Events & Writing Competitions & Diary Dates
Events Coming Up
Getting Published - An Australian Society of Authors Seminar
You've finished the manuscript but what now? You're about to enter a business that may be totally foreign to you and negotiating your way around it can be both confusing and difficult. How do you know to whom to send your material, and how long you have to wait? How do you negotiate a contract or find an agent who may be able to help? Set yourself up as a professional who is capable of representing your own interests with knowledge and confidence. This two-hour session presents the basics for authors and illustrators.
Even if you do not have a project ready to send off learn all that is required about who to send it to, how to prepare it, agents, contracts - the lot from an expert.
* Orange - Friday 17 February 2012 6-8pm
* Dubbo - Saturday 18 February 2012 1-3pm
Orange Venue:
West Room, next door to Orange City Library
147 Byng Street, Orange NSW 2800
Refreshments provided
Cost: $15
Bookings: Bookings essential - book online at http://www.asauthors.org or call the office on 1800 257 121 or (02) 9211 1004
Enquiries call the Central West Writers’ Centre on 6393 8125
****Please note the previously promoted date of Saturday 18 February for the Orange workshop has changed to Friday 17 February 2012 ****
Writers’ Drop-in Days
Love creative writing - then why not share your passion with other writers at our friendly and informal writers' group? Come along and meet other writers, talk about writing or share your writing in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere at the Central West Writers' Centre Drop-In Days, held at the Writers' Centre located upstairs at Orange City Library. Beginners to experienced writers are welcome to call in. Please bring a favourite piece you have read or written to talk about or join in the discussions or just sit back and listen - it is up to you. The Drop-in Days are held where possible on the last Friday of the month at the same time of 2.30pm to 4.30pm. There is no need to book and it’s free. 2012 Drop-in Day Dates will be as follows:
24 February
30 March
27 April
25 May
29 June
27 July
31 August
28 September
26 October
30 November
Opportunities
Huge YA Writing Opportunity with the Ampersand Project
Hardie Grant Egmont has always supported emerging writers, and this time they want everyone to know about it. Introducing Ampersand: a new collection of short novels by debut fiction writers. It's an ambitious idea, but they're excited about bringing new voices to the YA fiction scene. They want to cater to teenage readers who just aren't into fantasy or paranormal romance, and show them a world just like this one. Real life can be just as dramatic and thrilling as other-worldly adventures, and any teenager who's climbed out their bedroom window for an illicit adventure knows it.
To kick this collection off, the editors of Ampersand are looking for fabulous stand-alone manuscripts about the secret lives of teenagers. They want a voice that leaps off the page, a hint of a literary vibe, and teenage characters facing conflict in the course of their everyday lives. Manuscripts that are by turns funny, dramatic, gritty, romantic, heartbreaking or challenging. Ampersand will give each debut novelist the launch they need to build their profiles in a competitive YA market.
They want Ampersand books to feel real to teenage readers. We want to push the boundaries, but we're not interested in moral-panic-inducing, usually urban-legendary topics (no sexting or rainbow parties here, please). Speculative elements are welcome, so long as they adhere to the rules of the real world. The difference is in the execution; for example, Tomorrow When The War Began is a real-world exploration of war as it could occur today, but The Hunger Games is not. Head to website for submission guidelines and story starting points: http://hardiegrant.com.au/egmont/contact-us/the-ampersand-project
VIM Journal Call for Submissions
VIM Journal is all about counteracting bad news – they want to hear stories of hope, wackiness, enthusiasm, wonder; anything that makes you smile, or think about the world in a fresh way, or sing a bit, or dance a jig. It is a new literary journal in Melbourne, and they want stories. They have put out the call for submissions for the inaugural edition, and would love for you to send in your writing. Submissions to VIM Journal are now open, and close 31 March. For submission guidelines go to: http://vimjournal.com/
Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards for creative under 30s
The Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA), the leading award for Australia's best emerging artists, designers, and creatives, has unveiled an exciting new format which will see SOYA become a year round initiative. Talented Australians aged 30 and under across eleven creative fields - fashion, interactive content and gaming, written word, visual design and communications, film and video, photography, visual arts, craft and object design, music, architecture and interior design and animation - are invited to submit their work for a chance to receive financial support in the form of $5000 in cash, as well as a rare 12-month mentorship opportunity with leading luminaries from the international creative community. This year, winners will also be sent on the trip-of-a-lifetime to premiere industry only events at the forefront of their fields.
For 2011/2012, SOYA announces a stellar line-up of inspirational mentors; Marc Newson (Design), Nicky and Simone Zimmermann (Fashion), Robert Luketic (Film and Video), Polly Borland (Photography), Lee Groves (Music), Elizabeth Ann Macgregor (Visual Arts), Vince Frost (Visual Design and Communications), Ashley Ringrose and Brad Eldridge (Interactive Content and Gaming), Markus Zusak (Written Word), Brian Zulaikha (Architecture and Interior Design) and Marco Marenghi (Animation). As success stories in their respective fields, these industry leaders know that getting a break and having the right doors opened can help launch a creative career.
SOYA is open for submissions from November 8, with one new creative category closing every month. All submissions can be made through the new SOYA365 hub at www.soya.com.au.
Call for submissions: Griffith Edition 36, What Is Australia For?
This is a trying time of global transition and uncertainty, for societies and for individuals. Yet it is also a time when Australia has remarkable advantages – advantages it must build on if the nation is to prosper.
Instead of seizing the moment, and forging an exciting new future, public discussion is mired in the past. Politics is no longer the art of the possible. Whingeing has replaced can-do.
It is time to revive the debate about national identity. The clichés of old have long exceeded their use-by date. What Is Australia For? will sketch out visionary ideas for the future, uncover neglected stories from the past, and provide an exciting forum for new voices to make their case. Further details at http://griffithreview.com/future-editions
Call for proposals for Romance Writers of Australia conference
The Romance Writers of Australia’s 21st conference Diamonds are Forever will be held at Hotel QT, Surfer’s Paradise, Gold Coast, from August 16-19, 2012, and the conference team is seeking proposals for workshops, panels or other breakout sessions. Details at http://romanceaustralia.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/conference-2012-call-for-proposals
Call for manuscript submissions
New small publisher Rough Draft is now accepting manuscripts for consideration for publication in 2012. For details go to www.roughdraft.com.au
West Wyalong Movies is looking for scriptwriters
The Wyalong Movies Project looks at the district's sometimes wild past - in beef, then gold, then wheat and sheep. It looks at the very fortunes of life on the land, and takes a peek at the future. Old movies, pictures and archival footage are combined with interviews of locals who tell the story of the development of West Wyalong and the south-west of NSW, its people and its institutions. They are produced in Orange by KEA Video and the DVDS are selling well.
They are looking for scriptwriters to write short scripts, 20 – 40 minutes in length, across all topics from sports to social events to full in depth local history. This role may suit a semi-retired writer or part-time writer or journalist.
For more details contact Ross via email: rossfharmer@bigpond.com and visit the website www.westwyalongmovies.com.au to see samples of the DVDS.
Really Blue Books Submissions
New digital publisher seeks submissions of fiction and non-fiction. Visit http://reallybluebooks.com/submissions.
Blemish Books Submissions
Blemish Books is now accepting suites of poetry (15 – 25 poems) for Issue 3 of the Triptych Poets series. Submissions close 1 March 2012. For details go to www.blemishbooks.com.au/triptych.shtml
Kurungabaa Journal Seeks Submissions
Kurungabaa, a journal of literature, history and ideas from the sea, is calling for submissions for an upcoming issue, themed, ‘strangers’. Fiction, prose, poems, essays, art, photographs are all welcome. For details and submission guidelines visit the website and read teh submission requirements www.kurungabaa.net
The Max Afford Playwrights’ Award 2012
Established through the will of the late Thelma May Afford in memory of her husband, Max Afford, this Award provides young writers with the incentive to improve their creative writing as well as to enhance the general public’s appreciation of Australian drama and playwrights.
It’s a biennial award for young writers of either stage, TV or film plays.
The total value of the Award is $20,000 which includes a $10,000 cash prize, and a further $10,000 towards the expenses towards Playwriting Australia’s National Script Workshop.
Applications close on 3 February 2012.
To apply, go to: http://www.thetrustcompany.com.au/philanthropy/awards/max_afford.asp
Olvar Wood online Reading for Writers course
This new online course is a great bridging course between being part of a book club and getting serious about writing, and includes 10 lessons and formal feedback on a piece of writing. It is self-paced, so can be completed over ten weeks or up to six months. The course costs $100. Details are available at www.olvarwood.com.au/OWL/reading.html
Call for contributions to We Australians Exhibition
We Australians are calling out to culturally engaged, audacious, poetic and progressive writers to take part in the We Australians Exhibition program in April 2012. For more information, www.weaustralians.org/news for details.
Creative Australia - 21st Century Stories
ATSIA’s 21ST Century Stories is a 3-year funding initiative that will support ten projects for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, arts organisations or community organisations to tell new stories with potential public outcomes. They invite applications for artistic works that express reactions and outcomes to the way society has transformed in the first decade of the 21st century by highlighting an event from each year of the decade. Projects may be in any artform or combination of artforms. Examples include theatre productions of new work, writing for publication, song writing for recording or performance, or the creation of new works of art for exhibition. These new works will undergo further development and presentation in partnership with respective arts industry organisations and institutions. Grants of up to $80,000 will be available to support each project. Further details at www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/grants/creative_australia_21st_century_stories
Have your book Promoted at the London Book Fair 2012
Have you ever wanted to have your book out on the Worldstage? Well the London Book Fair 2012 16th to 18th April is your chance to do it.
Your book will be promoted to over 24500 book industry professionals from all over the world who are looking to do business. The Australian Self Publishing Group has had a stand there for 4 years with enormous success for many authors. The last book fair they attended they found an International publisher for an author even before the fair started and had contracts signed before the fair ended. Another author has had her book entered in the Berlin film trade fair and now has the chance for the book to become a movie.
None of this could have happened without attending a major book fair. Your book will not simply sit on a stand, they make appointments with publishers, agents and distributors and personally show and discuss each book individually. For more information contact William at publishaspg@gmail.com or Visit www.australianselfpublishinggroup.com or call 0262912904 and find out more.
8th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing for Children Competition
Open only to Australian writers (published and unpublished), this competition is for the first chapter (to 2,000 words) of a chapter book suitable for readers up to the age of 10 years. Subject matter is open. The manuscript should include a title page with the story title, word count and writer’s name and full contact details, including email address. No CVs, please. No limit on number of entries.
The first prize is $150; the two runners-up will each receive $50. All entrants will receive results, provided they send a stamped, self-addressed envelope with entry/ies. Competition closes on 30 March, 2012.
Entry fee is $10 per manuscript: cash, money order or cheque (payable to Di Bates). Payment can be made online (apply to dibates@pacific.net.au for details). Results will be published in Buzz Words (www.buzzwordsmagazine.com.au). Send manuscript/s, payment and ssae to Di Bates, PO Box 2116, Woonona East NSW 2517
Dianne (Di) Bates
www.enterprisingwords.com
dibates@pacific.net.au
Writing Competitions
2012 Bristol Short Story Prize Closes 31 March 2012
is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age.
Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished
with a maximum length of 3,000 words (There is no minimum). The
entry fee is £7 per story. The closing date for entries is March 31st 2012.
To mark the launch of our 2012 competition we are offering the Kindle format ebook version of our latest anthology for only £0.86p from amazon.co.uk and $1.33 from amazon.com. This fantastic offer will be available until the end of October. Full details at www.bristolprize.co.uk
Grenfell Henry Lawson Festival
Festival 8-11 June 2012
VERSE AND SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS
The competition closes on 30 March 2012
You are invited to participate in the Henry Lawson Festival Verse and Short Story Competitions, with total prize money of $3850 plus statuettes. Medallions will also be awarded in primary sections. The competition closes on 30 March 2012.Entries must be post marked by this date. There are 6 classes for verse, some with Australian themes and 4 classes in short story, all with any theme. Short stories are limited to 2000 words and verse to 48 lines. Entry forms and conditions may be down loaded from the website www.grenfell.org.au/henrylawsonfestival or by writing to: The Verse and Short Story Coordinator
PO Box 77, Grenfell NSW 2810.For further information contact Mary Moffitt on 6343 1575.
Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012
Nothing entertains a reader more than a good short story with a nifty twist at the end. Stringybark Stories is delighted to invite all writers to enter their best work in the Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012. The maximum word length of your story is 1500 words; it must have some link to Australia (no matter how tenuous); and it must have a twist in the tail! There is over A$500 in prizes available, cash, plus publication for place-getters and highly commended stories. There is an entry fee of $9.75 (discounts for multiple entries) Closing date 4 March 2011. Details: www.stringybarkstories.net
The ABR Copyright Agency Fellowship - for a substantial article with an Asian focus
Australian Book Review seeks applications for the ABR Copyright Agency Fellowship. This Fellowship – the fourth to be offered by ABR – is proudly supported by ABR’s generous Patrons. We are seeking a substantial non-fiction article with an Asian focus – either a profile of a major Asian literary/cultural figure or a discursive essay with Asian literary/cultural themes. The Fellowship is worth $5000. Any Australian writer with a significant publication record (books, creative writing, essays or journalism) is eligible to apply. Applications close 20 March 2012.
Ute Legend Closes 15 February
Our “Ute legend” may represent a real person, or he or she may be a “legend” in the true sense of the word,,, just the entertaining figment of a writer’s imagination. The main attribute of our Legend is that he/she will have an interesting, novel or entertaining experience involving a Ute.
They will be awarding a $1000 cash prize to the person who submits the best story, as detailed in the conditions outlined at the website; www.utelegend.com There is no entry fee, and submission of entries close on 15th February 2012. Who could feature as a contender for “Australia’s Number One Ute Legend”? It could be someone like twenty two year old Ernie Neill of Bathurst NSW has spent two years and every last dollar he can scrounge on turning his VG Commodore Ute into a rocket ship on wheels. “I’ve got a chick magnet that goes like stink, but at a fraction of the price of a sports car” he boasts. Or maybe it’s an old cocky like retired grazier Billy Renolds from Blackall Qld who reckons his battered Brumby Ute not only provides cheap transport for just about anything he can cram in the back, but it also relishes being flogged through dustbowls and floods without ever missing a beat. In between these extremes are the thousands of tradesmen, chicks, miners, city slickers and weekend warriors who simply enjoy the convenience of having somewhere to stash their stuff when on the move. And if you ask them, most will tell you that they enjoy a sense of freedom that somehow binds them to the great outdoors; to their bush heritage, and to their mates. Turn up at any Pub, Ute Muster or B&S ball and there they are; a good hearted mob who can share a beer or Bundy while having a laugh at themselves and others.
For further info please call John Bryant
utelegend@gmail.com
Tel 02 4567 2222
Writing Groups
If you are interested in meeting other people to talk about writing, words, books, authors and all things literary then contact the nearest group to you:
Kandos Writers' Group
Kandos Writers' Group meet at Kandos Library, Angus Avenue, Kandos on the 4th Monday every month (except December) from 3 - 4.30pm.
All genres welcome, so far they have poets, short story writers, novelists, local history and letter writers.
For more information contact Pam on 6379 4613.
Mudgee
The Mudgee Valley Writers meet on the first Tuesday of the month from 12 to 3pm at Club Mudgee (formerly Mudgee Soldiers' Club). For more information contact Colleen on 6379 6902 or 0428 518 380. The group has a long history, with meeting held regularly for more than 20 years, and they welcome new members.
Oberon
Oberon Writers' Workshop meets on the third Wednesday of the month 10am - 12.30pm at Oberon Community Centre (next door to the library). They now take advantage of dropping in to the library, which is closed on Mondays, as well as attending their lively Writers' Workshop. Interested people are most welcome to attend, please call Anne on 6337 0363.
Bathurst
Bathurst Writing Group meets on the first Saturday of the month at Bathurst Library (at the back, in the childrens' section) from 2pm to 3pm. For more details about the group contact Jeff on 0427 603 822 or send an email to jefferyedoherty@gmail.com.
Orange
A writing group meets regularly on the last day of the month at the Central West Writers' Centre located upstairs in Orange City Library on the drop-in days from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Interested people are welcome to attend. The relaxed and informal group discuss writing, read aloud from writing projects, talk about writing concerns as well as writing and creativity exercises. If you are interested in coming along please call the Writers' Centre on 6393 8125. All levels of experience welcome.
Dubbo
Saturday Readings are held on the first Saturday of each month at Macquarie Regional Library where members of Outback Writers give readings of their poetry and writing, discuss their work, share their interests in writing and receive encouragement. For more information about Outback Writers contact Peter Dargin on 6882 8880.
If you participate in a writing group that meets regularly and would like your group listed on this website and in the Central West Writers' Centre newsletter, please call 6393 8125 or email writing@orange.nsw.gov.au
Check out these websites:
On-line Discussion Group for Australian Writers. A free internet-based discussion board has been established to allow Australian writers to communicate with one another electronically. Members can post and answer writing-related questions, and seek feedback on their writing. To register, go to http://forum.catplace.net.
Another resource for writers: http://www.needtoreadthis.com/
