Meuse Press has released an e-anthology titled "From This Broken Hill" – an unique combination of writing from some of the country's top writers (past & present) combined with a dazzling array of photography. A place of near mythic proportions, this city deep in the outback. A mine that put the money into Melbourne. Arts hub while simultaneously isolated by distance. But in some ways Broken Hill was the experiment that became multicultural Australia – it had the country's first mosque, many communities continue to thrive within its boundaries. The rough heart of Unionism still stands strong. People escape to this city, others escape a childhood there. It has its horrors and highlights, once there you'll never forget. Read an excerpt from a Napoleon Bonaparte set in the city, read the view back from leading poet Rae Desmond Jones who grew up there and wonder at the mining waste turned into a thing of beauty surrounded by red soil. Edited by Barbara De Franceschi, Marvis Sofield and Les Wicks. Supported by Broken Hill Regional Writers' Centre, Broken Hill City Council, Countrylink & ArtsNSW. It is available at http://brokenhill.tripod.com/BrokenHill.htm

Always wanted to write? Don¹t know how to get started? Or what to write about? Need a refresher? A change of direction? A day out with words? Whether you are an aspiring writer or an old hand take some Time to Write: a program of two workshops with exercises to get you thinking, remembering, imagining and writing; hints on developing work and other challenges; plus some discussion of future needs and projects. Time to Write will be facilitated by published writer Lizz Murphy on Thursday February 11 and Thursday February 25 at Boorowa Ex-Services Club on the Dining Room, Pudman Street, Boorowa, 10.00 am-3.30 pm. BYO lunch or lunch to share. Bookings essential. Please phone Lizz Murphy on 6227 4393. Cost is a total of $30 (or $20 unwaged, Boorowa Book Club and ACTWC members) for both workshops - payable on first day. Or book for one workshop only: $25 ($15 unwaged and Boorowa Book Club and ACTWC members). Lizz Murphy lives in Binalong and has published ten books including five poetry collections, and five anthologies or community publications. In 2006 and 2007 she travelled to Calcutta as part of an Australia-India Poetry Exchange. The Time to Write workshops are supported by the ACT Writers Centre, Boorowa Book Club and Boorowa Ex-Services Club.

Celebrate Valentine's Day with world-renowned romance writer, Valarie Parv, as she reveals some of the secrets of writing a romance novel. With 25 million copies of her books sold internationally, it's no wonder Valerie Parv is known as Australia's queen of romance. Then, following a booksigning and refreshments, enjoy a special screening of the Australian film Paperback Hero (1999), starring Hugh Jackman and Claudia Karvan. Imagine Hugh Jackman as Jack Willis, a handsome roadtrain driver with a secret - he has just become a top-selling romance novelist. But being a 'man's man', he needs a name, a woman's name - and he chooses that of his best friend, Ruby Vale. Cost: $10 (refreshments included) National Library of Australia, Theatre on Friday 12 February at 5pm. Bookings: 02 6262 1271 or bookings@nla.gov.au

You may have heard of slow food, now it's time to learn about slow gardening during a special event with author – photographer Trisha Dixon on Friday 5 February at Borrodell on the Mount during Slow Summer celebrations.

Trisha will be the guest speaker at lunch from 12pm supported by Orange City Council and the Central West Writers' Centre. Tickets are $35 and include lunch and a glass of wine on arrival. For bookings call Orange City Council on 6393 8170 or purchase your ticket from Orange City Library.

The slow gardening concept is simply like the slow food one - as life gets crazier and busier, the garden needs to be a place of solace and relaxation, not another 'chore' to be done on the run and ticked off the list....and who doesn't like the sound of that? Come along to learn more over a lazy Summer lunch.....

Wishing you all the best for reading and writing in 2010!

American immigrant to Australia, Shady Cosgrove, undertook a pilgrimage across American to Graceland for the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death in the hope of rediscovering her homeland. Shady will share with us the story of this journey, why she sang Elvis songs at cities and towns along the way, and then how she came to write the memoir She Played Elvis. A moving, witty and original meditation on the idea of pilgrimage, family, home and loss, and a classic road story and a journey of self-discovery set to an Elvis soundtrack; a story told with a clear-eyed, intelligent, unforgettable grace.

Shady teaches creative writing at the University of Wollongong. Her work has appeared in Best Australian Stories 2006, Antipodes, Southerly and Overland.

You are invited to meet Shady at Parkes Library, Bogan Street, Parkes, located behind the Post Office ph: 6861 2309 on Friday 8 January 2010 at 2pm. This is free event and includes afternoon tea

Drum roll.........Sarah Taylor, a 59-year-old retiree from Newcastle, threw her inhibitions to the wind and covered all the taboo subjects to win this year's Slam at the Opera House. Her frank insights about how the female body lets you down as you get older shocked the crowd, but the judges responded with a top score. It was a fantastic night with more than 280 people packed into the SOH Studio venue. Co-hosts Miles Merrill and ABC Radio's Simon Marnie did a great job and Simon personally thanked libraries and the State Library for backing such a great program. Congrats to all the contestants in the regional heats and final.

The Dungog Film Festival is one of the most vibrant and unique film festivals in the country. Set in the tiny historic NSW town of Dungog, the four-day non-competitive annual event is now the biggest festival of Australian film content in the world. The Dungog Film Festival In The Raw live script read program is a key festival event, which has attracted an impressive list of writers including Fiona Seres (Love My Way) Dave Warner (Garage Days) and Julia Leigh (The Hunter). Leigh's 2008 In The Raw script Sleeping Beauty was recently financed by Screen Australia and is set for production in 2010. In the Raw is more than just reading the scripts aloud, it is an intimate workshop environment for writer-producer teams to put their projects to the test in front of leading industry professionals and public. This is an opportunity to see what's working, and what's not and have a real audience provide valuable feedback. The 4th Dungog Film Festival In The Raw program is calling for submissions of unproduced feature, miniseries and TV series scripts by Australian nationals. Selected scripts will receive $9,000 (approx.) in script development support to perform the script live for audiences at the 2010 Festival. To enter, simply visit http://www.dungogfilmfestival.org/film-entry/ and download an In The Raw entry form. Dungog Film Festival is on the NSW Master Events Calendar and is proudly supported by Events NSW and Screen NSW.

For more information and entry guidelines visit: www.dungogfilmfestival.org or email: info@dungogfilmfestival.org. DEADLINE: Monday 1 March 2010

Entry to the sixth annual Australian Book Review Poetry Prize is now open. First place prize money is $4000, and shortlisted poems receive $250 each. Poets must reside in Australia or be Australian citizens living overseas. Each entry must be a single poem of no more than 100 lines. Multiple entries are permitted, and all poems will be judged anonymously. A shortlist comprising a maximum of six poems will be announced and those poems published in the March 2010 issue of ABR. The winner will be announced in the April 2010 issue. Entry forms available from the ABR website. Entries close on 1 December 2009.

Okay there is no time to rest as competitions are coming in thick and fast: 2009 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets, sponsored by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation. The major prize is $3000, with two minor prizes of $500. Closing date is Monday 7 December 2009. It's an award specifically designed to encourage new poets and new poems. You can find out more information about how to enter on the Overland website and here is the link - http://web.overland.org.au/?page_id=1549