Jena Woodhouse
MAY NEWSLETTER
COMING EVENTS
Saturday, 30 April
Workshop at Booranga Writers'
Centre; with Zohab Zee Khan
1.30pm to 5.00pm
Tuesday, 3 May
Public reading by Jena Woodhouse,
writer-in-residence, at the Historic
Council Chambers; 5.30pm –
7.30pm Refreshments supplied
Saturday, 7 May
Workshop at Booranga Writers'
Centre; with Jena Woodhouse
2.00pm to 4.00pm
Raw Roar
High energy and lots of fun! Raw
Roar happens on the last Wednesday
of every month, upstairs at
Romanos. Great practice for the
Poetry Slam!
Jena Woodhouse grew up on a farm in
coastal central Queensland, and as an
adolescent dreamed of becoming an
archaeologist. This did not eventuate,
and after a gap year as a governess on a
grazing property she worked at a
variety of occupations while studying
for an honours degree in Russian
language and literature at the University
of Queensland. Other courses taken
included English and Australian
literature and Women’s Studies. She
subsequently became a teacher of
Russian and English as a Second
Language, and spent ten years as a parttime editor of fiction and poetry for a
university press.
Her first publications were in poetry,
which continues to be a major part of
her output. In the 1990s she lived and
worked in Greece for ten years,
becoming an arts features writer for a
subsidiary of the International Herald
Tribune. On her return to Australia she
completed a Master’s degree in
Creative Writing. Her book
publications include two poetry
collections: Eros in Landscape and
Passenger on a Ferry; an awardwinning novella for children, Metis, the
Octopus and the Olive Tree; a novel –
Farming Ghosts; a collection of short
stories, Dreams of Flight, and an
anthology of contemporary writing by
Australian women, Hidden Desires:
Australian women writing, which she
co-compiled and co-edited. She has
also written song lyrics for composer
Betty Beath, and translated poems from
the Russian and Modern Greek. Her
poems and stories have received
numerous awards and commendations,
including two short-listings for the
Montreal International Poetry Prize
(2013 and 2015), and regional winner,
Pacific region, in the Commonwealth
Short Story Competition 2010.
In recent years she has been the
recipient of several residencies and
writers’ fellowships in Europe,
including a Hawthornden Fellowship
(Scotland) in 2011; a bursary to spend a
month at Camac Centre d’Art, Marnaysur-Seine (France) in 2015, and a
Creative Residency at the Australian
Archaeological Institute at Athens
(Greece) in 2015. In addition, she has
been offered a residency at the Tyrone
Guthrie Centre (Ireland).
She is currently working on a new
collection of poetry and a work of
fiction.
Return of the Prodigal
Athens
After long absence, the city
no longer knows me.
It is as if an ageing parent
fails to recognise, in the face
of the stranger at her door,
the prodigal daughter,
at last come home –
having remembered her otherwise
with the lapse of years –
younger, slimmer, lovelier,
unlike this unfamiliar being
materialising out of the ether
anticlimactically; the mother
almost preferring indefinite
absence, the illusion,
to irrefutable evidence of fickle,
fanciful memory; here seen
Jena Woodhouse
Evening Stroll by the Canal
Late today I turned east by the
arched bridge at the village edge
to follow the canal’s trajectory,
between tall trees and low levee—
a strange wind blowing fitfully,
rattling the sabres of a ghost cohort.
A swan is nesting on the bank, a
queen upon her makeshift throne—
her consort tacking back and forth,
anxious and alone.
A chill breath lifts the trailing ivy
tendrils from the trunks of trees,
sings an eerie serenade in balls of
mistletoe, ruffles the canal's
meniscus, sets it lapping like a cat.
I glance over my shoulder: it’s
deserted here, I should turn back,
but can't resist the stubborn
invitation of the thread of track.
The channel is an enigmatic green,
unwinding like a charm.
The more I walk, the more it lures
me on.
The chateau and the village that I
reach have strayed out of a tale.
I'll blink, and there’ll be nothing
there at all. I blink, but they are
real:
“The Three Emperors,” where three
armies in turn set up
their headquarters, is solid as a
rock. I am the revenant,
or so it seems, roaming stony streets
like one possessed.
Walking back, I see the swan has
tucked her head beneath her wing;
the male swan paddles fretfully, to
guard her as she rests.
The northern European light drains
swiftly to the west—
its running fire on the canal is
doused.
The woods are listening, as if alert
for signs of hobgoblins,
and there is something edgy in the
wind...
Jena Woodhouse
Life in the Spotlight
Just a quick advertisement for this
wonderful fundraiser; (your editor is
one of the cast!)
Land Dialogues CSU
13-15 April
As part of the Land Dialogues
Conference at CSU, John Muk Muk
Burke conducted two poetry workshops
which I was privileged to attend.
The theme of the workshops was The
Disappearing and the poetry produced
will be used by the Red Room
Company as part of their major project
on The Disappearing.
Disappearing…
Mostly I don’t notice things
I don’t read newspapers
I don’t watch the news
But I do feel things
And sometimes as I walk , I feel a
loss
The river bank is different; the
bridge has gone
The streetscape has changed; the
tower now a pile of bricks
Down town is crowded; there’s no
place to park
I run into a friend: but there’s no
time to talk
Time and space are disappearing
But mostly I don’t notice things
Kate Dunn
Paul Daley
Reading at the Historic Council
Chambers
Paul stood up wonderfully under
questioning
We were privileged to have Paul
read from his new manuscript.
Looking forward to its publication!
Lots of interest
Booranga Workshops
Workshops are generally held
monthly at Booranga between 2.00
and 4.00 pm on a Saturday.
Turning the Lived Experience into
the Literary – Writers’ Workshop
with Paul Daley
entertainment. The recounting of Aunt
Gracie’s funeral as told by her nephew,
caused much hilarity and applause.
Saturday 9th April saw 16 people of
various ages and writing experience
drawn together to participate in this
workshop led by Paul Daley,
Booranga’s first writer-in-residence for
2016.
The discussion continued regarding
how to obtain an ‘authentic’ voice, is
anything off-limits to a writer (yes,
using a personal confidence),
ownership of a story, ‘faction’ (turning
fact into fiction), and how readers can
sometimes find something that the
writer did not intend.
After a settling in period where we
introduced ourselves and briefly
mentioned our writing experience and
what writing means to us, Paul
discussed the use of the first person.
Referring to “feelpinion”, Paul
highlighted how it is now common
practice for a journalist to draw on his
own experience when writing about
news worthy events. This can result in a
lack in depth, warned Paul, but if a real
in-depth research is drawn on by the
writer, it can work very well.
The group were asked to write a piece
of 400 words long in fifteen minutes
that centred on ‘something I’m not
allowed to do’. Despite some
murmuring of dissent initially, we
quickly put pen to paper. After
completion we were invited to read out
our work, and it was amazing the
variety and quality of writing that this
produced. Ranging from a blokey
narrative on the perils of beer drinking
to excess, a small child hidden behind a
sofa, a mother refusing to dress, prepare
meals or take children to school, a
young woman’s rant against
unacceptable male behaviours, and
plenty in between provided much
As preparation for this workshop, a link
to an article written by Andrew
O’Hagan on Julian Assange entitled
“Ghosting Assange” had been made
available. This article, quite a long one,
provides an insight into the relationship
between Assange and O’Hagan, the
writer who took on the job of ghost
writer for Assange’s biography.
Cleverly written, this article blends
O’Hagan’s assessment of the various
people and their motivations, and
factual meetings and quotes (O’Hagan
uses tape records conversations to get
the voice right). Having exposure to
this writing prior to the workshop
demonstrated how well such a blending
of fact and personal, combined with
using the first person, can work. A
hearty discussion of this article took
place towards the end of our two hours.
And, as homework, we were asked to
remove a third of the words from our
workshop piece with adjectives to be
removed first, as an editing/condensing
exercise!
Claire Baker
Paul Daley Workshop
16 people attended
Opportunities
Lip Magazine launches annual
Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction
for 2016
15 March 2016: Lip is thrilled to announce
that entries for the 2016 Rachel Funari
Prize for Fiction are now open!
Now in its fourth year, the 2016 Rachel
Funari Prize for Fiction is accepting entries
of creative, insightful fiction up to 2000
words that engages with the theme of
‘other’.
As a feminist magazine, Lip aims to nurture
women’s writing and provide a platform for
feminist voices and stories.
As such, the competition is open to all
women, female-identifying and non-binary
writers.
All entries must be original, previously
unpublished and unperformed.
Rachel Funari, the namesake of the
competition, was the founding editor
of Lip. Tragically, Rachel went missing in
2011 while on holiday in Tasmania. This
prize is held in her honour because she was
determined to better the lives and
opportunities for young women.
Winner of the 2015 Rachel Funari Prize for
Fiction, Katelin Farnsworth, had this to say:
‘The Rachel Funari Prize, run annually
by Lip Magazine, celebrates women and places
them at the centre. This competition matters
because stories by or about women are
important and need to be promoted and listened
to. I wish there were more competitions like
the Rachel Funari prize. The prize gives writers
an opportunity to have their voices heard and to
explore interesting and important themes.
Winning the Rachel Funari prize in 2015 gave me
the chance to be heard, to gain exposure for my
work, and has helped to create further writing
opportunities. It has opened doors for me and so
I definitely encourage everyone to enter this
competition. Women’s stories are necessary and
an essential part of Australian writing. The
Rachel Funari prize celebrates these stories
beautifully. I’m so grateful this prize exists.’
The 2016 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction is
proudly supported by Text
Publishing, Books+Publishing,Giramond
o, Wakefield Press, Whitmore Press,
Scribe Publications, Writers Victoria, and
the Emerging Writers’ Festival.
This year’s judging panel includes Eliza
Henry-Jones, Abigail Ulman, and Emily
Bitto.
The winner of the 2016 Rachel Funari Prize
for Fiction will take home a $2000 cash
prize and will be officially announced as part
of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in
Melbourne.
Entries are open to Australian
residents only and close 5pm
Friday 22 April, 2016
For more information and/or media
enquiries, please visit lipmag.com/about/therachel-funari-prize-for-fiction/or
contact Lip’s Editor-in-Chief Jo Mandarano
at [email protected] or Prize Coordinator
Eliza Graves-Brown
[email protected]
DON’T MISS THIS
Jena Woodhouse, our next Writer-in
Residence has offered to give oneon-one writing consultations.
This is a fabulous opportunity for
poets and short story writers to get
feedback on their work from a
prominent, published author.
Jena will be in residence from 2 – 18
May
Contact Jena on:
[email protected]