It is with great sadness we inform you of the passing of Leone Healy, a former Orange City Councillor and author of UP! and most recently A Country Childhood. Her funeral will be held today (Thursday 25 March) at Neville Presbyterian Church, near Blayney, at 2pm. Following the funeral (and graveside) afternoon tea will be held at the Neville Hall. Read more in this item published in The Central Western Daily: ttp://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/death-of-former-councillor/1782660.aspx

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.

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

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

This day is aimed at the professional development of regionally-based writers, poets, critics, publishers, storytellers, songwriters performers, artists, family history groups, library staff, community groups and anyone interested in exploring their options for writing, publishing, marketing, performing and networking in regional areas and beyond. Join those with similar interests to discuss working across distance and isolation, storytelling, crossing the digital divide and writing for young people. The cost of the workshop is $25 including morning tea and lunch. Places are limited so please register before Tuesday 1 December. From 9.30am to 4.45pm on Thursday 3 December at Macquarie Regional Library, cnr Talbragar and Macquarie Sts, Dubbo. For further information please contact Kerry Ellen at Orana Arts: Phone 02 6817 8705, Email kellen@oranaarts.com

Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett has announced the winners of the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards......fanfare, applause.......

The winner of the 2009 Fiction award is Nam Le for his book of short stories The Boat. The judging panel was impressed by the daring scope and excellence of its execution, the generous breadth of its emotional and social traverse and the excitement generated by every story.

In 2009, two books and three authors share the Non-Fiction award. The winners are Evelyn Juers for House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann; and Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds for Drawing the Global Colour Line. Both books explore important racial, moral and political issues of Australia's past. The Non-Fiction judging panel said "With great intellectual authority and international research Evelyn Juers, Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds tell their stories magnificently."

Find out more about the shortlist and winners at www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards

The Armidale Playhouse Inc invites you to submit short stories and/or play scripts to be considered for its 2010 season of "Favourite Shorts". This annual event is now into its 4th year bringing the works of both published and unpublished Australian writers to the stage using directors and actors from the Armidale district. Each week of the two week season of "Favourite Shorts" has a different programme. This year they squeezed 36 actors into eleven plays with nine directors. All of the actors, directors, lighting and stage crew are amateurs, in that they are not paid for their time and expertise however many do have formal qualifications or are working towards them. The Armidale Playhouse Inc will not be providing performance payments to successful writers however they do offer a free double pass to those who wish to travel to Armidale to see a performance of their short story or play. After each performance the audience are requested to select their favourite item and after the final performance the favourite for that week is announced in a short informal presentation. All successful writers will receive their own pair of "Favourite Shorts" and a participation certificate. They request permission from all successful writers to film the performance of their short story or play. An Armidale-based professional production unit will be filming performances with DVDs available for sale a few weeks after performances conclude. Submissions of play scripts and short stories up to 30 minute duration* can be sent via email to scripts@armidaleplayhouse.org.au or to Favourite Shorts 2010, Armidale Playhouse Inc, PO Box 368, ARMIDALE NSW 2350 by Friday 18 December 2009.

*To estimate the duration of your short story or play script it's about 10 minutes per 1000 words.

Join in talks by author Libby Gleeson and local illustrator Freya Blackwood when they tell school children about their latest book Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House. The book is published by Little Hare Books and was launched just this month. It is about a little boy called Clancy who has moved to a new house that is huge and unfamiliar. He is missing his old house terribly - the new house is much too big and much too lonely. How will he ever make it his home? As despair takes hold Clancy hears a small voice. Soon, Clancy with the help of his new friend Millie is building towers to the sky and trains to the street outside, and together they build the home that Clancy thought he had lost forever. Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood will be speaking at Orange City Library on Friday 30 October at these times: 9.30am – 10.30am; 11.30am – 12.30pm; 1.30pm – 2.30pm. Come along and sit in on one of the talks by this award-winning team. The event is supported by Boomers Bookshop & ABC Centre. They will also be siging books on Saturday morning (1st Nov) at the bookstore from 11am.

Join in a one-day forum for writers who want to take their work from the page to the screen, featuring top names from the Australian film and TV industry: Producer Margaret Fink (Candy, My Brilliant Career), writer/director Nick Parsons (Dead Heart), writer/producer David Roach (Beneath Hill 60, Young Einstein), agent Jane Cameron (Camerons Management); plus Airlie Lawson (Hachette); Martha Coleman (Screen Australia); Amanda Higgs (ABC Head of Drama); Caterina De Nave (SBS Drama and Comedy); Stephen Liddell and Bob Barton (Ink to Screen); writers Phillip Gwynne (Australian Rules) & Denise Young (Last Ride). Experienced industry players, including David Stratton (At The Movies), actor Shane Porteous and writer Charlotte Wood, will chair the sessions, guiding you through the development of film and TV scripts from first pitch to the red carpet. Cost: $150 for NSW Writers' Centre members (includes morning tea/lunch/afternoon tea) Time: 10:00am to 5.00pm - 2nd November at Carrington Hotel, Katoomba, Limited places - please book your place by contacting Varuna, The Writers' House Ph: 0247 825674 and for a full program & booking details go to www.varuna.com.au

Galileo is one of the fathers of modern science. He was a physicist, mathematician, and astronomer and 2009 is the 400th anniversary of Galileo's development of the telescope and his first pointing it to the heavens with such earth-shattering results. His book Dialogo dei massimi sistemi (Dialogue on the two chief world systems), his celebrated defence of the Copernican system, was published in Florence in 1632. It led to his house arrest and the banning of his books in Italy. The only copy of this book in Australia is held by the State Library of New South Wales and it has never before left Sydney until now.......... You are invited to see this rare book and hear Paul Brunton, Senior curator from the State Library of NSW, speak at Forbes Library,Victoria Lane, Forbes on Friday 16 October at 1pm for a 1.15pm start. Please RSVP by calling the Library on 6852 1463.

A concert featuring Paul Brunton and professional musicians from Orange Regional Conservatorium of Music performing Monteverdi (Heavenly Bodies Galileo and Monteverdi: A Feast of 17th Century Italian Genius) will also be held on Thursday 15 October at the Conservatorium at 7.30pm. For tickets ($35 Adults , $25 Concession) please contact Book City on 6393 1333. All funds raised will support the Conservatorium and Library.

The rare Galileo Book will also be on display at Orange City Library on Thursday afternoon. Paul is pictured above on a previous visit to the Central West.