Suzi Dafnis from the wonderful Australian Businesswomen’s Network has organised a Tweetchat with Valerie Khoo on Thursday 29 May. This is a chance for anyone to ask Valerie questions in real time (via Twitter) about writing your own book. You’ll have to be succinct – because your question will need to fit
September’s Write Around the Murray Festival has announced a couple of writing competitions – one national and one local. The first is open to all writers and provides you with inspiration in the form of eight images. You may choose one or more to base your story on (up to
In Episode 14 of So you want to be a writer, we ask is the Internet an enemy of writers’ creativity? Huffington Post and Techcrunch establish a presence in Australia, how to make story time count with your kids, free homes to dedicated writers, the book ‘Everyone can write’ by Howard
Congratulations to Graeme Simsion on winning Book of the Year for The Rosie Project! This was announced at the 14th Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) in Sydney on 23 May 2014. FROM MEDIA RELEASE: Other big winners included the recipient of the 2013 Man Booker Prize, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, for
Announcing two new writing competitions – each with one word themes. Both offer plenty of scope – and plenty of prizes. First up is the ‘Grieve’ writing competition – returning for its second year and presented by Hunter Writers Centre in conjunction with the National Association of Loss & Grief. Created to honour
In Episode 13 of So you want to be a writer, great authors who’ve disowned their books, why is Scarlett Johansson suing an author? Australian Gourmet Traveller and Harvey Norman announce the Gourmet Institute, advice from a former book publicist, grow your blog one reader at a time, Writer in Residence and
In Episode 12 of So you want to be a writer, we ask are journalists miserable, over educated and underpaid? The Best Australian blogs are announced, the secret libraries of New York city, write a novel… in a game, how Reading Australia are making a difference to Australian schools and universities, the
Su Dharmapala is an author, social media commentator and blogger. Her debut novel, The Wedding Season, was published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster and she’s just released her follow-up, Saree. Set in Sri Lanka, India and Australia, Saree is the story of a young saree maker, whose creations transform
In Episode 11 of So you want to be a writer, we ask if you are reading tablet magazines, we discuss the periodic table of storytelling, fake twitter followers, the difference between goals and dreams, the top 10 blogs for writers, how to write a blog post in 15 minutes or less, Writer
Here’s a snippet of an email we received recently from Robyn Windshuttle of NSW:
“As a previous student at AWC, I thought I’d let you and your team know that my manuscript has been picked up by Allen & Unwin and my book, Dancing with A Cocaine Cowboy…a true story of love and life with a Colombian drug trafficker, is scheduled to be on the shelves in October. I was given a sizeable advance and there is talk of international sales. It’s very exciting for me.”
Josephine Moon is an Australian author whose debut novel, The Tea Chest, prompted a hotly contested auction between several publishers. The manuscript was eventually published my Allen & Unwin. Josephine describers her novel as “like a chocolate brownie – indulgent, comforting, a treat for the senses, but filling, and with chunky nuts to chew on.”
Josephine started her writing career as a journalists but had always wanted to write fiction. She also spent time teaching English and working as an editor. For many years she experimented with a number of genres, writing and publishing a number of short stories. She began work on her first novel in 2007 and is now working on a second for Allen & Unwin. She lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland with her husband and young son.
The humble keyboard. Fifty years ago no one could have predicted just how ubiquitous and how vital to our every day lives it would become. But it’s now something few people could say they live without, and us certainly writers are big users of the keyboard.
Which brings us to this week’s wacky word – qwerty. (Or QWERTY, as you’ll sometimes see it written.) This one has a very specific meaning and it’s not a word you could use unless you’re describing a keyboard. But it’s one of the few words in English that doesn’t subscribe to the ‘u after q’ rule, and when you know the story of the qwerty keyboard, you can understand why.
In Episode 10 of So you want to be a writer, we ask should you dump your agent and focus on self publishing? The Best Australian Blogs finalists are announced, JuNoWriMo is here (are you in?), the Australian Financial Review apologies for ‘World is Fukt’ front page, the most hated travel writing cliches,
The Australian Writers’ Centre today announced 31 finalists in the annual Best Australian Blogs Competition. These finalists now compete for the title of “Best Australian blogger” for 2014. The finalists were selected from a record 1,125 blogs entered in this year’s competition. They are in the running to win a
With the average maximum temperature for July in Bowral sitting at 12C, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that a little winter hibernation might be in order. Not so for those in the community: July is when the town comes alive for the Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival (SHWF), and they’d like you to join them!
With writing greats such as PJ Travers (Mary Poppins), Patrick White, Miles Franklin and screenwriter Terry Hayes (Mad Max) all hailing from the area, it’s not surprising that the creative community is alive and well in the Southern Highlands. With many in the region isolated on farms out of the main city, the SHWF provides a great opportunity for everyone come together and share their love of writing.
It’s 5.30am. Gabrielle Tozer, 28, shuts the door to her study and sits at her desk. Sydney’s concrete jungle is quieter so early in the morning and Gabrielle likes to write in silence. A gumtree stands outside her window – the only greenery among the nearby buildings. It’s a reminder
In Episode 9 of So you want to be a writer we talk about being a part of a dynamic team, an ex-writer creates an app to redefine the way you read fiction, we ask should you name and shame publishers to get paid? Donna Tartt wins Pulitzer, when Doris Lessing rescued Jenni
So you want to be a writer is a weekly podcast from Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait.
Valerie is an author, journalist and national director of the Australian Writers’ Centre.
Allison Tait is an Australian freelance writer, blogger and author, with more than 20 years’ professional writing experience. She is also a presenter at the Australian Writers’ Centre.
In Episode 8 of So you want to be a writer we talk about Puberty Blues, why journalists should use twitter when fired, the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Shortlist, the 2014 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Shortlist, The Guardian’s Self-Published Book of the Month Competition, Bob Carr’s diva demands, the ideal
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Applications close 5pm Wednesday 7 May 2014.
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