BOORANGA NEWS
NEWSLETTER FOR BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE OF
WAGGA WAGGA WRITERS WRITERS INC.
JULY - AUGUST 2011
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
Writer-in-residence: Jim Haynes
Booranga is pleased to welcome our second writer-in-residence for the year, Jim
Haynes. Jim is an author, songwriter, performer, and recording artist, but also
claims to have been an academic, sapphire dealer, nurse and teacher.
In 1990 he started the first Bush Poetry Breakfasts at Tamworth’s during the annual festival. They were an instant success and, in 1997, he moved to the West
Tamworth Leagues Club, becoming the phenomenally successful Big Bush
Brekky Show, combining Jim’s unique mix of country music and humour with big
name guests.
Jim has written and recorded many songs, including hits like Since Cheryl Went
Feral and of course, Don’t Call Wagga Wagga Wagga.
The Bush Poetry Breakfasts led to the release of Jim¹s first book, I’ll Have Chips!
which was a huge seller, won him the inaugural Bush Laureate ‘Book of the Year’
award in Tamworth in 1996 and started a whole new phase of his career, this time
as an author.
He’s since released twelve books of Australian short stories and verse, mostly for ABC Books, including An Australian Heritage of
Verse and An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse, which won him his second and third Bush Laureate ‘Book of the Year’ awards.
While here Jim Haynes will be appearing at the following public events:
* Monthly Writers’ Workshop, Saturday 23rd July, 2-5pm: at the Booranga Writers’ Centre.
* Wagga Performance on Tuesday 26th July, at the Wagga City Library, 5pm, alongside visiting poets Jane Williams and
David Reiter.
Booranga Writers’ Centre (McKeown Drive) 2010 Office Hours:
Staff will be in every Monday (9am - 3.30pm), Tuesday (9 - 11.30am), Thursday (9 - 11.30am).
For enquiries (with a quick response) email us: [email protected]
Or alternatively email our director directly: [email protected]
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2011
Booranga Writers’ Centre:
our social networking presence
Sometimes Booranga events happen with not much warning, or have to be rescheduled for unforeseen reasons. When these things happen in between newsletter periods
one of the best ways to stay up-to-date is to follow Booranga updates on your favourite social networking site. Below is a list of a few of the Booranga sites:
Facebook: Booranga has a ‘page’ on Facebook. All you need
to do is locate the page (the address below, or simply search
for Booranga Writers’ Centre) and then click ‘like’. This
mean you will then receive all Booranga’s posts - including
updates, images, and links - but Booranga will not have access to your personal Facebook data.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Booranga-Writers-Centre/198309036885917
Twitter: On Twitter we are known simply as ‘Booranga’.
So search for Booranga on the Twitter website, and then
click ‘follow’. All of Booranga’s tweets will then appear in
your personal newsfeed.
http://twitter.com/#!/Booranga
2011 Calendar of Booranga Events
July
18th - 30th: Writer-in-residence,
Jim Haynes
23rd: Writers’ Workshop at
Booranga, 2pm
26th: performance at Wagga City
Library, 5pm
September
Writer-in-residence, Kalinda
Ashton
8th September: Reading at the
Wagga City Library, 5pm
11th: Write Around the Murray
Panel Discussion (Albury), 11am
(16th: Wagga Heat of the National
Poetry Slam, Home Hotel, 7pm)
17th September: Writers’ Workshop at Booranga, 2pm
Foursquare: Foursquare is a location-based social networking service that allows you to ‘check-in’ to places,
and then share information about them with your friends.
It hasn’t taken off much in the local area, but Booranga is
listed just in case. If you find yourself out at the writers’
centre, do ‘check-in’ and tell your friends about it...
https://foursquare.com/venue/17176180
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November
fourW twenty-two launches
19th: Wagga City Library
20th: Melbourne (Courthouse
Theatre)
26th Sydney (Gleebooks)
JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
JULY - AUGUST 2011
Recent Booranga Events
Bus Shelter Poetry
A special event to launch the Bus Shelter Poems was held on Saturday July
2nd. We were lucky enough to have three poets present in Wagga on the
day to read their work - David Gilbey, Lachlan Brown and Claire Baker. It
was a novel idea to present a poetry reading in one of the busiest sections
of Wagga, and it was good to see not only a good crowd of poetry fans
gather, but also that many passers-by stopped and listened, curious as to
just what was going on.
Also
on in the Region...
As mentioned previously because of the high quality of the works received
we have decided to bring out two rounds of bus shelter poems - there are
four shelters available, and we have selected eight poems, to be displayed
four at a time for a set period.
An appreciative crowd gathered for the launch
The four poems on display at the moment are:
Here, by Heather Shaw, at the front of the Turvey Tops Shopping Centre.
Wollundry Lagoon, by David Gilbey, near the entrance to the Sturt
Mall on Forsyth Street.
Folding The Leader, by Laura Smith, at the front of the South City
Shopping Centre in Glenfield.
Flood, 1974, by Susan Hawthorne, at the front of the Kooringal Mall.
The poems will be on display for approximately two months, at which point
the next round of 4 poems will be placed in the shelters/
Congratulations to all of the selected poets (who have won $200 each as
well as publication), and thank you to everyone who contributed work. It’s
great to finally see the poems out on the streets of Wagga.
Details of the release dates for the next 4 poems will be given in the next
edition of Booranga News.
Heather Shaw’s winning poem ‘Here’, on display at
the Turvey Tops Shoppping Centre
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2011
The Great Debate
Since time immemorial man has looked down at the old dog lying on the rug in front
of the fire and thought “if only I could teach the dog to answer my emails”. But we
all know you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Or do we? On the 13th July a trio of
“young whipper snappers” took on a “triumvirate of old fogeys” in a debate carefully
overseen by ABC Riverina announcers Anne Delaney and Chris Coleman
On opposing teams were Booranga’s Derek Motion and David Gilbey. Also lining up
were didgeridoo player extraordinaire, Dane Simpson and local country girl, permaculturalist and environmental advocate Gemma Hawkins, as well as brilliant songsmith
Grant Luhrs and the seasoned board treader, Di Lovett.
The Great Debate was an Eastern Riverina Arts project in conjunction with the Wagga
Wagga Civic Theatre and Wagga Wagga City Council as part of Winterfest
Luckily if you missed the being at the Great Debate we won’t give away the result,
because ABC Riverina will be broadcasting the debate on Friday July 22,
at 10:10 am.
Next Booranga Monthly Writers’ Meeting
Our monthly writers’ meeting will be hosted by writer-in-residence Jim Haynes. These meetings have proved popular over the last
few years, and we’ve have a regular core of dedicated members turning up to most meets, along with many first-timers, people who
are interested in seeing what goes on.
As you will have read, Jim Haynes’ specialty is songwriting, as well as rhyming and humorous verse. If you fancy developing your
skills in either of these areas do come along.
The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Saturday 23rd July, 2-5pm, at the Booranga Writers’ Centre. (Tea and coffee are
provided.)
* The date for the August meeting will be decided by participants at the end of the July meeting.
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
JULY - AUGUST 2011
The Australian National Poetry Slam
It’s on again! Last year the Wagga Heat of the Australian National Poetry Slam was one
of Booranga’s most popular events. Over 70 people packed into the back bar at the Home
Hotel to either enter the contest or enjoy the performances.
There are once again some great prizes on offer and the rules are simple:
Arrive early and sign up on the night if you intend competing. You have 2 minutes to perform your work. Going overtime will incur a points deduction. Your work must be original, written in the past 12 months. Judges will be randomly elected members of the crowd.
For further information go to: http://australianpoetryslam.com/
Wagga Heat will be held Friday 16th September, 7pm, at the Home Hotel.
Hosted by former NSW slam finalist Derek Motion.
Kalinda Ashton - writer-in-residence, 5th-19th
September
Booranga’s next writer-in-residence will be novelist Kalinda Ashton. Kalinda is the author
of the novel The Danger Game (Sleepers Publishing, 2009, Australia; Tindal Street Press,
2011, UK) which saw her named as one of the Sydney Morning Herald Young Novelists of
the Year in 2010. Her short stories have been published in journals and anthologies including the Sleeper Almanac, Overland, Meanjin and Kill Your
Darlings.
Kalinda has taught creative writing and literature at several
Australian universities and was for four years the Associate
Editor at Overland journal.
Kalinda Ashton’s public events include:
* Reading on Thursday 8th July, at the Wagga City Library, 5pm.
* A panel discussion at the Write Around the Murray Festival in Albury, Sunday 11th September, 11am.
* Writers’ workshop at Booranga, Saturday 17th September, 2pm.
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2011
The Future of Writers’ Centres...
* An article by Derek Motion, commissioned by the Emerging Writers’ Festival. Further commentary available: http://tiny.cc/sowu0
I only know one Writers’ Centre well. In all this time I think Booranga has maintained a similar function. The centre exists because
local writers want to meet and share their work, to hear others read, to be entertained. And so we put on readings. We hold monthly
‘writers’ workshops’. We have a writer-in-residence program. And we publish an annual anthology, providing local writers with the
opportunity to publish alongside other, more experienced writers.
But this isn’t so much the function of our centre it is more the observable facts. The function of a writers’ centre is to provide
whatever it is writers in the community want or need. (Because this is important: a recent report on the role of Writers’ Centres in
NSW revealed that even people who are not interested in writing (and furthermore would not be inclined to attend a writers’ event)
support the existence of Writers’ Centres. In general people believe that the activity of writers contributes to our culture and should
be supported.)
What is it writers want? Mostly, community. We all want to make friends. Writers want to be in contact semi-regularly with people
who do the somewhat similar things and share somewhat similar interests. They want to discuss books and writing projects and
share food and drink. Secondly (and it is definitely a secondary thing – in my experience most writers don’t really go to a writers’
centre wanting to fast-track their way to fame and fortune… do they?) is skills development. Writers’ Centre members want to attend a workshop with a proven writer or a good writing teacher. They want feedback and advice and to learn from the experiences of
others. They want to be able to hone their craft.
How does this work in our increasingly digitised and globalised lives? Are location-based writers’ centres relevant? Yes but they
can and will adapt. Of course we can now locate a community of writers online, by reading blogs, scouring facebook and twitter,
and interacting with the like-minded individuals we find. That’s easy. This can deliver some of that necessary sense of community
and also some skills development. But then we continue to crave and benefit from the face-to-face interaction. I became involved
with my local writers’ centre even though I was interacting with people online (for one thing, the sharing of the food and drink is not
quite the same). Melbourne has an extremely vibrant twitter-lit-life and blogging community, as we would all know, but there are
also many events happening, all the time. Events require locations…
Our ‘location’ becomes more robust with the addition of an online presence – the boundaries of the Centre can stretch far further
than was once possible. Social networking and marketing can enhance but doesn’t erase traditional modes of communication.
Therefore we shouldn’t let the option of ‘online writing’ erase Writers’ Centres. We can attract and maintain a membership base by
utilising the reach of electronic networks. And we also must reconstitute what a ‘member’ is. Nowadays we expect that particular
status to come for free: you can’t withhold information about your activities until moneys are received. But you can charge money
for an engaging experience, something you know that writers want…
Oh, and if we are to be financially viable (as maintaining a membership base often means) where does Government funding come
into it? In NSW we have a number of Government funded centres, but a few can and perhaps one day will be sustainable without
any government support. Should Writers’ Centres be self-sufficient businesses? Should other Arts organisations?
In the handful of years I have been Artistic Director at Booranga I have been working through these questions, optimistically. I
continue to do so.
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
JULY - AUGUST 2011
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
First Prize: Limited edition bust of Rolf Boldrewood + $500
Second Prize: $250
General Submissions
Third Prize: $150
Entry fee: $10
Remember to keep in mind those literary journals that are
open for submissions all year. A good place to start researching the major Australian ones is here:
Details + entry forms: www.mrl.nsw.gov.au
Closes: 16th September 2011
http://www.litmags.com.au
(Booranga receives copies of the NSW based journals Southerly and HEAT, and these are available to borrow for Booranga Members)
Aesthetica Creative Works Competition
The 2011 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is now
open for entries! Aesthetica Magazine is inviting all artists,
photographers, writers and poets to submit their work into the
Creative Works Competition, Now in its fourth year, the competition is dedicated to celebrating and championing creative
talent across the disciplines and welcomes entries from writers
working in short fiction and poetry!
Also, don’t forget that fourW is open for submissions all year
round, but the cut off for each annual edition is June 30th.
Vibewire anthology
The Competition has three categories, Artwork & Photography, Poetry and Fiction.
Vibewire are looking for writers under 30 to contribute to their
“Old School, New School” theme.
Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative
Works Annual.
Further details at: www.portal.vibewire.org
Closes: 31 July
Winners of each category receive £500 prize money (apx.
$744 AUD plus other prizes.
2011 Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards
Entry to the Creative Works Competition is £10 (apx. $14
AUD).
Prose: Open for fiction, article or essay entries (including
family history) with an Australian theme. Maximum 3000
words.
The entry fee allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2
short stories.
Poetry: Open for any form of poetry on an Australian theme.
More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at:
http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm
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BOORANGA NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2011
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
Prose
Poetry
The EJ Brady Competition
Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize
A prize of $1500 awarded for an unpublished poem no longer
than 50 lines. Up to 3 poems can be submitted. Entry fee: $6.
The EJ Brady Competition ran by the Mallcoota Arts Council is
back for the 18th year, and offering $1500 for the winning short
story in 2011.
You can enter two different lengths of short story, the Major
Short Story and the Very Short Story. Major Short Stories must
be under 2500 words long, and the best story in this category
will win $1500. The Very Short Story must be under 750 words,
and the best story in this category will win $500.
Further details available at:
http://www.usq.edu.au/daweprize
Closes: 31 July
You can find out more details and enter online at: http://www.
artsmallacoota.org/page4.htm
Best Australian Poems
Submissions for Black Inc’s Best Australian Poems (as well as
Best Essays) are open until 1 August.
The deadline for submissions is 1 August 2011, but early submission would be appreciated. Please send up to three poems
– recent work only, published or unpublished – to John Tranter
at the address below. Previously published work must have been
published after 1 August 2010.
Closes: 16 September, 2011.
Big West Flash Fiction
Can you turn 200 words into a literary masterpiece? The Big
West Festival is calling for entries into the inaugural Flash Fiction competition. The theme is “Uncontained”. Prize of $350.
John Tranter
c/- Black Inc.
37 – 39 Langridge St
Collingwood VIC 3066
Further information avaiable at www.bigwest.com.au.
Entries close: 31 July
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
JULY - AUGUST 2011
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
National Year of Reading 2012 Competition
2011 Wet Ink CAL short shory prize
A pool of $45,000 in prizes available for Australian writers.
First prize is $3000 plus one year’s subscription to Wet Ink
The competition seeks 3000 words stories on the theme “It’s
magazine, and publication in Wet Ink.
never too late to... learn to read”. Published writers will have the
chance to win a $3000 cash prize for their work, and unpub-
Two highly commended entries each receive $1000, a year’s
lished writers, $1000.
subscription to Wet Ink magazine, and publication in Wet Ink.
Further information available at: www.love2read.org.au
Shortlisted entries will each receive $250, publication in the
June issue of Wet Ink and a year’s subscription.
Closes: 5 August
Further Information available at: http://www.wetink.com.au/
assets/pdfs/WI_SSP_entryform.pdf
Closes: 31 August 2011
Finch Memoir Prize
Accepting entries between 1 September and 14 October 2011.
The prize is for an unpublished non-fiction manuscript in the
form of a memoir. The winning manuscript will be published by
Finch, and the author will receive prize money of $10,000.
Further information available at www.finch.com.au.
Entries close: 14 October
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BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE
APPLICATION FOR 2011 MEMBERSHIP
Wagga Wagga Writers Writers Inc (trading as the Booranga Writers’ Centre) 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 to 31st
December 2011
MEMBERSHIP ENTITLES YOU TO...
- Copy of fourW twenty-one Anthology
- Regular newsletter (bi-monthly) & e-list mailouts
Group membership (including one copy of fourW)
- 10% discount at Book City, Wagga
$55.00
- 10% Discount at Angus & Robertson Bookworld,
Single membership (including one copy of fourW)
Wagga
$36.00
- Member discounts to readings, performances & workSingle membership (not including anthology)
shops
$25.00
- Invitations to writing events & get-togethers
Concessional membership (one copy of fourW)
- Access to a network of writers, book enthusiasts &
$26.00
Concessional membership (not including anthology) other writers’ centres for information & friendship
- Use of Booranga Writers’ Centre library (featuring
$15.00
Student membership (under 21 years) not including current editions of journals such as HEAT and Southerly, as well as the newsletters of other writers’ centres).
anthology
$11.00
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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Enclosed is: $............. cheque/money order FOR:
(please indicate membership type required)
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: