Internet Resources and Opportunities

The Internet has become an easily accessible source of information concerning all things literary. Websites dealing with English language, grammar, style, publishing, essay and article writing, poetry, film, script and screenplay writing, editing, and final draft preparation abound. Here is some useful literary resource links:

Australian Society of Authors - the peak association for Australia's literary creators http://www.asauthors.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms.r

Literary Agents - contact the Australian Literary Agents Association for an explanation of what agents do and members listing  http://austlitagentsassoc.com.au/ 

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) is the peak industry body for Australian book, journal and electronic publishers: http://www.publishers.asn.au/

 

The Central West Writers' Centre is a member of the Litlink Writers' Centre Network of NSW.   Other members include:

Varuna The Writers' House, Blue Mountains at http://www.varuna.com.au/ 

NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle: www.nswwc.org.au

New England Writers' Centre, Armidale: http://members.dodo.com.au/~newc44/

Broken Hill Writers' Centre: http://www.bhlibrary.org.au/

Northern Rivers Writers' Centre, Byron Bay: http://www.nrwc.org.au

Hunter Writers' Centre, Newcastle: http://hwcentre.com/

Booranga Riverina Writers' Centre, Wagga Wagga: http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/

South Coast Writers' Centre, Wollongong: http://web.1earth.net/~scwc/

Writing Courses and literary instruction  - for a variety of on-line and face to face courses and workshops try the NSW Writers' Centre at: http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/

There are Writers' Centres in every State:

Victoria: http://vwc.org.au/

ACT: http://www.actwriters.org.au/

Northern Territory: http://www.ntwriters.com.au/

Queensland: http://www.qwc.asn.au/

South Australia: http://www.sawriters.on.net/

Tasmania: http://www.tasmanianwriters.org/

Western Australia - WA State Literature Centre: www.writerswritingwa.org

Australian Poetry Centre: http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au

* Please note Australian Poetry, the new organisation, is only a few weeks away and counting. For those of you who might not be aware, Australian Poetry is the merger of the Poets Union (based in NSW) and the Australian Poetry Centre (based in VIC). Commencing formally in January 2011.  The new website will be www.australianpoetry.org

Grammar and Language

For writers interested in improving their knowledge of language and style, the complete text of the indispensable critical work The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. is available on the internet in its entirety at http://www.bartleby.com/141/

More information about Strunk's book

Other websites that deal with words and grammar are:
http://www.wordwizard.com/
http://copydesk.org/words/

A weekly e-zine for professional writers contains interviews with writers, editors and publishers, and articles on careers in literature http://www.inscriptionsmagazine.com/

Film Industry Opportunities

For those interested in script and screenwriting for film and television the Australian Writers Guild (the professional association for performance writing) can be found at http://www.awg.com.au/, and http://www.writemovies.com/

Software for writers is the primary focus of the site http://www.finaldraft.com/Highly recommended by successful television writer Tony Morphett, this site operates like "a hyped-up word processor".

On-line community contact with unpublished writers, look up;
http://www.writepro.com/wp_sales.htm and http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/

Children's book writing
Children's book readers and writers may be interested in The Children's Book Council of Australia at http://www.cbc.org.au/

Poetry websites
For contemporary poets the Poets Union at http://www.poetsunion.com is indispensible.

* Please note Australian Poetry, the new organisation, is only a few weeks away and counting. For those of you who might not be aware, Australian Poetry is the merger of the Poets Union (based in NSW) and the Australian Poetry Centre (based in VIC). Commencing formally in January 2011.  The new website will be www.australianpoetry.org

Here is the link to the Australian Bush Poets Association http://www.abpa.org.au/
The membership of the Australian Bush Poets Association comprises of writers, performers and individuals who are interested in bush poetry. If you are interested in Australian bush poetry either traditional or modern, as a writer, reader, performer or just an admirer then membership to the ABPA is for you

For regional events for bushpoets visit www.crookwellbushpoets.net   The idea is to create a Poets Triangle which includes Orange ,Grenfell, Cowra, Goulburn Crookwell Shires and small towns in and around these areas
 

Arts websites

Arts OutWest promotes, facilitates, educates and advocates for the arts across the Central West http://www.artsoutwest.org.au/

Regional Arts NSW is the peak body for regional arts activity in NSW http://www.regionalartsnsw.com.au/

Arts NSW is the NSW Government's arts funding and policy body http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/

Arts Law  -  The Arts Law Centre of Australia is the national community legal centre for the Arts  http://www.artslaw.com.au/

Literature Award websites

LiteraryAwards.com.au covers some 50 english speaking literary awards in details, including about 20 Australian adult and childrens awards.  It is a sister site to www.bookawardsonline.com  in the USA www.literaryawards.co.uk in the UK.   It also has a searchable directory listing details of well-over 200 English language literary awards.  Check it out.

Assorted other websites

For a great literature site and home to the Matilda blog by Perry Middlemiss go to http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/lit.html

Read an Aussie poem everyday on the new web blog by Perry Middlemiss.  Called Rhymes Rudely Strung, it features the full text of out of copyright poems originally published in newspapers and magazines. Middlemiss aims to publish each poem on the exact day and month on which it originally appeared.  Well worth checking out.
 

Those curious about a worldwide community of writers, both fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as resources and articles for professionals and beginners can look at the Burry Man Writers Centre at http://www.burryman.com/.

 The Central West Writers' Centre is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW