Writers Link is a series of workshops designed to help people put pen to paper and write - whether it be for their personal records or a new career. A special Writers Link Workshop will be held at Gilgandra Shire Library on Wednesday 3 December from 9.30am. Titled Retool and Remix, this workshop aims to give you the skills to compose books which include multimedia elements (audio, video, animation, interactivity) as well as words. Retool and Remix will enable participants to create works for podcasts, blogs or CD/DVD distribution. The workshop facilitator will be Dr David Reiter, an award-winning poet and writer of fiction, and Director of Interactive Publishing, a print and digital publisher based in Brisbane. Cost of the Workshop is $25 per person. This includes all refreshments. For more information call 02 6817 8704 (Orana Arts) or 02 6817 8877 (Gilgandra Library) Please RSVP by Monday 1 December.

Poets on Wheels climb aboard the train to tour regional NSW soon. When they arrive in Orange you can hear three accomplished poets David Brooks, Mark O'Flynn and Marvis Sofield read their own work, quiz the writers, read your own poem in the open section, with prizes awarded for the best local poems, while enjoying wine tasting with Rolling Wines and bring a gold coin donation. It all happens during a wine tasting and poetry reading to be held at Orange City Library on Tuesday 21 October at 6.30pm. The next day join in a poetry workshop for adults from 12pm to 3pm with the Poets on Wheels at the West Room, Orange Regional Gallery, Byng Street. It will be a lot of fun and inspiring to learn from published poets. Cost is $10 and bring along ten copies of one of your poems plus pen and paper. Please book your place by calling the Central West Writers' Centre on 6393 8125.

On Saturday 23 August from 1-5pm Sydney poet Liz Allen will lead participants through a number of fun writing exercises designed to stimulate the imagination and increase technical flexibility and control. Participants are also encouraged to bring along a couple of samples of their writing to workshop with the group. Number Forty Seven is a gallery located in the main street at 47 Louee Street, Rylstone. Elizabeth Allen is a Sydney poet, publisher and bookseller. She has published work in journals and magazines as well as a book of poems called 'Forgetful Hands'. She is sales manager of Vagabond Press, a small press dedicated solely to publishing poetry. The workshop will be followed at 6 pm by supper (optional) and a poetry reading and open mic section. This will give workshop participants and others the chance to listen to established poets and then perform their own work in front of a live audience. Workshop $30 and Supper $10. Poetry reading Free. For more info contact Virginia Handmer on 6379 1345 Thurs - Sat, 6457 5010 on Mon-Wed or 6379 1338 after hours.

Inspirational poet and educator Deb Westbury hosts a writing workshop at Orange on Saturday 5 July. Deb has been a familiar and respected voice in Australia poetry since her work was first published in 1975. Her poetry has since been widely anthologised, including the Oxford Anthology of Women's Verse. She has been a teacher, sculptor and writer, and has completed an undergraduate degree in teaching and a Master of Creative Arts degree in writing. In 1999 she was guest lecturer at the Catskill Poetry Workshop in the United States of America. In 2000 Wesbury was writer in residence at James Cook University, Queensland. She is actively involved with the Poets' Union and teaches courses in creative writing at university and high schools. Her latest work is called The View From Here.

For beginner writers: Writing from the Senses: The best writing is generous. To show readers what you saw, felt, touched, tasted and smelled is to enable them to enter into your original experience. To simply 'tell' them leaves your readers on the outside of your experience. Saturday 5 July, 10am to 1pm in the West Room, Orange Regional Gallery, Byng Street, Orange. The cost for the workshop is $35. To book your place, please call the Central West Writers' Centre on 6393 8125.

* Please note a previously promoted poetry workshop for 6 July has been postponed.

Join in this free six week course for carers to be held on Mondays Feb 11, 18 and 25, March 3, 10, 17 from 10am to 1pm and run by Carers NSW. It is designed to give carers an introduction to the basic elements of writing. By the end of the course, you will have improved your writing skills and gained the confidence to narrate in your unique voice and style the story of your individual caring journey. The course is facilitated by well-known journalist, author, creative writing teacher and carer Anna Maria Dell'oso at Orange Ex Services Country Club, Huntley Road, Orange. There are limited places so please contact Helen Clarke ph: 9280 4744 or via email: helen@carersnsw.asn.au for more details.

Come along to a workshop with writer, poet and lecturer Kathryn Andersen to unleash the writer in you. It will be held on Sunday 16 March 2008 from 9.30am to 5pm at the Oberon Community Centre, Fleming Street, Oberon. The cost is $55 per person and this includes a light lunch and refreshments. Bring along pen and paper and a folder to lean on. Please confirm your booking as soon as possible. Bookings before 14/2/08 pay just $50. For more details and to book your place contact Anne Russell from the Oberon Writers Workshop on (02) 6337 0363.

This is one for scriptwriters. The NSW Film and Television Office and the Australian Writers Guild are hosting a workshop titled Writing and Creatively Developing Lo-Budget Feature Films to be held in Sydney on November 10 & 11 at the University of Technology, Broadway. It will be led by Director of the script training team Arista Development UK, Stephen Cleary. This is for writers, directors and producers to hone their craft. For more information, costs and bookings go to the Film and Television Office website http://www.fto.nsw.gov.au/content.asp?content=3&Id=475 or www.awg.com.au.