A book launch for The Long Way Home - by Jo Bailey with Ronnie Sabin will be held in these locations tomorrow Friday 12 March: Meet the authors at the front of Jayes Gallery and Cafe from 10am - 12 noon, 31 - 33 Gidley Street, Molong or Boomers' Bookshop, City Centre, Orange 2pm - 4pm. The book is promoted as the story of Fairbridge Farm School that needs to be told. "At last a balanced account of life at Fairbridge through the eyes of Ronnie Sabin, who for six years in the 1950s called Fairbridge Farm School at Molong home. Often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching, The Long Way Home adds a positive perspective to the Child Migrant Scheme debate. It pays tribute to Fairbridge and details Ronnie's delight as finally being reunited with his family in England after 55 years." It retails for $29.95

Australian Book Review is reviving the Short Story Competition, with a first prize valued at $2000. There are two other prizes. All three place-getters will be published in the magazine. Stories in English of between 1000 and 3000 words are eligible, as long as they have not been published previously or are not on offer elsewhere. Multiple entries are acceptable. The closing date is May 10. For an entry form go to: http://www.australianbookreview.com.au/competitions/short-story-competition

or call (03) 9429 6700. ABR now publishes short fiction. They welcome submissions from authors.

Okay - check out this great idea - The Story Bag. This media agency aims to bring Australian writers into our everyday world. They are searching for short stories, poems and sayings that can be printed on paper/cloth bags and/or coffee cups to be distributed by cafés, wine stores and retail outlets - an innovative new channel to reach the public and make literature part of our everyday life. They offer authors: • Paid publication of their work • Direct exposure to the Australian public • Exposure to a variety of businesses including publishers, cultural associations, bookstores • Long term retention of their work in the database.

Up to three entries at a time allowed enabling a demonstration of different styles and pieces. Please send your short stories, poems and sayings (maximum 1800 characters including spaces) to barbara@storybag.com.au. For more information on the project go to www.storybag.com.au.

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson was born on February 17, 1864 and to celebrate his birthday Orange City Council, Central West Libraries, Central West Writers' Centre supported by The Central Western Daily and ABC Central West Radio announce the call for entries to the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards. It is important to note that entries into the Prose (Short Story), Open Poetry and Children's Writing Awards categories of the competition do not have to be in the style of Banjo's writing. Entry forms are available from Central West Libraries branches, by phoning 6393 8120, email: writing@orange.nsw.gov.au or [download here]. Entry is $10 for adults and $5 for children per entry. The competition closes on Friday 16 April 2010 and winners will be contacted by phone on Monday 21 June 2010. There are cash prizes to be won and the winning Prose (Short Story) entry will be published in the Central Western Daily.

In 2010 Going Down Swinging turns 30 years old, and to celebrate the journal is producing a special anniversary 30th edition. GDS No.30 will be launched in a series of fantastic performance events in August and September, in Australia and New Zealand. GDS No.30 will feature new poetry, short fiction, comic art, and spoken word from around the world in a bumper book / CD edition. GDS is now calling for submissions of poetry, short fiction / non-fiction, flash, comic art, haiku and haiga, and spoken word recordings. Head to the GDS website: to download the Guidelines and Cover Sheets and send in your work, to be a part of GDS history. Submissions for this issue will close on 31st March.

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.....

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