BOORANGA NEWS
NEWSLETTER FOR BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE OF
WAGGA WAGGA WRITERS WRITERS INC.
MARCH - APRIL 2012
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
Writer-in-residence: Jennifer Mills
March will see the arrival of our first writer-in-residence for 2012, Jennifer
Mills. Jennifer is an Australian novelist, short story writer and poet. She is the
author of the novels The Diamond Anchor (2009) and Gone (2011), both published by University of Queensland Press, and a chapbook of poems published
by Press Press, Treading Earth.
Jennifer Mills has lived in Alice Springs but now resides in Adelaide. She was
the winner of the 2008 Marian Eldridge Award for Young Emerging Women
Writers, the Pacific Region of the 2008-9 Commonwealth Short Story Competition, and the 2008 Northern Territory Literary Awards: Best Short Story. She
was shortlisted for the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared
in Meanjin, Hecate, Overland, Heat, the Griffith Review, Best Australian Stories 2007, and New Australian Stories 2.
She has also been a regular contributor
to Newmatilda.com.
While in the Riverina region Jennifer will be reading her work, running a writers’ workshop,
and also giving advice to creative writing students at Charles Sturt University.
Dates:
Saturday 24th March, 2pm: Writing workshop, at the Booranga Writers’ Centre.
Wednesday 28th March, 5pm: Reading, at the Wagga City Library
* You can ask for Gone and The Diamond Anchor at your local bookstore, or purchase directly
through UQP. Gone can also be purchased in e-book format from independent Australian
booksellers Avid Reader, Gleebooks, Fullers, and Readings.
Booranga Writers’ Centre (McKeown Drive) 2011 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
MARCH - APRIL 2012
Recent Booranga Events
2012 Calendar of Booranga Events
fourW twenty-two launches
Last November we
launched another jampacked issue of fourW
in three locations across
Australia. Once again the
launch events in Wagga
and Sydney were our
most well-attended, with
over 70 people packing
the Wagga City Library
and Gleebooks.
March
Writer-in-residence - Jennifer
Mills
We were treated to enthusiastic and supportive
launch speeches from
Graham Gorrell (pictured) in Wagga, Petra White in Melbourne, and Rhyll McMaster in Sydney. It’s great to see that former writers-in-residence continue to support
fourW and value their connection with Booranga in general.
As always we were treated to a great variety of readings from contributors in all cities. It was a great surprise to see 2011 writer-in-residence Jim Haynes turn up to read
his story in both Sydney and Wagga.
At the moment you can purchase copies of fourW twenty-two by contacting Booranga directly. In the coming months we will have an online purchasing option available, so stay tuned for further updates.
Submissions
for fourW
twenty-three
close June 30th
Above: Wagga
Launcher
Graham Gorrell, flanked
by Booranga’s
David Gilbey
and Derek Motion (image by
Oscar Coman).
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24th: Writers’ workshop: Booranga Writers’ Centre
28th: Reading: Wagga City
Library, 5pm
30th: Submissions cut-off date
for Riverina Multicultural Voices
April
14th: Bus Shelter Poetry tour,
departs Wagga City Council
Chambers, 2pm
May
Writer-in-residence - Christopher ‘Kit’ Kelen
10th: Reading: Wagga City
Library, 5pm
12th: Writers’ workshop,
Booranga Writers’ Centre,
2pm
JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
MARCH - APRIL 2012
Also
on in the Region...
We are looking for any interested writers from the Riverina region who have some original work they would like to contribute. This
might be poetry, fiction, non-fiction, a script, song lyrics… The work can be on any topic, as long as it articulates your ideas and
captures the reader’s attention. All writers who have work selected for publication will be paid a fee.
If you have writing that is ready for publication (that is well written and edited) we would like you to send it straight to us, before
the cut off date of 31st March 2012. Or if you know someone who might be interested in this opportunity, please let them know!
We are also interested in hearing from people who would like to attend one of a series of writing workshops that will be held in the
lead up to the publication of the book. If you have some written work but are interested in attending a writing workshop, please
send an expression of interest to the same address. Please include within your message a little bit about yourself, what area of the
Riverina you reside in, and what type of writing you are engaged in. We will be running a maximum of four workshops and we
anticipate these will be run during May/June 2012. The dates and locations for these workshops will depend upon the interest we
receive.
The book will be produced in Wagga and launched during August, 2012.
Remember to check the blog for updates and more information: http://riverinamulticulturalvoices.wordpress.com
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BOORANGA NEWS
MARCH - APRIL 2012
Bus Shelter Poetry
All aboard the Poetry Bus!
To celebrate the hanging of the final four poems of 2011’s
Bus Shelter Poetry contest, Booranga and Wagga City
Council will be running a tour of the 8 Bus Stop Poetry
sites in the Wagga Wagga city and suburbs.
It will be a day of fun and poetry with readings at each bus stop, ending with light refreshments at Wollundry Lagoon.
Bus Departs: 2pm Saturday April 14th from the Wagga Wagga City Council Chambers
Bookings Essential as numbers will be limited.
RSVP - email: [email protected]
or phone: (02) 69 338268
Upcoming: Writer-in-residence, May 2012, Christopher ‘Kit’ Kelen.
Christopher (Kit) Kelen is a well known Australian scholar, poet and artist whose literary
works have been widely published and broadcast since the mid seventies. Kelen holds degrees
in literature and linguistics from the University of Sydney and two doctorates from the University of Western Sydney – a PhD in the area of poetics and an EdD in Critical Pedagogy of
Creative Writing.
In 2009 Kelen was shortlisted for the PressPress Poetry Chapbook Award and his volume of
poems the whole forest dancing was published by PressPress in 2010 in English, Chinese,
Portuguese and Italian editions. In 2010, Kelen’s poem ‘time with the sky’ (inspired by a 2009
Bundanon residency) placed second in the Newcastle Poetry Prize.
Public events:
Thursday 10th May, 5pm: Reading at the Wagga City Library
Saturday 12th May, 2pm: Writers’ workshop at the Booranga Writers’ Centre, Mckeown Drive, CSU Wagga
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
MARCH - APRIL 2012
ABC Open digital writing
Last year a group of Booranga members participated in a series of digital storytelling workshops run by ABC’s Sonya Gee. The
workshops involved participants utilising some of their old photographs to produce a narrative. These stories were then recorded,
edited, and placed online as multimedia stories. You can view the material created by Booranga members via the links below:
Little sister in the bush, by Claire Baker: http://vimeo.com/33760623
Formal faces hide a revelation, by Joan Cahil: http://vimeo.com/33760415
Jinglish in Sendai, by David Gilbey: http://open.abc.net.au/projects/moment-behind-the-photo-53jq3ls/contributions/contributors/david+gilbey
Walking Movie, by Michel Dignand: http://open.abc.net.au/projects/moment-behind-the-photo-53jq3ls/contributions/contributors/michel+dignand
I have been informed that all Booranga participants found these workshops really useful. If you want to make an enquiry about any
future digital workshops running in your area, please contact sonya at: [email protected]
Booranga on the Web
Homepage: http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/
‘Like’ our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Booranga-Writers-Centre/198309036885917
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Booranga
Check-in via Foursquare when at the centre: https://foursquare.com/venue/17176180
* Correction: The 10xten play festival advertised as an opportunity for writers in last year’s Booranga News was mistakenly
attributed to the SoAct Theatre company. This advertisement referred to a festival solely run by Mick Radatti. SoAct’s annual 10xten
play festival will be staged again this year, featuring plays written and produced by local writers, June 1st, 2nd & 3rd. More details
will feature in the next edition of Booranga News.
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BOORANGA NEWS
MARCH - APRIL 2012
Micro-review: Gone, by Jennifer Mills (UQP) - Derek Motion
Gone. All you need to know about the narrative - or more to put it more correctly, all that I’m going to reveal - is that a man sets out
to hitchhike across the country, from Sydney as far West as he can go. And that is what happens. It is not a spoiler to tell you that he
does indeed get there. ‘Will he get to his destination?’ is not a thing that matters to the reader.
Early on we learn the central protagonist Frank has recently got out of prison – someone asks if he’s just got out of Silverwater, and
he is given proper clothes. From here Mills employs a ‘gradual reveal’ that refuses to lead us to what might be an expected Q&A
resolution, ‘What did he do to end up inside?’ The intention of the novel is to show us that this doesn’t matter in this case, another
thing that is not important, something that might be important in more pedestrian, plot-driven fiction. What matters is the central
character and the process of identity formation. How has ‘Frank’ – he adopts this name after reading it on the label of clothes he is
given, an early moment of erasure – become the person he is? As the man travels we are presented with memories of his past and
these childhood memories gradually build up a picture of the key moments that have informed his development. This is what keeps
you reading. You want to find out what has gone on before the book’s present day scenes. Even when you start to suspect (as I did,
terribly) the illumination of a past tragedy might be pivotal.
The other thing that actually does matter in this book is the treatment of the Australian landscape and people. At one point Frank
says to a driver ‘People have been generous.’ It seems true in the book but it seems true without glossing, without presenting a fauxpicture of the good people of Australia. The violence and unfairness is everywhere. It is simply repressed the way we do repress
things. Frank is not going to dwell on the screwed-up situations and people he has encountered. That is forced away, practically
gone, except for a small period of his childhood.
He moves from one town to another, from one stretch of road to another, from one driver to another. Each progression involves
simple brutal survival. Each driver has his or her own life and agenda and, we assume, past. Frank’s concern is finding keeping his
stomach full and keeping on the road. The past intrudes occasionally, pressing other things upon him. What do we do with the past?
Do we accept it, come to terms with what has informed our development, or do we keep it at bay and move on? Often it’s not a matter of choice. Frank is peculiarly passive in his choice of what to do after prison. He simply finds himself drifting back West. Eventually he realises he is traveling home. But returning always entails te possibility of your home, your idea of home, being erased,
gone. Just like the person you once were.
Is this a truth to be taken on? If truth is revelatory this is not that revelatory to me. It is simple realism. But breathtaking in the way
that that form can be. In Gone Frank has a demon to deal with more nuanced than the simple figure of his abusive and oft-absent father. A shadowy brother exists, Jake, a figure who is most probably imaginary, an evil figure that lurks around the corners of Frank’s
life suggesting the bad things he does. The younger Frank is given a baby sister to look after and very soon left as the girl’s primarycarer. A boy that age shouldn’t be left to look after a baby but it’s almost heart-wrenchingly tender – at one point Frank (or ‘the boy’
as he thinks of his younger self) tells his looming brother ‘She’s alright. She’s good.’ Despite the banality of Franks’s traversal of the
Australian landscape from point A to point B Mills’ writing lends a devastating urgency to the tale that unfolds underneath, in the
recesses of his memory, perhaps spurred into life by the proddings of the harsh landscape he travels through.
These are that things that make a man. There is neither need to understand things nor any real means to do so. Some events and
places are forcefully erased from the earth and memory, and some things are erased by powers out of your control. This is the way it
is. Often, we go searching for something that doesn’t exist. Just as often we set out to search for something undefined, hoping it will
reveal itself along the way. But that often doesn’t happen. Many things can be characterised by their often-ness, the chance of occurrence and reoccurrence. A kid suffering, being abandoned emotionally and physically, that occurs and reoccurs. Gone ends with a
beginning and when it comes to the story of a life-in-progress that’s the best we can hope for.
Mills’ second novel is an achievement, the mark of a mature and engaging young Australian novelist. I eagerly await her next novel
due for release later this year.
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
MARCH - APRIL 2012
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
General Submissions
- £500 prize money – Poetry winner
- £500 prize money – Short Fiction winner
- Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual
- Complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual
- A selection of books from our competition partners
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:
http://www.litmags.com.au
For more information and to enter please visit: http://www.
aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm
(Booranga receives copies of the NSW based journal Southerly, and issues are available to borrow for Booranga Members)
Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted.
Entry is £10 and allows for the entry of two works into any
one category.
Eastwood/Hills Fellowship of Australian Writers
Literary Competition 2012
Closes: 31 August 2012
Categories: Short Story – Max 3,000 words (First Prize $200,
Second Prize $100); Free Verse Poetry – Max 80 lines per
poem (First Prize $150, Second Prize $50); Traditional Poetry
– Max 80 lines per poem (First Prize $150, Second Prize $50);
Category 4 Memoir – Max 1,500 words (First Prize $150, Second Prize $50); Pauline Walsh Award for Short Short Story –
Max 800 words (First Prize $100, Second Prize $50)
MANLY AND PENINSULA BRANCH Fellowship of Australian Writers
OPEN THEME COMPETITION, 3 categories, short story,
poetry and article.
Closes: Thursday 31st May, 2012
Closes: 30th June, 2012.
Entry Forms and conditions available at: http://hillsfaw.webs.
com/2011%20Lit%20Comp%20Conditions%20and%20
Entry%20Form.pdf
Cyril Bentley Short Story to 2,500 words: Entry fee $10. 1st
prize $150, 2nd prize $50. HC and Commended Certificates.
Each short story will receive 3 lines of constructive criticism
from the judge.
Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition
Betty Bennell Poetry (traditional or free verse to 30 lines) /
Article to 800 words: Entry fee $6 or 4 for $20. 1st Prize $50,
2nd Prize $25. H.Commended & Commended Certificates.
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition celebrates
and champions creative writing, nurturing talent and bringing work to international attention. Aesthetica is inviting all
writers and poets to submit to the Aesthetica Creative Writing
Competition 2012. There are two categories for entry, Poetry
and Short Fiction, and a selection of fantastic prizes including:
NO entry forms required.
BUT entrants must state entries are original,unpublished,have
not previously received an award or be under consideration
elsewhere/ in any other competition.
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BOORANGA NEWS
MARCH - APRIL 2012
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
No entry forms required, but please include a cover sheet with
all relevant details.
Monash University Undergraduate Prize for Creative Writing
Entrants must state entries are original, unpublished, have not
previously received an award or be under consideration elsewhere/ in any other competition.
The Emerging Writers’ Festival is excited to announce this significant new literary award for new and emerging writers. The
Prize is unique as it is open to undergraduate students studying
in any course at any university in Australia.
Post entries to: The Competition Secretary, FAW Manly and
Peninsula, PO Box 241, Manly, 1655.
All forms of ‘creative writing’ will be accepted, including short
stories, non-fiction narrative and narrative verse.
The Ethel Webb Blundell 2012 National Literary
Awards for Short Stories and Poetry
Short stories: open theme, 4000 words. Poetry: open theme,
100 lines. Prizes: first prize $500, second prize $300, third prize
$150, plus highly commended and commended certificates
awarded for each section.
The $5000 cash prize pool makes this a significant new award
on the Australian literary landscape. The Prize’s 2012 theme of
‘Revolution’ provides the inspiration for emerging creative writers of all forms to submit their work for consideration by Prize
judges Fiona McGregor and Ali Alizadeh.
For more information visit the Emerging Writers’ Festival
website: http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/monashprize/
Closes: 23rd April
Conditions and entry forms can be downloaded from: http://
www.swwofwa.com/whats_new.html
Big Issue Fiction Call for Submissions
Closes: 30th March
Each year, we select stories from open submissions, which are
run alongside commissioned pieces by well-known writers.
Prose
This year’s fiction edition co-editors, Chris Flynn and Melissa
Cranenburgh, are looking for intriguing stories, humorous tales
and lively and interesting writing. You can choose an original
Call for submissions - [untitled]
topic (with an emphasis on original, folks) or riff off the theme
Submissions of short fiction between 300-5000 words sought
for issue four of this bi-annual anthology. [untitled] is produced
by Busybird Publishing & Design, which promotes and gives
exposure to the work of emerging writers.
words.
‘The End of the World’. Stories must be no longer than 3000
Full submission guidelines:
Closes: 31st May
For more information visit: www.untitledonline.com.au
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JULY - AUGUST 2007
BOORANGA
NEWS
EDITOR: DEREK MOTION
MARCH - APRIL 2012
PUBLISHING, COMPETITIONS and OPPORTUNITIES
page with the story title, word count and writer’s name and full
THE ABR COPYRIGHT AGENCY FELLOWSHIP
contact details, including email address.
~ for a substantial article with an Asian focus ~
First prize $150; two runners-up will each receive $50.
Entry fee is $10 per manuscript.
Australian Book Review seeks applications for the ABR
Copyright Agency Fellowship. This Fellowship – the fourth to
be offered by ABR – is proudly supported by ABR’s generous
Patrons. We are seeking a substantial non-fiction article with an
Asian focus – either a profile of a major Asian literary/cultural
figure or a discursive essay with Asian literary/cultural themes.
The Fellowship is worth $5000.
Cheques/money orders should be made payable to Di Bates, and
posted with the manuscript to: PO Box 2116, Woonona East,
NSW, 2517 or online via: [email protected].
Manuscripts should include only a cover page with the story
title, word count, writer’s name and contact details, including
email.
Closes: 30th March
Any Australian writer with a significant publication record
(books, creative writing, essays or journalism) is eligible to apply.
Screen and Theatre
Applications close: 20th March 2012
The ABR Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of major
works of literary journalism, and to advance the magazine’s
commitment to critical debate.
Australia Council Theatre Grants
Grants include: New Work (supports one-off projects that result
in the creation of new contemporary theatre work.
Full guidelines are available at: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/programs/copyright-agency-fellowship
Details at: www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/grants/
new_work__theatre2); also,
8th KATHLEEN JULIA BATES MEMORIAL WRITING
Theatre: Fellowships (provides individual artists with financial
support to undertake a two-year program of creative work and/
or professional development.
FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION
Open only to Australian writers (published and unpublished),
Details at: www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/grants/
fellowships_-_theatre)
this competition is for the first chapter (to 2,000 words) of a
chapter book suitable for readers up to the age of 10 years. Subject matter is open. The manuscript should include a title-
9
BOORANGA WRITERS’ CENTRE
APPLICATION FOR 2012 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 to 31st
December 2012
Group membership (including one copy of fourW)
$55.00
Single membership (including one copy of fourW)
$36.00
Single membership (not including anthology)
$25.00
Concessional membership (one copy of fourW)
$26.00
Concessional membership (not including anthology)
$15.00
Student membership (under 21 years) not including
anthology
$11.00
MEMBERSHIP ENTITLES YOU TO...
- Copy of fourW twenty-one 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
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: