The post Claire Corbett appeared first on Writing NSW.
]]>Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to writer and Fiction Editor of Overland literary magazine, Claire Corbett, about the ins and outs of short story publication, ahead of her workshop Get Your Work Published: A Short Story Workshop.
It’s possible more people used to read short stories, whereas now they might read Substacks or Ao3 fanfic or listen to podcasts – the first issue of Bruce Pascoe’s magazine Australian Short Stories was launched by then PM Bob Hawke in 1982 and that first edition sold 12,000 copies. No Australian literary journal has print figures like that now, but I’m not sure what the figures for readers look like overall, because many read the stories online.
The stories have changed a lot, and that means their place in the literary landscape has also changed. One of the biggest changes is the move away from straight realism or naturalism. I’m reading through the incredible digitised Overland Archive, and the stories from the 1950s develop in a direct line from Henry Lawson’s realism. There is an ethical preoccupation, especially for Overland, in representing the real lives and struggles of working people. That is still important to Overland, but we don’t take the view that only pure realism or naturalism can do this. There is much more experimentation with style and form.
A huge change is that stories are much tighter now; they don’t include long passages of repetitive dialogue just because that is true to the way people speak. Or if they do include this, we cut it out. Some of this change is because of the advent of television, I think. There’s no point in stories producing slabs of dialogue in a supposedly realistic way when television can do that so much better.
Short stories have to provide surprising and different experiences for the reader. And of course the subject matter changes – stories of climate change and environmental collapse are common now – as they should be. The challenge of this is in finding what the short story form can bring to such themes that nonfiction does not. On the whole, short fiction is leaner but more immersive and richer in sense detail than the older works I’m reading, which can be quite dry. Maybe this has something to do with the increase in creative writing courses.
It’s the most surprising and delightful form, and I would love for more people to discover how exhilarating reading short stories can be. They can stick in your mind in a way many novels do not.
It depends. Each story submitted has up to three separate assessments by different readers, so quite often there is a consensus about what works and what doesn’t and whether the piece is ‘an Overland story’. I don’t enjoy rejecting stories and I especially don’t like it when it’s a good piece of work but I can’t quite see how to make it publishable. Some stories are easy to fix; some aren’t. Some stories are easy to accept – they are good stories that are right for Overland. Some stories that are perfectly good have to be turned down because we can’t publish everything that is worthy of being published. I am conscious that being published in Overland is a significant honour and many writers let me know how strongly they feel that.
The most common mistake, by far, is not reading enough contemporary short fiction, and equal first place with that is not reading the journal you’re submitting your work to. It’s glaringly obvious to me, as fiction editor, if you don’t read Overland when you submit your work. Many writers I publish love and respect what Overland does and it shows in their work; they are very aware of what Overland is looking for – which is very broad, I hasten to add, but does have some consistent features. If you don’t read much contemporary short fiction, your work will likely have a kind of stale air to it; it will draw on work that was popular decades ago.
Here are some beautiful and thought-provoking stories Overland has published in the last few years to give readers an idea of what I mean: ‘Breathing lessons‘, ‘Espalier‘, ‘Australians at work‘, ‘Using the method‘, and ‘New face in the fight against poverty‘.
Overland does not allow resubmission of a previously rejected story UNLESS the editor specifically requests a ‘rewrite and resubmit’, which is unusual and an opportunity the writer should grab with both hands. This is the case with virtually all journals and publishers. However, it’s definitely worth submitting to different journals. I have seen stories I’ve rejected published in other literary journals.
Any story by George Saunders. Stories by Chekhov, of course, and by Lydia Davis and Joy Williams. Listen to the free New Yorker podcast of writers reading their short stories. If you want to write speculative fiction, read Kelly Link, Ted Chiang and Ken Liu. Raymond Carver and Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood of course and Peter Carey – there’s a very good reason a short story award is named after him. And of course the Overland fiction recommended above.
I also recommend Australian writer Josephine Rowe’s book of short stories, Here Until August and Elizabeth Tan’s Smart Ovens for Lonely People and Julie Koh’s Portable Curiosities and Ellen Van Neerven’s Heat and Light. I could go on of course.
Dr Claire Corbett is a writer of novels, short fiction and creative nonfiction. She lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Technology, Sydney, where she has taught the short fiction subject to MA students for a number of years. She is the fiction editor of Overland Literary Journal.
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]]>The post Fiona Kelly McGregor appeared first on Writing NSW.
]]>The most obvious change has been from analogue to digital. Sending bulky manuscripts through the post as opposed to a file on email. Also the massive reduction in print media and reviews in general, and the rise of social media which enables many more voices – but also I fear, the cursory and more commercial response. Changes have also been determined by how diverse my books have been. I’ve had many different publishers largely due to this, also due to the changing landscape of the industry (my first publisher McPhee Gribble was sold). It’s a volatile industry, always vulnerable to the distant capitals of the Anglo empire.
I write across a variety of genres: novels, short stories, essays, memoir, travel, cultural critique and art criticism, and across a variety of styles from classical/traditional prose to experimental. So, the differences in those books largely determine the publishing process – how much editing is necessary, what sort of marketing and publicity, and so on. My publishers have varied from small independents to big multinationals which also affects publicity, marketing and distribution. Sometimes I haven’t even had a publicist – those books don’t sell.
The difficulty many people have in coming to terms with these differences in my work has impacted the process in the sense that it has been hard to break this weird multifarious body of work down to a soundbite for the public. People often prefer one genre over another, no matter the author. Also, in Australia, multidisciplinarity is not well recognised. And our small population hampers things.
Finally, there is a huge difference in how books that feature queer content are publicised and received, and therefore how I’m pitched as the author. LGBTIQ is now a box – literally on many forms – and while it sometimes feels contingent, it certainly is a lot easier. In any case, the job of the writer is to deal with whatever is there.
Writing fiction means imagining yourself in the shoes of your characters. In those deep places you find very personal stuff, confronting and meaningful and enlightening. So it can be just as much of a psychodrama to write historical fiction as contemporary fiction. I am all my characters; none of them are me. I didn’t set out to write historical fiction because I was especially interested in the genre – I don’t read it much to be honest. I only wrote the novel because I was captivated by Iris Webber’s story and wanted to tell it, and after many years of consideration and research, I decided the best form to tell it in was the historical novel.
I think the fundamental thing is to not impose contemporary concepts and language onto characters from earlier times. You need to present them as they were able to present themselves – with all the attendant restrictions, because those restrictions are part of the story. We’re all constructed by our social context to a large degree and I’m just as interested in that social context as in individual characters. But writing from this far in the future also gives the advantage of hindsight. You can use that to great effect. Whatever you do though, don’t lie. Also, in stories like this that are drawn from proscribed, marginalised and hidden lives, from people who were not able to speak up, time sometimes serves up more information than was known when they were alive, which is a great advantage.
It’s difficult juggling all of those things: none pay well. So in the past decade or so I’ve had to abandon my performance art practice. Money buys time and there isn’t enough of either. Performance art is more expensive in general in that you need a crew, photomedia to document, and it requires more post-production. Applying for grants alone can take weeks – months. I feel my energy lessening as I age, and the performance I did was very demanding. I’m disconcerted by ageism. I think for the foreseeable future I won’t be attempting hybrid or experimental works because I don’t imagine I could get them published. I’m also happy with the novel, essay and short story forms right now – they feel so rich with potential, and I still feel like a beginner trying to learn, wide-eyed, nervous, sometimes excited.
There are so many incredible artists it’s impossible to answer this question fully. If I think off the top of my head of artists and writers who’ve inspired me this past year it would include: Emily Kam Kngwarray, DJ Gemma, Grace Yee’s Chinese fish, Raoul Peck’s TV documentary Exterminate All the Brutes, Cesária Évora, Rachel Cusk, Kafka, Juan Rulfo and Alice Oswald.
Wow that’s a tough question! Well, be prepared to earn very little money. But be brave and be honest. Read, read, read, so you are informed. Also read the good reviewers – I think Sydney Review of Books and the smaller independent journals have the best criticism. Know that we need you; critics are a fundamental part of the literary landscape.
Fiona Kelly McGregor has published eight books, including Miles Franklin, ALS Gold Medal and NSW Premier’s Award-shortlisted Iris, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards-shortlisted Buried Not Dead, The Age 2010 Book of The Year Indelible Ink, critically acclaimed travel memoir Strange Museums and the award-winning short story collection Suck My Toes. McGregor’s essays, articles and reviews have featured in The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, Art Monthly, Artlink and more. McGregor is also known for an extensive repertoire of performance art and many years curating events in Sydney’s alternative queer culture.
Here’s where you can read more Spotlight On.
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]]>The post Gabiann Marin appeared first on Writing NSW.
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Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to author and story developer Gabiann Marin about fairytales and folklore as the foundations of storytelling culture, ahead of her workshop Fairytale Fundamentals on 13 April 2024.
Myths are the foundations of all storytelling. They are the DNA of what we do as writers. We tend to think of them as stories that magically exist, but someone, long ago, created those stories, thought about how to structure them, how to make them exciting and engaging. From myth we see not just how we as humans interacted with the natural world, or the hierarchies of men, but how we communicated to each other. Without myth there would be no societies, no literature, no art.
When I was very young, a picture book about Greek Gods and an anthology of Aesop’s fables were my favourite books; tales of the fantastic, of monsters and animals who spoke to each other and people who took incredible journeys across vast oceans. Magic and mayhem and love and compassion. For a little girl living in an isolated country area, they opened a whole world to me, and because I was living in the bush, I immediately understood the connections they made between people and the natural world.
As an emerging writer I learnt about structure and character and how to make a story work through reading and thinking about myth. But now as a much more established writer I find that the loose narrative elements and the flexibility of mythic structures makes them so easy to incorporate into all kinds of writing, not just the fantastical.
What I realised very early on is that many of the characters I related to the most, like Medusa, Aurora, Callisto, Hera or The Ugly Duckling, were kind of trapped within their narratives. Modern writers could take mythic structures and rework them almost ad nauseum, but they still resulted in the male hero triumphing and the women being demonised, ignored or treated as a prize beloved only for their beauty and little else. So as I developed my own mythical retellings or looked at myth and fairytale in a different way, I wanted to free the female characters.
There have been a lot of mythical retellings that have focused on women being able to tell their stories – like The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, or Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – but they are still telling the same story, and the characters’ tragic fates or passive acceptance were unchanged. My inspiration is to tell entirely different stories with these characters, not lock them into submissive or doomed roles.
Modern advances can also offer a wealth of new perspectives on myths: I wrote a fairytale recently all about the mythic nature of social media influencers. The internet, the world of online gaming, constructed worlds and people going on mental rather than physical journeys is a wealth of inspiration for modern fairy tale storytellers.
Myths are the ways that cultures tell stories of themselves and so they are designed to be adaptable and transportable in ways that more conventional ‘literature’ is not. Because they are culturally specific but narratively loose and simplistic, myths and folklore are perfect for reviving, re-telling and reworking into new modern versions of themselves that can focus on different social or cultural ideas.
We mostly think of myth, fairytale and folklore as being part of the fantasy or horror genres, or for young adults and children’s literature. But actually, it pops up virtually everywhere. Without myth there would be no modern novel, nor the short story format, as both come from mythical storytelling traditions where several small tales were woven into anthologies or larger constructed narratives. Myths, fairytales and lore aren’t seen as having an author and as such they belong to whomever hears or tells them, which again makes them incredibly useful storytelling tools – something both the Brothers Grimm and later Walt Disney realised when establishing their own writing careers.
Literary fiction has always borrowed heavily from mythical motifs and ideas, weaving them into common metaphorical writing tropes and character journeys. Think about how the early literary fiction melded history with myth in Homer’s The Odyssey which has been retold in works as different as the Sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey and James’ Joyce’s literary masterpiece Ulysses. The first recognised horror novel, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, took long existing folkloric stories of the undead and linked them with technological marvels of her age, and we see references to mythology and fairytale in modern detective and crime fiction, young adult books like Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and of course revived mythological retellings like Circe by Madeline Miller and my own upcoming feminist comedy crime caper The Medusa Situation. It is an eternally useful set of characters, storylines, ideas, places and motifs.
There are some characterisation differences between myth, fable, folklore and fairytale. The common definition is that myth is a cultural story that has rites and rituals attached to it as well as formed a structural basis for a cultural set of values which were enforced and/or permeated throughout the institutions and social norms of that civilisation. Folklore and fairytale are less powerful culturally and more instructive socially or personally and are often seen as either being the basis of bigger myths or the remnants of them once they have lost their religious potency within a society. But they also each have very specific and separate storytelling, characterisation and structural traditions which help to differentiate them from each other.
Of course, I am going to say my retelling of the Medusa story in my book The Medusa Situation is my favourite! Because I always thought that Medusa got such a raw deal in both her origin story and in later modern retellings. I like stories that aren’t afraid to totally change up the original storyline, rather than just change the era/location or the perspective of the story from the victor to the perceived victim.
But I also love Marele Day’s book Lambs of God, which is such a strong and original retelling of myth and fairytale, borrowing so heavily on Abrahamic as well as Greek and Celtic Myth, European folklore and Australian cultural history. It is hugely underrated in my opinion. It does what I think the best mythical retelling does, it changes the story, and in that way brings myth fully into the modern era.
Gabiann Marin is an author and academic, best known for her work writing for children and her creative non-fiction books Gods and Goddesses (2018) and Monsters and Creatures (2019), which explore the true origins and historical tales of mythical creatures and divine stories. She has just published her first novel for adults, an urban mythology The Medusa Situation (2024); which is a comic retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa. When not writing she is a story developer, editor and academic, teaching narrative writing and media at universities across New South Wales.
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Check out our full range of writing courses in Sydney, our online writing courses and our feedback programs to see how we can help you on your creative writing journey. Find out about our grants and prizes, as well as writing groups across NSW, and sign up to our weekly newsletter for writing events, opportunities and giveaways.
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]]>The post Kids & YA Festival 2024: Call for Submissions appeared first on Writing NSW.
]]>Writing NSW is pleased to announce that our Kids & YA Festival will return on Saturday 3 August 2024. The festival is a popular event for adult writers who create work for children and young adults, and this year will be directed by multi award-winning and bestselling author Jacqueline Harvey.
Harvey is calling for submissions from both established and new voices keen to join a dynamic program showcasing current trends and fresh perspectives in writing for children and young adults.
“I feel very honoured to be directing the 2024 Kids and YA Festival,” Harvey said. “I’m looking forward to putting together a diverse program of speakers and topics that will delight and inspire those interested in creating and delivering content for children and teens.”
Submissions may come from authors, illustrators, e-book and traditional trade publishers, independent publishers, agents and other interested parties. Involvement may take the form of panel speakers, chair responsibilities, or interactive sessions.
Submissions should include details of publication experience, any upcoming releases around the time of the festival and suggested panel topics or specific areas of expertise. Uploading supporting material with submissions is optional and should be one A4 page maximum.
Submissions are now open and will close at 11.59pm AEDT on Sunday 24 March 2024.
The festival program will be released in June 2024.
Read about the last occurrence of this vibrant biennial festival here.
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]]>The post March 2024 appeared first on Writing NSW.
]]>For our monthly Writing On Our Calendar feature, we bring you a round-up of literary events happening in Sydney and around NSW. Check out some of the first writing events and programs in 2024 this March!
1 March: Gyan Yankovich Author Talk (Bathurst)
Just Friends is a celebration of friendships, shining a light on the many different forms they can take and the comfort they provide, whether they exist within the workplace, emerge in motherhood, are uncovered inside our neighbourhoods or become our chosen family. See author Gyan Yankovich talk about the book in a free event at Bathurst Library.
1 March: Book Launch: Square Me, Round World (Ballina)
Attend the launch of Square Me, Round World by local author Chelsea Luker. Square Me, Round World is an illuminating collection of short stories that delve into the distinctive experiences of those who navigate life feeling like square pegs in a world of round holes. Chelsea is the founder of Connect Us Psychology in Ballina and has a special interest in working with neurodivergent individuals. Square Me, Round World is her first book and draws on her many years of experience working in this field. Mark your calendars and join for a night of celebration, drinks and nibbles.
2 March: Multicultural Author’s Workshop (Western Sydney)
Meet other multicultural authors in Blacktown and learn about how you can share each other’s experience and cultures while living in Australia.
2-23 March: Narrative Structure for Fiction Writers with Timothy Daly (Inner West Sydney)
What makes stories work effectively? Why do some stories move you while others fail? Story and narrative structure is much more important in the overall success of a work than many writers realise. This four-week course will teach you many of the narrative structures and story patterns that lie beneath the surface of successful stories.
4 March: Dervla McTiernan in Conversation with Michaela Kalowski (Sydney)
What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan propulsively captures the day-to-day, minute-to-minute psychological and emotional impact of perhaps the most painful scenario imaginable: the unexplained disappearance of a child. And — in mirror image — the fear and horror of having a child accused of a terrible crime. At the State Library of NSW Auditorium, join Dervla McTiernan in conversation with Michaela Kalowski.
4 March: Karen Viggers Author Talk (Queanbeyan)
Join Queanbeyan-Palerang Libraries for an inspiring evening with author Karen Viggers as she discusses her latest novel Sidelines, which delves into the ongoing conversation about socially acceptable behaviour from parents on the sidelines of the sporting field. Dissecting both family and team politics, it exposes the familiar rhetoric of craving success and doing anything to get it.
Starts 4 March: Online Feedback: Short Stories with Ryan O’Neill (Online)
In this online feedback course, author Ryan O’Neill will provide feedback on your short fiction in an online classroom environment, enabling you to hone your skills over three months. You’ll also give and receive peer feedback, and be able to consider the tutor’s feedback across all submissions.
Starts 4 March: Online Feedback: Manuscript Development with Ashley Kalagian Blunt (Online)
Do you have a draft manuscript of adult fiction or memoir? Are you looking for feedback and tips to improve your work? In this online course, author Ashley Kalagian Blunt will provide feedback on your manuscript in an online classroom environment.
5 March: Lawson Literary Lot (Blue Mountains)
Join a monthly gathering and conversation about literature organised by Belong Blue Mountains.
6 March: Perumal Murugan: Resurrected Through Writing (Sydney)
Journey with author Perumal Murugan, once a target of right-wing book burnings and now longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023. Perumal Murugan, a Tamil speaker, and Roanna Gonsalves, an English speaker, will be in conversation in their respective languages. A live interpreter will provide consecutive interpretation throughout the event.
8 March: Book Launch, Conversation and Dinner with Sophie Hansen (Southern Highlands)
Join the launch of Sophie Hansen’s new cookbook What Can I Bring? where she will share the inspiration behind her latest creation followed by a hearty dinner at Moonacres School in Robertson.
9 March: Write-In (Inner West Sydney)
Struggling to find the time and space to write? Join a supportive community of writers sharing space at our upcoming Write-In. Whether you’re close to a deadline or just need to be held accountable, a Write-In is the perfect place to make progress. Writing NSW will provide the space, some light snacks and all the tea and coffee you need to make that word count climb. And it’s free to participate for all!
9 March: Scone Literary Festival Community Day (Upper Hunter)
In their off year, the biennual festival is hosting a free community day with a roving book club, community book swap, a thought-provoking panel entitled ‘After Lidell’ featuring Dr Patrice Newell, Catherine Hickson and Dr Penny Dunstan. Enjoy coffee and a light lunch with friends old and new; bring a picnic of purchase a light lunch and coffee, all in the shade of the hub at Scone Arts and Crafts.
9 March: The Archive of Remembering and Forgetting with Sara Saleh (Inner West Sydney)
In this workshop with poet and author Sara Saleh, we’ll look at contexts of intergenerational trauma and healing as inheritance, and the way in which both pain and survivorship can sharpen our senses and open/close us to certain detail. In this workshop we will explore the stark and different ways poets move through the surreal and mundane to explore memory and loss.
10 March: Women’s Day Writers Event (Western Sydney)
Hosted by WestWords as part of NSW Women’s Week, this is a full day of free activities. Begin with poets ali whitelock, Willo Dummond and Paris Rosemont in conversation with Zohra Aly in a vibrant panel that engages with and dissects the idea of female poetic form. Then choose between a Poetry & Writing Workshop with ali whitelock and counsellor Julia Ellis, or a Performing Your Work workshop with Brittany Searle. Lunch is provided, then the afternoon contains an author panel with Hayley Scrivenor and Amal Awad, and an open mic featuring Sarah Carroll.
12 March: Bondi Literary Salon March Book Club: Prophet Song (Sydney)
Join the Bondi Literary Salon for their first March book club, hosted by Dave Francis, where they will be discussing the 2023 Booker Prize Winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Tickets include a drink on arrival and nibbles during the evening.
12 March: Meet Joanna Nell – Author and Positive Ageing Advocate (Lake Macquarie)
Join Swansea Library for morning tea and to celebrate NSW Seniors Festival. Meet the internationally published, bestselling author of five novels, Joanna Nell. Joanna is also a doctor and an advocate for positive ageing, and her latest novel is Mrs Winterbottom takes a Gap Year, a witty and touching tale about mismatched expectations and living life in the moment.
13 March: Donna Cameron Author Talk (Port Macquarie)
Donna M Cameron is a playwright and AWGIE nominated radio dramatist who also writes novels, including her newest The Rewilding, an electrifying cat-and-mouse-chase and odd couple love story that captures the essence of what it means to be alive today in this cusp of change pulsing with possibilities.
13-19 March: Writing for the Education Market with Louise Park (Online)
Many well-known children’s authors began their careers writing for the education market and continue to do so alongside successful trade careers. Education publishing offers wonderful diversity and scope; it is also one of the best training grounds for emerging writers. But what exactly is it? This online course with author and educator Louise Park provides you with the knowledge and tools you need to write for the education market.
14-16 March: Manly Writers’ Festival (Northern Sydney)
This inaugural two-and-a-bit day festival for readers, writers, and thinkers will bring together ideas and writing, and explore issues at a time of significant change in the world, as well as simply enjoy great stories. The Manly Writers’ Festival will feed your heart and mind, and aims to leave you energised, informed, and inspired.
14-17 March: Blak & Bright Festival (Livestreamed)
Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival is based in Naarm (Melbourne). Established in 2016, the four day showcase celebrates the diverse expressions of First Nations writers and covers all genres from oral stories to epic novels and plays to poetry. You can register to watch the festival online here.
14-17 March: Lifeline Big Book Fair (Illawarra)
Lifeline’s Big Book Fair is back, with over 90,000 pre-loved books on sale over three days at the Illawarra Sports Stadium, Berkeley. Each event is a chance to spread the love of reading far and wide, save books from landfill and raise vital funds for Lifeline to deliver essential crisis support and suicide prevention services within the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast.
15 March: Manly Literary Salon (Northern Sydney)
Head to the Manly Spirits Distillery for a book launch and poetry reading as well as a complimentary themed cocktail and antipasto share plates. The book being launched is High Heels and Low Blows by Jill Valentine, and the poetry salon features Cocoa Deep-Amek, Luke Fischer, Zeina Issa and Michele Seminara, with MC Michael Cain and music by Jazz with Kate.
15 March: Brenda Matthews Author Talk (Campbelltown)
Brenda Matthews is a proud Wiradjuri woman whose journey from being part of the stolen generation to becoming an author, speaker, film director and Indigenous Director of Learning Circle Australia is an inspiring testament to the power of healing and reconciliation. Be captivated by her incredible storytelling and gain insight into her latest book and documentary. This in-person event offers a unique opportunity to meet Brenda and ask her questions about her writing process and inspirations.
15 March: Walking Book Club (Hunter Region)
Join a walking book-lovers group at Maitland Library that takes a gentle stroll along the river and discusses books they’ve been reading and loving, and books they think others really need to know about.
16 March: Words at Wagstaffe (Central Coast)
Words at Wagstaffe, a one-day literary event held in partnership between Words on the Waves Writers Festival and The Bouddi Society, will return to Wagstaffe Hall for its fourth year with the theme Truly Criminal. See crime author Michael Robotham, Walkley Award-winning journalist Dan Box, crime author Sarah Barrie, and small-town mystery author Susan Duncan.
18 March: Seniors Festival Memoir Writing Workshop (Western Sydney)
Writer Keith Whelan hosts a free workshop on writing your own personal memoir, with topics including how to choose a subject, plan, focus, and begin your story. Keith will lead participants through multiple writing exercises in recalling people, places, and events, discussion of the tension between emotional and factual truth, one-on-one sharing and critique, and advice on publishing.
19 March: Redfern Community Indigenous Writers Worskhop (Sydney)
Library For All is creating a collection of 500 mirror books for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children called Our Yarning, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are invited to add to this unique collection with stories that encourage children to love reading. The workshop will be led by Jessica Wimbus, a Gubbi Gubbi woman from Queensland Australia with extensive experience in Aboriginal education. Participants do not need any creative writing skills or experience, and authors will receive a copy of their published book.
19 March: Books in Bars with Tate James (Sydney)
Tate James is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy, paranormal romance, urban fantasy and romantic suspense. Join an unforgettable evening in Darlinghurst discussing the heart-pounding Madison Kate series: Hate, Lair, Fake, and Kate, all of which will be available for purchase on the night, and Tate will be signing copies.
20 March: Independent Publishing Workshop (Broken Hill)
Join a workshop with researchers from the Community Publishing in Regional Australia research group, and learn from publishing professionals Beth Driscoll and Alexandra Dane about editing, designing, marketing and distributing print, ebooks and audiobooks, at 12pm to 2pm at the Aged Persons Rest Centre on Blende St, Broken Hill. There will also be a drop-in session with Beth and Alexandra the following day on 21 March, 4pm to 5pm at the same venue. Attendance is free, no registration required.
20 March: Bad Women Book Club (Sydney)
Female characters are often labelled “unlikable” or “problematic,” purely for being three-dimensional. At Better Read Than Dead bookshop’s monthly Bad Women Book Club, they dissect books with female characters deemed difficult at their centre.
20-26 March: Preparing for Publication with Tiffany Tsao (Inner West Sydney)
When you’re in the throes of writing your first book, you’re not necessarily thinking about what happens when you’re done. But that day will come. You’ll write the last sentence of your final chapter. You’ll lean back in your chair, stunned. And you’ll ask yourself, Now what? This online course with Tiffany Tsao will help you prepare for the next stage in your writing journey: finding a suitable publisher or literary agent and getting them interested in your work.
21 March: World Poetry Day Open Mic Night (Western Sydney)
Join Fairfield Poetry Slam at the Whitlam Library for World Poetry Day! Whether you’re new to poetry, a seasoned veteran, or simply looking to spend an evening with local creatives, this open mic night is the perfect opportunity to listen to, connect with, and be inspired by local artists.
23 March: Pamela Cook and Penelope Janu In Conversation (Goulburn)
Join Pamela and Penelope as they talk about their books, respective paths to publication, writing processes, and writing careers in this in-conversation between two experienced and entertaining authors. They are friends, writing buddies, and members of The Inkwell writing group at Writing NSW, and love nothing better than talking about books and writing to like-minded readers and fellow writers. They have recently co-published novellas in an anthology of rural stories: A Country Vet Christmas.
Starts 25 March: Writing Trauma with Meera Atkinson (Online)
The prospect of writing trauma can be both daunting and compelling. Award-winning author Meera Atkinson invites those writing or looking to write trauma in any genre to explore this terrain through this online writing workshop.
28 March: Book Club for Seniors (Katoomba)
Share your love of reading and stimulating dialogue with other senior readers, in this monthly group for book lovers at Katoomba Neighbourhood Centre.
30 March: Pace, Tension, Action! with Alan Baxter (Illawarra)
Good pace and tension are essential for engaging storytelling, especially during the highest stakes scenes. If we want people to stay engaged, the tension has to be pulled taut and held there during action scenes, giving the reader excitement and danger while maintaining the suspension of disbelief. In this workshop with Alan Baxter, look at what makes a good action scene, why they’re powerful, where to put them in a story, and how to craft a scene for maximum impact.
30 March: Easter Book Fair (Central Coast)
The Pearl Beach Progress Association’s 47th Easter Book Fair returns, with secondhand books as well as handmade and baked goods.
More from Writing NSW
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]]>The new anthology from Sweatshop Literacy Movement, Povo, is a collection of pieces—some prose, some poetry, some attributed, some anonymous—about real life experiences in the lucky country.
In an incredible feat of editing, Adam Novaldy Anderson has selected a magnificent array of work from writers from First Nations, migrant and refugee backgrounds. Since most of the pieces only run to a few pages, the sense that you get while reading it is that every turn of a page reveals a great new find, whether it’s heartwarming, confronting or thought-provoking.
Povo features writers from The Asylum Seekers Centre, Leumeah High School and Macquarie Fields High School, amongst acclaimed writers like Leila Mansour, Natalia Figueroa Barroso and Adrian Mouhajer. With such a huge amount of talent packed into this slim volume it’s difficult to select favourites, but Daniel Nour’s funny and wry ‘How to Buy A Car’ and Katie Shammas’s achingly poignant ‘The Song that Fills the Valley’ are two of the many that are calling for a second reading.
Povo (2024, Sweatshop Literacy Movement)
If you attend a book club or writing group, you’ve probably heard someone mention Green Dot by Madeleine Gray. It is the book of the moment. What is immediately striking about Green Dot is the book’s voice. Voice can be such an amorphous thing to explain, so if you’ve ever struggled with understanding voice, this is the book to read for its impressive execution.
Hera is a 24-year-old, reluctantly moving into adulthood and all its monotony. She is smug, fiercely intelligent, yet also naive. When she meets journalist Arthur, a middle-aged co-worker, her infatuation quells her inertia. For Hera, Arthur represents a version of adulthood that she can get behind. But Arthur is married, and through Hera we experience what it’s like to be ‘the other woman’.
Packed with pop culture references and wry humour, Green Dot is a sharp debut. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m probably not the target audience, but I can see why this book has made such an impact on the literary landscape.
Over the holiday break I finished Anthony Lowenstein’s latest book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, which recently won both the Walkley Book Award and the People’s Choice at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
After having grown up in a liberal Zionist home in Melbourne, ‘where support for Israel wasn’t a required religion but certainly expected’, Lowenstein began reporting on Israel/Palestine in the early 2000’s, first visiting the Middle East in 2005, and going on to live in East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020. After over 20 years reporting from Palestine, Lowenstein’s views of Israel dramatically evolved to a place that he now says ‘mirrors the growing global awareness of what Israel has always been and where it’s headed’.
Through multiple interviews, analysis of secret documents and on-the ground-reporting, Lowenstein presents a case of a long history in Israel of exploiting Palestinian suffering and oppression for profit—both in Gaza and the West Bank—using the success of their exploits to sell weapons, surveillance, and combat techniques to multiple oppressive regimes around the world, as well as some seemingly democratic ones.
Lowenstein’s coverage of the sophistication of Israel’s surveillance, defence hardware and social media control—and the distribution of this technology around the world—makes for particularly interesting and chilling reading. I recommend this book to anyone interested in global politics, privacy and human rights, as well as those seeking to better understand the context of the ongoing and devastating assault on Gaza.
The Palestine Laboratory (2023, Scribe)
The Days Toppled Over by Vidya Madabushi
This novel charmed me. When Malli, a woman with a disability living in India, doesn’t hear from her brother Surya, an international student in Sydney, she defies all barriers and crosses the world to find him. In Australia, visa pressures and exploitative work conditions make Surya’s life unstable. Madabushi shows us his daily realities, ‘it is his first day off in months. The rain has finally ceased. Through the gap left by the broken window slat, a thick stripe of turmeric sunshine is falling onto the carpet.’ The Days Toppled Over opened my heart to the experience of international students, so often ‘othered’ in Australian media discourse.
Madabushi has a skill for crafting authentic dialogue and warm-hearted characters. The novel’s slow pace creates an intimacy between the reader and characters as the mystery of Surya’s disappearance leads us on. The highlight of the book is its exploration of the systems which enable dishonest employers to exploit vulnerable migrants using the mirage of permanent residency. This novel is ideal for anyone interested in the experiences of those we invite to Australia to work and study, with Madabushi’s characters exposing the harsh reality of the dreams of so many.
‘Nails’ by Chloe Hillary (Overland Issue 252)
‘Nails’ by Chloe Hillary highlights similar experiences. ‘Nails’ is a beautifully-written short story centred upon a Vietnamese international student in Sydney. Hillary shows so much without needing to say much, using fog as a striking and resonant symbol throughout the piece. Hillary is very successful in achieving the ‘single effect’ of the short story, the technique proliferated by Edgar Allan Poe; the conclusion stuck with me for days. The resonances between these two texts have highlighted a complex issue impacting thousands of international students in Australia.
The Days Toppled Over (2023, Penguin)
‘Nails’ (Overland 252)
I saw Joseph “Butch” Schwarzkopf last year when he performed at the poetry slam that I host in Wollongong each month, and whilst reading his words on the page cannot compare to the tender, genuine live reading with which Butch gifted the audience that night, I of course had to buy his debut collection, Pagong Cannot Climb Trees.
In the poet bio that Butch provided for my slam, he included that “his biggest claim to fame is appearing in the background of Shang-Chi for 0.5 seconds”, and so I feel at liberty to quote another Marvel project; WandaVision:
“what is grief if not love perservering?”
Pagong Cannot Climb Trees is a swift, definitive expression of simultaneous love and grief: of loved ones lost, of culture stolen by colonisation, and of his wife through the poem ‘Greetings’, which he wrote for their wedding. Through English, Tagalog and Cebuano, this collection wades through the persistent and generations-long trauma of being a Filipinx descendent of colonised lands and a man of colour in so-called Australia, at times mourning the violence enacted upon ancestors and at others expressing an unshakeable connection to heritage.
Pagong Cannot Climb Trees (2022, Sampaguita Press)
Check out our full range of in-person writing courses in Sydney, our online writing courses and our feedback programs to see how we can help you on your writing journey. Find out about our grants and prizes, as well as writing groups across NSW, and sign up to our weekly newsletter for writing events, opportunities and giveaways.
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Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to poet and author Sara Saleh about the significance of memory and loss in poetry, ahead of her workshop The Archive of Remembering and Forgetting.
Thank you, I am immensely proud of both these works, they are out free in the world… although it would be remiss of me not to mention that everything going on in Gaza at the moment is where my focus has been and will remain.
Memory and loss are central themes to both works. The complexities, the non linear and fractured ways in which we often meet memory and loss are intimately explored, and the relationship between them is paradoxical – sometimes an imposition on the writing, other times a landscape to interrogate important political and historical events… And of course, these themes are more pertinent than ever for me.
(Re)visiting the intention behind writing, and writing that specific piece of work. I tell myself to forget about the potential audience/publication for a moment, and remember ultimately I write first and foremost for myself – then I find it becomes easier to let go, to let myself loose and see where that boldness and vulnerability takes me. The poem knows when you are holding back.
The form helps us refine the message (and sometimes, the message will help dictate the form)… and the better we are at grasping that, the stronger a tool we have to excavate and go deeper within ourselves to make and create better poetry. It takes discipline, practice, and a lot of reading… we are readers before we are writers.
That there is only one way, or one ‘right’ way, to be ‘a poet’, often associated with Eurocentric curricula that centre old, passed white men and overlook the rich oral traditions of peoples from around the world. As an Arab woman, I come from a heritage that reveres and celebrates the poet and poetry more than just as an art form, but as positions that held religious and political significance, too (the holy Quran being testament to this, too, a literary miracle). In Arabic, the word for poetry is شعر.
Taking the root, those 3 letters, it also means to feel, to understand, to know or sense while being aware of this sense of knowing. And for me, that’s the point that shows poetry is for the people. Always has been. And as a perennial student, always curious and learning, it’s an immense privilege to explore / honour and learn from diverse traditions.
Without a doubt, Gawimarra: Gathering, the latest offering from Wiradjuri poet Jeanine Leane.
Sara M Saleh is a human rights lawyer, community organiser, writer, and the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon, living on Gadigal land. Her poems and short stories have been published in English and Arabic in various national and international outlets and anthologies including Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Meanjin, Overland Journal, and Rabbit Poetry. She is co-editor of the groundbreaking 2019 anthology Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity. Sara is the first poet to win both the Australian Book Review’s 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2020. In one year she released her debut novel, Songs for the Dead and the Living (Affirm Press 2023), and a full-length poetry collection, The Flirtation of Girls (UQP 2023).
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]]>For our monthly Writing On Our Calendar feature, we bring you a round-up of literary events happening in Sydney and around NSW. Check out some of the first writing events and programs in 2024 this February!
4 February: Brigid The Rebel Concert (Sydney)
This Prankqueans’ concert in Bondi Beach celebrates in music and spoken word the feisty spirit of Brigid the ancient Celtic Goddess and Ireand’s Matriarchal Saint. Stories, poetry, drama, music and song will introduce audiences to the indominatible spirit of an impressive list of Irish Australian women. Convict women as well as those who over time have championed political and social causes will inform an entertaining program of music, song, poetry and drama.
5 Feb: Povo Launch (Sydney)
Join Better Read Than Dead with Sweatshop Literacy Movement to celebrate the release of their new anthology Povo. Featuring presentations and performances by Adam Novaldy Anderson, Forever Tupou, Daniel Nour, Natalia Figueroa Barraso, Yasir Elgamil, Katie Shammas and Winnie Dunn.
5 Feb – 21 Jun: Online Feedback: Children’s Books with Aleesah Darlison (Online)
During this course, prolific children’s author Aleesah Darlison will provide professional feedback on your picture book or early reader/chapter book. Feedback will vary depending on each submission, but it may focus on areas such as storytelling, plot, structure, characterisation, theme or voice.
5 Feb – 21 Jun: Online Feedback: Poetry with Fiona Wright (Online)
Enrol to receive helpful feedback on your poetry from award-winning poet Fiona Wright in an online classroom environment over five months. Submit up to two poems once a month and receive tailored feedback.
5 Feb – 21 Jun: Online Feedback: Creative Non-Fiction with Lee Kofman (Online)
In this online writing course, author Lee Kofman will provide constructive critiques on your essays and creative non-fiction, enabling you to hone your skills over five months. If you’re ready to challenge yourself and develop your skills through constructive critique and independent work, this course is for you.
7 + 29 February: Bondi Literary Salon (Sydney)
Join the Bondi Literary Salon for their two February book clubs, hosted by Simon Pearce at Gertrude & Alice Café Bookstore. On 7 February they will be discussing Zadie Smith’s astonishingly accomplished first novel White Teeth, and on 29 February will discuss Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar’s Turkish classic The Time Regulation Institute.
10 February: Voice in Contemporary Playwriting with Michelle Law (Inner West Sydney)
In this brand-new course, award-winning playwright and author Michelle Law will guide you through contemporary theatre works with practical exercises in text analysis and dialogue, helping you find and develop your own unique voice as a playwright.
10 February: A Fork in the Road Anthology Launch (Greater Sydney)
The fourth anthology of Writers Unleashed, A Fork in the Road, will be launched in Miranda. The anthology is published by the Fellowship of Australian Writers NSW, for the Sutherland Branch.
11 February: Peter Polites in Conversation (Canberra)
God Forgets About the Poor by Peter Polites is a nuanced, thoughtful and richly evoked portrait of a woman, and the migrant experience, written to Polites’ typically creative style and structure. See him in conversation with Nigel Featherstone.
12 February: BPS Grand Slam (Sydney)
Join Bankstown Poetry Slam at Town Hall for an evening of spectacular spoken word poetry. Get ready for some ground-shaking clicking and stomping as Bankstown Poetry Slam’s highest-scoring poets of the events held in 2023 go head-to-head in teams for two rounds of thrilling poetry and verse.
13 February: Shellharbour City Libraries Poetry Open Mic (Shellharbour)
Speak your truth at the Library Lovers Day edition of Shellharbour City Libraries’ Poetry Open Mic, featuring Rachael Williams. Pick up the mic and share your words and/or just sit back and listen as performers tell their stories, then prepare to be blown away by their feature poet, Rachael Williams. The Shellharbour City Libraries Poetry Open Mic is an ongoing event where beginners and seasoned performers can come together and share their poetry in a warm and welcoming environment.
13 February: West Side Poetry Slam (Western Sydney)
West Side Poetry Slam is a monthly hybrid open mic night where you can sign up on the night and perform an original piece of writing to open minds, hearts, and arms. Audience members score with a fun line of feedback and you could win a support feature slot at the next slam. Featuring Dai Moret and Had.
14 February: Susannah Fullerton presents Murder, Bloody Murder (Greater Sydney)
Crime fiction has become ever more popular. Why do we love to read of murder and see the villain caught? What it is about crime fiction that’s so intensely satisfying? Discover the top five crime writers and their works with Susannah Fullerton, leading authority on 19th and 20th-century writers, and find out why they are so good and why they have lasted, at Sutherland Library.
14 February: Reading Between the Lines: Cruising by William Friedkin (Inner West Sydney)
Reading Between the Lines is a series of monthly literary discussions led by special guest presenters from universities. Cruising is an infamous 1980 film flop about an undercover detective (Al Pacino) investigating the serial murders of gay men in New York’s leather scene. Protested by gay rights groups upon release, what can the film tell us 40 years later about the intersections of queer communities, policing, and safety?
15 February: Poetica Petit Poetry Night (Sydney)
Poetica in partnership with Woollahra Council hosts a special poetry night each month. This special night of words and music is a more intimate affair for attendees, with a different feature poet and musician each time. Poetica MC Miriam Hechtman will also interview the feature poet live about their craft and poetry life. There will also be an open mic section, with enthusiastic audience participation each time.
16 February: Rudy Francisco Live (Greater Western Sydney)
Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognisable names in international spoken word poetry. Rudy Francisco has shared stages with prominent artists such as Gladys Knight, Jordin Sparks, Musiq Soul Child, and Jill Scott, and is the author of Helium and I’ll Fly Away. He is also an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, a National Poetry Slam Champion and appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Rudy will be performing for an hour and signing books afterwards.
17 February: Introduction to Self-Publishing with Michael Winkler (Inner West Sydney)
More writers than ever before are exploring self-publishing as a viable method of getting their words out into the world. But what is the process of self-publishing your work, and how can you maximise the chances of it being seen? Michael Winkler, award-winning author of Grimmish—the first ever self-published book shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award—will guide you through all you need to know for your next steps in self-publishing.
17 Feb – 18 May: MISC. Artist Program for LGTBQIA+ teens (Sydney)
Register for free arts practice workshops through a queer lens for LGTBQIA+ teens and their friends. From a queer choir to a draw’n’sip (alcohol free), deepen or pick up a new creative skill and make some authentic community connections along the way. Workshop participants are drawn from an expression of interest process for young artists seeking development and support.
17-25 February: Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival (Orange)
Join the communities of Orange and Cabonne in Central West NSW for 9 days of bush poetry events for their annual Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival. Banjo Paterson was born in Orange on 17 February 1864 and what more fitting way to celebrate than to gather the best bush poets from across Australia in competition, entertainment and storytelling.
18 February: Spoken Word Poetry Workshops (Sydney)
Discover the power of words and unleash your inner creative writing voice, in a series of empowering and inclusive creative writing and presentation workshops presented by Western Sydney’s Slam experts Bankstown Poetry Slam in collaboration with the iconic Sydney Opera House. Learn to share your stories and perspectives in a welcoming environment, leaning on experienced artists who will guide you to find your authentic voice through the power of slam poetry.
21-27 February: Research for Writers Eliza Henry-Jones (Online)
Feeling intimidated by the idea of researching your novel? Perhaps you’re delving into historical fiction for the first time, or you’re unsure of where to start finding out about your latest character’s unusual profession. Join this online course with author Eliza Henry-Jones to develop and enrich your research for writing skills. This course is packed with practical tips, examples, activities and resources that you’ll be able to utilise and adapt for countless future projects, both fiction and otherwise.
23 February: Not Another Poetry Slam (Inner West Sydney)
EnQueer presents NOT ANOTHER POETRY SLAM as part of the Big Gay Entree Festival at the Factory Theatre, Marrickville. The event will bring together a group of incredible poets, performance artists, spoken wordsmiths and writers to read their work in a slam that is touching, introspective, edgy and sexy. Lineup includes Sarah Jessica Carpark, Jazz Money, Luke Patterson, Paris Rosemont, and Omar Sakr, emceed by Michael Sun.
23 February: Lifeline’s Giant Book Fair (North Sydney)
On offer in the Civic Pavilion at the Chatswood Concourse over three enormous days will be more than 70,000 books in over 50 categories – including latest releases and classic fiction, art, architecture, study guides and texts for High and Primary schools, sci-fi, literature, history, travel and foreign languages, crafts and cookery for young and old, poetry, psychology, graphic novels, CDs and DVDs and an enormous number of other non-fiction favourites. They also have the usual fascinating array of special and collectable books.
23 February: Queerstories (Western Sydney)
Queerstories celebrates the culture and creativity of the LGBTQI+ community one true story at a time, each guest is invited to share the story they want to tell, but are never asked to; unexpected tales of pride, prejudice, resilience and resistance. Guest speakers include Sarah Carroll, Sepora, Jaycee Tanuvasa, Sam King, Alison Xinyi Guo and Rhian Mordaunt.
24 February: Sydney Muslim Writers Festival (Inner West Sydney)
This vibrant event serves as a dynamic platform for Muslim writers and thinkers to engage in compelling discussions, share their diverse experiences, and celebrate the flourishing literature within the Muslim community. The Sydney Muslim Writers’ Festival promises an inclusive experience for all lovers of books.
28 February: Inqueering Minds Book Club (Sydney)
Better Read’s Inqueering Minds Book Club will explore the beauty and complexity of LGBTQIA+ literature through time, meeting on the fourth Wednesday of each month. At their February meeting they will be discussing Insomniac City by Bill Hayes and Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis.
28 February: Author Talk with Karen Viggers (Wollongong)
Karen is the bestselling author of The Orchardist’s Daughter. Karen’s fifth book Sidelines examines the behaviour of parents on the sidelines of the sporting field. Karen Viggers is a writer, literary critic and the co-host of the podcast Secrets From the Green Room, which speaks with writers and bookish people about books and writing.
29 February: Enough Said Poetry Slam ft. Nicole Smede (Wollongong)
Enough Said Poetry Slam is a slamily where you can share your poems/words/stories/etc, listen to other people share theirs, click for your faves and maybe even win a prize. Their first slam of 2024 is both a leap-year slam AND an opportunity to indulge in some Valentine’s love poems, so get your notebooks out and share your poems or come along to enjoy the show. Their February featured poet is Nicole Smede.
29 February: Bread & Butter Poetry Slam (Inner West Sydney)
A poetry slam is an open mic for poetry where the points matter. Judges are randomly selected from the audience to determine their slam champion for each month. Bread & Butter Poetry Slam is the Inner West’s newest, most oven-fresh poetry night.
29 February: Books and Conversation with Suzie Miller (Inner West Sydney)
Celebrating books and readers, Petersham Bowling Club hosts a monthly series of in-depth and relaxed conversations with authors about their latest work, and their body of work, their writing process and the ideas that inspire them. See Michaela Kalowski interview Suzie Miller, contemporary international playwright, screenwriter and librettist.
More from Writing NSW
Check out our full range of writing courses in Sydney, our online writing courses and our feedback programs to see how we can help you on your creative writing journey. Find out about our grants and prizes, as well as writing groups across NSW, and sign up to our weekly newsletter for writing events, opportunities and giveaways.
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]]>The post Michael Winkler appeared first on Writing NSW.
]]>Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to Michael Winkler about the self-publishing experience, ahead of his workshop Introduction to Self-Publishing.
That’s an interesting question. I think it all pivots on what success means to you as a writer. Is it sales? Critical acclaim? Seeing a project through to completion? The validation of publication by a commercial publishing house? Connecting with readers? Having an object that you can pass around to family and friends? Invitations to writers festivals?
There are stories about authors making huge amounts of money from self-publishing. This happens, but you might have better odds buying lottery tickets. However, if success for you means having the opportunity to participate in the exchange of ideas or information, or to explore creativity or areas of special interest, there is a lot that can be gained from self-publication.
You know that saying that your greatest weakness is your greatest strength? I think the biggest advantage is that you do not need to compromise. You can have exactly the words you want, exactly the length you want, exactly the cover you want. The flip side of this is that some of the compromises that a commercial publisher requires might improve your book. Therefore you need clarity around what you want your book to be and why.
If sales are important to you, then marketing skills are very important. As writers we fool ourselves into thinking that the world wants to read our words – and even that readers owe us their attention. ISBNDB estimates that there are 158,464,880 books in the world. How will readers find yours? And why should they buy or read yours ahead of all the others? That’s where marketing skills come in.
Humility and gratitude. There are so many great writers and great books in the world, when people decide to spend time reading your work it is an honour.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is an obvious choice. But I get a thrill from niche books that writers produce that may not sell many copies but are exactly what the author wanted to produce. That sounds like success to me.
Michael Winkler is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. His novel Grimmish was shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the first self-published novel to make the long or shortlist. It has since been picked up by international publishers and released in the United Kingdom and North America. He has self-published three titles, as well as written books for commercial publishers including Penguin, Hardie Grant and Melbourne University Press. His journalism, short fiction, reviews and essays have been widely published and anthologised. He won the 2016 Calibre Prize for his essay The Great Red Whale. He was a judge for the 2023 Age Book of the Year Award and the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize.
If you want to be the first to read great advice, prompts and inspiration from our incredible tutors, subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter Newsbite.
Check out our full range of writing courses in Sydney, our online writing courses and our feedback programs to see how we can help you on your creative writing journey. Find out about our grants and prizes, as well as writing groups across NSW, and sign up to our weekly newsletter for writing events, opportunities and giveaways.
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