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Do these awards sound familiar to you? It’s probably because you’ve read most of the winners as a kid (or to your own children!) thanks to their shiny round stickers: Whether the sticker was Silver, Blue or Bronze – you knew you’d be in for a good read. Today the

It may still be winter, but if you’re in Melbourne you’ll want to leave the comfort and warmth of your blanket fort for the Melbourne Writers Festival (MFW). This year’s festival runs from the 20th of August to the 30th of August and embraces all forms of writing from Nobel prize

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious prizes honouring our crime fiction and true crime writing, and this year they’re celebrating their big 2-0! The winners of the 2015 Ned Kelly Awards will be announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday August 22 – and they’ve just

Monday 12 October 2015 Time: 6.30–8.00pm Although the official time is from 6.30pm to 8.00pm, you are welcome to stay as long as you like – and we imagine many of you will! Who: Natasha Lester had always wanted to be a writer but somehow found herself studying Commerce when

The new love of my life is not tall, dark and handsome, nor is it likely to bring me flowers every day. But it does something even better – it makes writing a book a breeze. And it’s name is Scrivener. Scrivener is a program especially designed for novel writing,

We waited with bated breath all day long… only to remember that the announcement happens at 12pm British Standard Time. Finally, the clocks have ticked over in the UK, and the longlist is here! From the official announcement: The longlist, or ‘Man Booker Dozen’, for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize is

We’re sure you don’t need an excuse to support your local bookshop, but we have a great excuse anyway. Saturday 8th of August is National Bookshop Day! Hundreds of bookshops will be holding events and having activities, and more. From the press release: On Saturday, August 8th, bookshops throughout Australia will

You’ve often heard us bang on about how social media can help your build your author platform and help you connect with other people in the industry. Well, if you’re an emerging or established writer, who should connect with? Apart from your friends, family and fans, here are 88 Australian

Mums need medals, right? We certainly think so, and that’s without contemplating another job (on top of the full-time one at home) or a creative pursuit. Our ‘Writer in Residence’ interview in episode 57 of our So you want to be a writer podcast saw writer/mum Allison Tait chat with

We love Pamela Hart’s book trailer for her new book The Soldier’s Wife. Pamela (who also writes under Pamela Freeman) is our wonderful Director of the Creative Writing faculty here at the Australian Writers’ Centre. Check out the trailer here: You can buy The Soldier’s Wife here. Pamela also teaches

A big congratulations to Sofie Laguna for taking out the Miles Franklin Award for 2015. Sofie won with her novel, The Eye of the Sheep. From the media release: Perpetual, as Trustee of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, today announced Sofie Laguna as the winner of the 2015 award for

Relax: there are no spoilers here. Need a lift and something to read? This landed in our inbox this morning… Game of Thrones offered in UBER stunt Think you know Game of Thrones? There’s more to the story! On Tuesday June 16th, passengers booking an UBER service in Melbourne and Adelaide

You’ve probably heard about ‘Writing in Prison’ programs, where prison inmates are assisted with their writing. However, if you’re in Victoria, you too can write in prison – without the hassle of having to commit a crime first! The National Trust ‘Cells for Writers’ project has been designed to assist

With the news this week of Tamsin Janu’s first book Figgy and the World winning the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards’ 2015 Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature we wanted to revisit our fab interview with her last year. What an amazing result – congratulations Tamsin! Australian Writers’ Centre graduate Tamsin

To celebrate her recent book launch, author and Australian Writers’ Centre presenter Patti Miller will be in Melbourne for a Q&A and more. From the Alliance Française website: Book presentation, Q&A and book signing with the author: Patti Miller Wednesday 24th June 2015, 6.30pm Alliance Française, 51 Grey Street, ST

One of the wonderful things about the Australian Writers’ Centre (just one of them) is the flexibility with which you can do your learning. We run classroom courses in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, as well as a range of tutored online courses for anyone with an internet connection. And new

Writers usually need a little organisation to balance their days. And the one place they spend the most amount of time is their keyboards. So it was only a matter of time before someone combined the two. There is nothing remotely complex about this gift idea from Poketo. It’s effectively

Last night in Sydney, the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) announced their winning selections for 2015 – an annual literary showcase which fittingly takes place during the Sydney Writers’ Festival. And it’s big congratulations to Australian Writers’ Centre presenter Judith Rossell – she ended up ’top of the pile’ for

JOB ADVERTISEMENT All details from the Emerging Writers’ Festival website Emerging Writers Festival Festival Director The Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) invites applications for the exciting position of Festival Director. The Festival Director will lead the artistic direction of EWF and deliver high quality, diverse and dynamic programs in support of the emerging writers

We get it. You should be writing. But you’re here online instead. You’re not sure exactly when it started — perhaps about an hour ago when you caught yourself alphabetising your bookcase, refolding your towels and cleaning out the cutlery drawer. But it’s now official: you have entered The Procrastizone.