500 for a POEM or a related group of poems under a
single covering title (maximum of 60 lines in either case).
All entries must be original, unpublished in any form and must
not have won a cash prize in any other competition prior to 30
September 2008.
There is no entry form for this competition and there is no limit
to the number of entries that can be submitted by each participant. The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence
will be entered into. Entries will not be returned but will be
destroyed after the results have been announced at the FAW
Annual Luncheon in early December 2008. Results will also be
published in the December/January 2009 Writers Voice. Please
send a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you require a copy
of the results mailed to you.
ENTRY FEE: $10 for EVERY manuscript submitted.
The prize is $3000 with two minor prizes of $500.
Poets are eligible if they have not yet had a collection of their
work commercially published (that is, by a publishing house
with commercial distribution).
A maximum of three unpublished poems is allowed per entrant.
The poems will be judged by Overland’s poetry editor, Keri
Glastonbury.
12
JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2008
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
Non-Fiction
Halstead Press Prize for the Best Reject
Film / Television /
Theatre
Closes 30th September
Inscription Awards
Canberra’s new publisher, Halstead Press, wants to unearth
manuscripts by local writers that have slipped through the nets
and slush piles. The inaugural Halstead Press Prize for the Best
Reject will be awarded to an exceptional unpublished non-fiction book. Submission requirements: Three copies of the entire
text (with illustrations if applicable), and copies of at least three
rejection notices (the more the better) from publishers. Assessment criteria: Literary merit and value and / or interest of the
contents. Eligibility: the book must have garnered at least three
rejections by publishers. Prize: $600 cash and $200 worth of
free Halstead Press books (selected by the winner from titles in
stock). The competition will be judged by Brian Cook Manuscript Appraisal Agency. The winning book will be considered
for publication by Halstead Press.
With a total prize value of $200,000 - including a trip to Los
Angeles and the chance to work with a stellar cast of leading
international script developers, writers and actors - the third
biennial INSCRIPTION AWARDS are the biggest yet.
Entry: Free.
Post or deliver entries to: Halstead Press, Gorman House Arts
Centre, Ainslie Avenue, Braddon ACT, 2612.
The seven prize categories include Film, Television, Theatre,
Regional, Grey Matter, Youth and Indigenous. The winner
of each award category will receive a prize package worth
$25,000, including $5,000 cash, $15,000 worth of intensive
script development with leading international talent, and $5000
in production support.
The deadline for submissions is 31 October, 2008.
Further details, and entry forms, can be found at: http://inscription.com.au/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task
=view&id=86&Itemid=1
Website www.halsteadpress.com.au/reject_prize.htm
13
BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE
APPLICATION FOR 2009 MEMBERSHIP
Booranga (trading as Wagga Wagga Writers Writers Inc.) was formed in 1987 to assist and promote local authors and their
work. The group holds regular readings at local venues, conducts writing workshops, offers fellowships at Booranga, the Riverina Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University, and published an annual anthology, fourW, under the imprint of fourW press,
and is active in promoting writing and writers throughout the Riverina.
MEMBERSHIP PERIOD 1ST JANUARY
- 31ST DECEMBER 2009
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP ($33) or CONCESSION ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP ($22)
6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP ($17)
GROUP MEMBERSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE
MEMBERSHIP ENTITLES YOU TO...
- Copy of fourW nineteen Anthology
- Regular newsletter (bi-monthly) & e-list mailouts
- 10% discount at Book City, Wagga
- 10% Discount at Angus & Robertson Bookworld,
Wagga
- 10% discount to RTC performances
- Member discounts to readings, performances & workshops
- Invitations to writing events & get-togethers
- Access to a network of writers, book enthusiaists &
other writers’ centres for information & friendship
- Use of Booranga Writers’ Centre resources, such as
library and computer
Note: Student Membership ($11) is now also available
for students under 21 years of age. Student members
will receive newsletters & discounted admission to
reading etc. but will not receive a complimentary copy
of fourW nineteen.
Please fill out and send application form to:
Wagga Wagga Writers Writers Inc. Booranga Writers’ Centre,
Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga NSW 2678, Phone/Fax (02) 69332688
Name:
Address:
Telephone:
Email:
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.............................. (home) .............................. (work) .............................. (mobile)
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Enclosed is: $............. cheque/money order FOR: single / concession / student / 6-month membership (please circle)
undeliverable return to:
POSTAGE PAID AUSTRALIA
Booranga Writers’ Centre
Locked Bag 588
Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2678
POSTAGE PAID
AUSTRALIA
WWWW & the Booranga Writers’ Centre are supported by: