2013
NOVEMBER
to DECEMBER
November
Launch of our anthology
fourW twenty-four
Saturday 23rd:
WWCC Library
2pm to 4pm
Sunday 24th:
Robarta Nightclub
Melbourne
from 2.30pm
Saturday 30th:
Gleebooks
Sydney
from 3.30pm
(Michael Crane’s new book
will also be launched)
fourW twenty-four new writing
The twenty-fourth edition of fourW will be
launched on Saturday 23 November from
2pm, downstairs at the Wagga City Library
by Miriam Dayhew, Charles Sturt University
Head of Campus (pictured right).
Winners of the Booranga Prize for best poem
and best short story will also be announced
with each awarded $250, courtesy of CSU’s
School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
fourW is an anthology of new poetry and
prose from all over Australia and overseas
including work from this year’s writersin-residence at Booranga: Fiona Wright,
Josephine Rowe, Keri Glastonbury and Sulari
Gentill.
This edition also includes the eight poems that have featured on Wagga bus shelters
since 2011, adding colour and illustration this year to the eclectic mix of writing styles and
writing matter.
The annual publication of fourW is one of our important functions as it
provides regional writers with a venue for publication and exposure both
nationally and internationally.
Other writers include: Christopher Barnes, Broede Carmody, B.R.
Dionysius, Jane Downing, Rory Harris, Daniel King, Andrew Kirby, Jules
Leigh Koch, Beverley Lello, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, Sean O’Leary, Corey
Wakeling, and Chloe Wilson.
fourW twenty-four will also be launched in Melbourne and Sydney on 24
and 30 November respectively.
“fourW is one of Australia’s longest running (and best) annual
anthologies of new poetry and prose. As the number suggests this is
the twenty-fourth year of publication and this issue (nearly 200 pages)
contains some terrific new writing and graphics from around Australia
and overseas“. — Gleebooks, Sydney
this event is FREE and
refreshments are provided
Booranga Writers’ Centre
McKeown Drive (Locked Bag 588) Wagga Wagga NSW 2678
staff are in every Monday (9.00am-3.30pm), Tuesday (9.00am-11.30am), Thursday (9.00am-2.30pm)
phone: (02) 6933 2688 – [email protected] – www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga
Melbourne launch of fourW
Free event: Sunday 24 November 3–5pm
Robarata Nightclub – 109 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
Launcher – Corey Wakeling
Corey (pictured right) lives in Melbourne and is a PhD candidate and tutor at the
University of Melbourne. He is the author of chapbook Gargantuan Terrier, Buggy
or Dinghy (Vagabond Press, 2012) and Goad Omen (Giramondo, 2013) is his first
full-length poetry collection. With Jeremy Balius, Corey co-edited Outcrop: radical
Australian poetry of land (Black Rider Press, 2013). He is reviews editor of poetry
journal Rabbit, and interviews editor of Cordite.
RSVP is appreciated via Facebook or email [email protected]
Sydney launch of fourW
Free event: Saturday 30 November 3.30 for 4pm
Gleebooks – 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Launcher – Mark O’Flynn
After working for a number of years in the theatre, producing several plays, Mark
(pictured right) turned to fiction and also poetry.
He published a novella Captain Cook (Pascoe, 1987), and the play Paterson’s Curse
(Currency Press, 1988). His first collection of poems The Too Bright Sun was published
in 1996. Mark has since published two additional poetry books The Good Oil (2000)
and What Can Be Proven (2007).
His subsequent novels are: Grassdogs (Harper Collins Australia 2006); False Start, A
Memoir of Things Best Forgotten (Finch Publishing 2012); and The Forgotten World
(Fourth Estate/Harper Collins Australia 2013).
RSVP is preferred via www.gleebooks.com.au or alternatively by phoning 02 9660
2333 or email [email protected]
Launch of Michael Crane’s book
As a special treat the novelist, poet and Southerly editor David Brooks will launch
Postcards from the End of the World: a Michael Crane sampler of Poetry and Prose at
Gleebooks during the afternoon as well.
Postcards from the End of the World: a Michael Crane sampler of Poetry and Prose
Michael Crane has had many poems and stories published in Australian, US and Canadian literary
journals including the Best Australian Poems 2011 and the Australian Love Poems 2013. He completed
a diploma at the RMIT professional writing and editing course, organised Poetry Idol for the Melbourne
Writers Festival, and is managing editor of the Paradise Anthology. He completed a writers in residence at
Booranga in 2001 and has toured with Les Murray extensively.
“There are 103 poems including recent poems and a selection of my favourites, many published in 4W
and also in journals including Southerly, Meanjin and Overland. There are also 20 micro stories in the form
of postcards about an imaginary city above a waterfall called the End of the World where strange things
happen like a woman kisses men and they shrink, a bull that cannot die, a wicked witch who wants to be good and many others. There
are also some longer stories from 500 words to 2500 words,” said Michael
Michael’s book is published by the Paradise anthology and Hillside grove.
https://www.facebook.com/Booranga
https://twitter.com/Booranga
www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/home
November – December 2013
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The museum of the Riverina is pleased to host Home in the
Vast. This is the second seminar in the Museum’s ‘Landscape’
series where you’ll hear a fascinating and diverse range of
special guest speakers including Margaret Simpson from the
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and Dr. Hollis Taylor from the
University of Technology, Sydney, discussing subjects ranging
from agricultural machinery to zoomusicology.
Margaret Simpson has been a curator of Transport at the
Powerhouse Museum for over 25 years. During that time she’s
researched everything from bicycles to steam trams, rickshaws
to Cobb & Co. coaches. Margaret has written books on the
history of transport in Australia, old buildings in Sydney, a
children’s book on rail heritage, and farm machinery in Australia.
The last book has been expanded into an enormous, illustrated,
international database of agricultural manufacturers operating
between 1860 and 1960. This resource will allow museums
throughout Australia and around the world to identify, research,
interpret and conserve the valuable agricultural collections in
their care. This database will form the basis of her talk at the
Home in the Vast seminar.
Dr Hollis Taylor is a violinist, composer and ornithologist who
specialises in the Australian Pied butcherbird, and has an abiding
interest in lyrebirds and bowerbirds as well. Her PhD thesis,
Towards a Species Songbook: Illuminating the Song of the
Australian Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), straddles
the fields of zoömusicology, ornithology, and composition.
Currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of
Technology, Sydney, Hollis will talk about the Pied butcherbird
as she asks the question, ‘Is birdsong music?’. Pied butcherbirds,
with their significant commonalities with human music, put
pressure on music’s definition. In her presentation, Hollis will
discuss and demonstrate the avenues she is pursuing to analyze
pied butcherbird songs, especially their abilities to combine and
recombine song units in their nocturnal long songs. She will play
highlights of audio and video from her nine years of research.
Alongside these two fascinating speakers, Home in the Vast
will also feature special guests, Booranga Writers’ Centre’s
own Joan Cahill and David Gilbey, who will each share a
selection of their favourite poems on local themes.
Home in the Vast considers themes of settlement, life in the
bush, birdlife and Wiradjuri culture that appear in the exhibition,
The Sauntering Emu and Other Stories: Life with the Birds of
the Riverina. On display at the Museum’s Botanic Gardens Site,
Sauntering Emu features the work of Australia’s nationally
acclaimed poet and writer, Dame Mary Gilmore, who lived in
the Riverina as a child, and witnessed enormous changes to the
region’s vast landscape and to the lives of those who lived there.
Home in the Vast takes its name from one of Gilmore’s poems,
The Bush-born Child (1930). In which she recalls the conflicting
memories of isolation and opportunity she faced as a pupil
teacher in small schools around Wagga Wagga in the 1880s.
There ’mid the endless range of trees,
Unspaced both land and time,
Home in the vast a tiny bay,
The unknown spoke in every breeze,
And made each darkling bough its mime.
Home in the Vast is happening on Saturday 23 November from
10am to 12.30pm at Museum’s Gardens Site. It is a FREE event
and light refreshments will be served.
If you like to tell stories and compose
sentences, and if you work hard at being
good at these things, then you are a writer
even if you haven’t published anything.
– Trenton Lee Stewart
November – December 2013
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Jo Wilson-Ridley
Word Travels Festival 2013
It was a good year to qualify for the NSW
State Finals of the Australian Poetry Slam.
In 2013 the NSW State and National Finals
were grouped together into three days
of live literary mayhem, called the Word
Travels Festival 2013.
The State Finals along with The National
Finals were two key events in the festival
and were enjoyed along with a number
of other sumptuous literary events that
took place on 11-13 October in Sydney.
Events from poetry walking tours through
The Rocks, a story bordello night in an
historical house and poetry luncheon
enabled spoken word poets from around
Australia to strut their talents.
Budding Slam Poets had the opportunity
to mix with more established Australian
Spoken word poets such as Candy Royalle,
Ghostboy, Tug Dumbly and Luka Lesson
(to name a few). And the feature artist of
the festival was the acclaimed Amercian
wordsmith Ursula Rucker renowned
for her musicality in spoken word
performances.
The highlight of the weekend was
attending a poetry forum that featured
the inventor of poetry slam, Marc Smith
via Skype from Chicago. I was able to
contribute ideas to a discussion with
Marc and other Australian Poets on
the challenges and opportunities for
Spoken Word in Australia. Ideas on
how to reach more diverse audiences
with Spoken Word surfaced including
performances in public transport,
performances while people were waiting
in queue for big sporting events or even
flash-mob performances. I realised I’d
lost my opportunity to dazzled the 30
travellers on my Rex Flight to Sydney
especially when the Flight Attendant had
forgotten her place during the safety
demonstration.
Zohab Khan and I proudly represented the
Wagga Wagga Heat at the State Finals on
Friday Night at the Sydney Wharf Theatre.
We played to a packed crowd (which
featured more than a few proud Mums)
and the performances were rich in their
stories and impressive in their quality.
Zohab narrowly missed out on a spot at
the National Finals with a Slam-off for
second place. I was delighted to receive
lots of positive comments in the bar from
audience members and one enthusiastic
girl yelled to me from her cab that she was
also from the Riverina and hated scunges
too (the theme of my poem—to be
honest, she called me ‘Hey—Scunge Girl).
Ursula Rucker confessed at the National
Finals on Sunday Night at the Sydney
Opera House, that she didn’t like poetry
slams. Spoken word poetry wasn’t about
competition for Ursula; it was her way of
life. But she revealed that the National
Finals was the best poetry slam she had
ever been too. Featuring the top 2 poets
from each state and territory in Australia
the competition was fierce as 16 poets
shared their stories covering topics of
war, slavery, child abuse, love, suicide,
mental health, identity, family, acceptance
and belonging. A young NSW poet from
Newcastle, Jesse Brand was crowned
the 2013 Australian Slam Champion
for his dynamic performances of sci-fi
confessional spoken word.
I returned to the Riverina inspired by my
weekend of literary word, renewed to
discover new platforms and avenues for
spoken word and enthused about new
themes. The Festival had highlighted
the rich and diverse spoken word culture
thriving in Australia and put the challenge
out to poets to expand this culture further.
Thank you to Wagga Wagga Writers
Writers for their prize money that I used
to travel to the festival. I was honoured to
represent the Wagga Wagga Heat.
Jo Wilson-Ridley
News Flash
We have received funding from Arts NSW for 2014 !
Congratulations to us. We were successful in our application for the
NSW Government’s 2014 Arts Funding Program
Thank you Arts NSW!
November – December 2013
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Maurice Corlett
John’s Send Off
Thank you all for coming.
It’s good to see the family here who
have come in from Lockhart to share this
moment with us.
And, as is usual with our get togethers,
food and drink are in abundance.
Now that John has got his shit together, I
would just like to say a few words before
we send him off on his new adventure.
So just settle in for tonight’s reading
which is something between a short story
and a sermon and shouldn’t take more
than half an hour or so!
And unlike Steve who can give a good and
amusing speech without any notes, I am
not as sharp as I used to be and have had
to write something down.
I don’t think we have to go any further
back than when John was primary school
age to get a measure of our man.
You certainly made up your mind early
that school was out for you. And when,
after much argy-bargy with the Education
Department your counsellor managed to
get you into Turvey Park, you used to drag
along behind me all the way down.
But you got through high school and
made a couple of mates in Cain and
Steven and as young bloods you used to
hang out down the river with your red
heeler dog.
(Why did you post that picture of Tiger on
Facebook, in the twilight of his years, lying
on the lawn – it made me cry – he was a
good old boy.)
Anyway, it was one summer’s night down
by the river that you wrapped our Sigma
around a tree. I remember taking the
phone call when you said that you had
had an accident but you thought that you
could fix it. You also told me that you were
at Turvey Tops, just a kilometre away, and
that you would be home in an hour! So
I knew then that something major was
wrong.
And when I got up in the morning and
saw the front of the car spread around
the engine, I knew that there wasn’t much
hope. You couldn’t fix it John, and it was
eventually taken away by the wreckers
and we all went back to the bus. Didn’t
anyone ever tell you that those redgums
never move? They just wait for hooning
young drivers to lose it in the dirt.
To summarise the rest of your time with
us, you went to Junee Gaol (as a guard,
not an inmate!) and then into the Army
and a stint with the UN in East Timor. You
went to TAFE in Brisbane and started up
in landscape gardening and did a lot of
the jobs that others wouldn’t touch. After
giving that away you went wandering on
a motor bike and ended up in Adelaide.
That was where you were born so maybe
there was some kind of ‘back to country’
thing going on.
Back to Brisbane and off to journalism
school where you won the annual award
and set out on another course. Jobs in
journalism here and there with a time in
Broken Hill as a TV journo (and you can’t
go back there now as you made an enemy
of the mayor – if you want to pick a fight
John, don’t go for the guy with all the
clout!)
And now, after seeing a position on the
internet, you are off to Dubai to start work
in the Middle East. This will entail going
into Afghanistan so I have arranged a
support group for your mother before the
event. If you are ever in the combat zone
you can be sure that she will be over there
in a flash to drag you home to Wagga. And
no doubt while you are on the ground
there, Grandpa Johnstone will be at your
elbow, at every turn, directing operations.
You are off to do a job that, forty years
ago, I would have given my eye teeth for.
But I missed the boat, whereas you are
just climbing aboard. And when you fly
over the Indian Ocean, take a look down
and you may see your Grandad sailing
in his ghost ship destroyer through the
submarine infested seas.
And as it’s a British company that you
will be working for, you may get to the
UK and be able to look up your dear old
Gran sitting in the back garden of the
house where I was born. Give her my love
and tell her that we had a barbecue to
send you off and she will go green with
envy – she loves the whole idea of eating
outdoors.
And go down by the harbour at Newhaven
and see where ‘Snowy’ left from to go
to and fro and to and fro and to and
fro across the Channel. And watch the
boats come in and buy a fish from the
cooperative along the river wall. And go
down towards the seafront and listen to
the water sloshing under the concrete
quay.
So, John, as we never saw you on your
twenty-first or indeed your thirtieth, I
would like to say that its goodbye for now
from all of us here and good luck with
your new career and may all your stories
shine.
Here’s to John.
Maurice Corlett
Would you like to see your writing here?
Booranga News welcomes the submission of original writing. Poetry, prose, lyrics,
free-form, fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, travelogue, journaling, fanfiction, and more!
November – December 2013
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5
Writing with Margo Lanagan
It wasn’t all Tim Tams and coffee at October’s
Booranga writers’ workshop!
Margo Lanagan took us through several
exercises that had us writing furiously to
capture the images conjured up by the
written phrases or pictures that were
handed out to us in envelopes.
It’s amazing how much writing occurs in
just a few minutes, and by giving us strict
guidelines (open the envelope now, start
writing etc.) and knowing that we didn’t
have to share what we’d written, our inner
voices that act as inhibitors to our creative
selves were sidestepped.
by the amount of chatter that it raised),
was Margo’s sharing of her scrapbooks
that she uses to help re-orientate herself
when picking up the thread of her writing.
The themed scrapbooks such as Gothic,
feminine form, floating, strange people,
contain pictures from magazines and
newspapers.
By highlighting this method of visual
stimulation, Margo provided us with
another tool to use to help shake up our
imagination and assist in writing in an
evocative manner.
by Claire Baker
An aspect of this workshop that I really
enjoyed (and so did everyone else judging
A dozen or so of our members came along to
visiting writer, Margo Lanagan’s, workshop on
Saturday 12th October.
In David Gilbey’s absence, Claire Baker
welcomed Margo as we sat around the
large table in the Booranga Writers’
Centre.
If ‘challenging fun’ is not an oxymoron,
that is how the two hours flew by. Margo
gently took control, gave us some fast
moving exercises and we rose to the
occasion. Towards the end of the day, she
listened intently to the work which some
of us had brought along and impressed
with her insightful comments.
Replete with coffee, chocolate biscuits and
Margo, we headed home after a satisfying
afternoon.
by Joan Cahill
Fusion: Recipes and Stories from the Riverina
was offically launched on Saturday 19 October during the
Wagga Wagga City Council’s Fusion Festival.
In the delicious multicultural food area Laurinda Motion, Glenda Pym,
Claire Baker and Joan Cahill were on hand to sell copies of this beautiful
production which includes photos, recipes and stories if the participants.
Fusion: Recipes and Stories from the Riverina is now available from
the Booranga Writers’ Centre, Wagga Wagga City Council and the
Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga at $15.00 each.
Fusion: Recipes and Stories from the Riverina is a project developed in partnership
with The Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga. It’s publication was funded
by a grant from Regional Arts NSW, and the production of the book was also
supported by Wagga Wagga City Council and Charles Sturt University.
November – December 2013
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From all of us here at Booranga
have a safe and happy festive season
and may the words flow fast!
Submission Guidelines
Booranga News welcomes contributions.
They should be emailed to the editor,
Debbie Angel, at director@booranga.
com or to the president, David Gilbey at
[email protected].
We have no preference as to the typeface
as contributions will be altered to house
style when they are received. Items may
also be posted.
It is helpful if there is only one space after
a full stop or other punctuation, and the
en dash ( – ) rather than the hyphen is
used where appropriate. The hyphen
should only be used in ‘hyphenated’
words.
Original items are most welcome. We are
particularly glad to receive poetry, prose,
and lyrics.
Original reviews (yours!) of published
works by Australian authors, poets, song
writers etc. are also encouraged.
Digital photographs are acceptable. The
higher the resolution the better.
Items which have been ‘lifted’ or
copied from other sources must be
acknowledged and permission for their
reproduction obtained were required.
Unless otherwise requested your
submitted items may (also) be reproduced
on our website or social media.
Submitting items is no guarantee of their
reproduction.
The Editor
reserves
the right to
exercise her
discretion.
Submissions
for our next
newsletter close
15 February 2014
If you have a piece of writing you would like to be considered for reproduction in our newsletter
or know of an event, competition, or information that may be of interest to Booranga’s members and friends
please email it to the editor, Debbie Angel, at [email protected]
WWWW and Booranga Writers’ Centre gratefully acknowledge the financial and other support received from:
November – December 2013
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Wagga Wagga Writers Writers
Application
for 2013
Membership
Wagga
Wagga
Writers
Writers
Application for 2014 Membership
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 writing fellowships at Booranga, the Riverina Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University
and publishes
an annual
anthology,
under
the to
imprint
fourW
press,
andauthors
is active
in
Wagga
Wagga Writers
Writers
Inc. wasfourW,
formed
in 1987
assist of
and
promote
local
and
promoting
writing
and
writers
throughout
the
Riverina.
their work. The group holds regular readings at local venues, conducts writing workshops,
offers writing fellowships at Booranga, the Riverina Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University
st December
Membership
1st January
to 31
2013:
and
publishesperiod
an annual
anthology,
fourW,
under the
imprint of fourW press, and is active in
promoting writing and writers throughout the Riverina.
Group membership (including one copy of anthology)
$55.00
st
st
Single
membership
(including
one
copy
of
anthology)
$36.00
Membership period 1 January to 31 December 2014:
Single membership (not including anthology)
$25.00
Concessional
membership
(including
one
of anthology)
$26.00
Group
membership
(including
one copy
ofcopy
anthology)
$55.00
Concessional
membership
(notone
including
$15.00
Single
membership
(including
copy ofanthology)
anthology)
$36.00
Student
membership
(under
21 years)
not including anthology
$11.00
Single
membership
(not
including
anthology)
$25.00
Concessional membership (including one copy of anthology)
$26.00
Membership also
entitles you
to: including anthology)
Concessional
membership
(not
$15.00
- Regular
newsletters
and
mailouts
Student
membership
(under
21e-list
years)
not including anthology
$11.00
- 10% discount at Collins Book Store, Wagga
- 10% discount
at Angus
& Robertson Bookworld, Wagga
Membership
also entitles
you to:
Membersnewsletters
discounts to
readings,
performances and workshops
- Regular
and
e-list mailouts
Invitations
to writing
events
and
get-togethers
- 10%
discount
at Collins
Book
Store,
Wagga
Access
to a network
of writers,
book enthusiasts
other writers’ centres
- 10%
discount
at Angus
& Robertson
Bookworld, and
Wagga
- Members discounts to readings, performances & workshops
- Invitations to writing events and get-togethers
- Access to a network of writers, book enthusiasts and other writers’ centres
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please fill out, detach and send application to:
 Wagga Wagga Writers Writers Inc., Booranga Writers’ Centre,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Charles
Sturt University,
Bag 588,
Please fill
out, detach
and sendLocked
application
to: Wagga Wagga NSW 2678
Phone/Fax
(02)
6933 2688
 Wagga
Wagga
Writers
Writers Inc., Booranga Writers’ Centre,
Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga NSW 2678
Name: Phone/Fax
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Address:
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BSB: 082 811
TO PAY ELECTRONICALLY:
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Account Number: 02951 4435
Bank:
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BSB: 082 811
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Account Name: Wagga Wagga Writers Writers
Account Number: 02951 4435
Enclosed:
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WWWW and Booranga Writers’ Centre gratefully acknowledge the financial and other support received from:
November – December 2013
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