Category: AWC alumni

Petronella McGovern’s book launch for ‘Six Seconds’

Congratulations to AWC alumna Petronella McGovern who launched her debut novel Six Seconds at Berkelouw Books in Mona Vale in Sydney last week. With over 160 people attending, it was so popular, the event had to relocate across the road to the Memorial Hall. Launched by bestselling author Liane Moriarty... read more

Petronella McGovern’s dream of becoming a fiction author comes true with her thrilling debut novel

Courses taken at AWC: Crime and Thriller Writing Write Your Novel Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder Make Time to Write / Creative Writing 30-day Bootcamp Petronella McGovern came to the Australian Writers' Centre hoping to prioritise her fiction writing. She had always wanted to publish a... read more

Sandy Barker: How her dedication and online presence led to a publishing deal

Courses taken at AWC: Build Your Author Platform Sandy Barker’s goal for her novels was always to get a publishing deal. Two self-published novels and years of determination later, her debut novel, One Summer in Santorini, has just been published by HarperCollins. Sandy had decided to self-publish... read more

New York book launch for AWC alumna Astrid Scholte

Astrid Scholte’s dream of being published has come to fruition with the recent launch in New York of her debut novel, Four Dead Queens published by Putnam/Penguin Random House. “The launch was held at the Gold Bar in New York City. There were crowns, golden skulls, sparkling chandeliers... read more

Kaneana May: From TV scriptwriter to published author

Courses taken at AWC: Creative Writing Course Build Your Author Platform 2 Hours to Scrivener Power Self-publish Your Novel on Kindle When Kaneana May, a stay-at-home mother living in regional NSW, took a trip to Sydney to do a creative writing course with the Australian Writers' Centre... read more

My top 10 interviews… out of one million downloads!

By Valerie Khoo Our podcast, So You Want to be a Writer, has now hit over one million downloads! When my co-host Allison Tait and I started out on this journey we never even considered this magic number. We were too busy loving the fact that we got to... read more

2018 Australian Romance Readers Awards finalists announced

Voting has opened for the 2018 Australian Romance Readers Awards and we are delighted to announce that Pamela Hart (aka Pamela Freeman, AWC’s Director of Creativity) and AWC creative writing alumni Penelope Janu and Joanna Nell are amongst the finalists. Pamela is a finalist in the Favourite Historical Romance... read more

Penelope Janu’s trifecta – published three times in one year

A huge congratulations to AWC’s creative writing graduate Penelope Janu on the publication of three books this year, including On the Same Page, which also won the prestigious 2017 XO Romance Prize. On the Same Page tells the story of Miles Franklin (named after the famous author), who is... read more

Frances Chapman’s successful transition from freelance writer to published author

Courses taken at AWC: Novel Writing Essentials Write Your Novel 6-month program The “loneliness of the solitary pursuit of fiction writing” led Frances Chapman to AWC’s Novel Writing Essentials course and her subsequently winning the Hardie Grant Egmont 2018 Ampersand Prize for her ‘vibrant’ debut YA novel, What... read more

AWC’s amazing creative writing team publish a whopping 43 books this year

2018 has been a bumper year for our team of creative writing presenters and alumni, publishing a whopping total of 43 books, including books of fiction and non-fiction in the genres of romance, historical fiction, fantasy, crime and mystery, thriller and suspense, Australiana and children. Here, in no particular... read more

Congratulations to Frances Chapman winner of the 2018 Ampersand Prize

We are delighted to announce that AWC graduate Frances Chapman has won the prestigious Hardie Grant Egmont 2018 Ampersand Prize for her ‘vibrant’ debut YA novel, What it Takes. From the Hardie Grant website: Selected from nearly two hundred submissions, What It Takes is a beautifully written own-voices LGBTQ... read more

Joanna Nell: From GP to published author with her feel-good debut novel

Courses taken at AWC: Creative Writing Stage 1 Advanced Fiction Writing Techniques Novel Writing Essentials Build Your Author Platform Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers An unexpected incident led Joanna Nell to the Australian Writers' Centre and the subsequent publishing of her feel-good debut novel The... read more

Tamsin Janu shortlisted for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

We are thrilled to see AWC alumna and award-winning author Tamsin Janu shortlisted in 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Children’s fiction category for her book Figgy Takes the City. From the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards media release: The shortlists for this year's Prime Minister's... read more

Ashleigh Mills launches her travel directory – ‘Hotels with Cats’

Courses taken at AWC: Blogging for Beginners Freelance Writing Stage 1 Travel Writing Profile Writing Ashleigh Mills wanted to combine her passion for cats, travel and freelance writing. So she took AWC’s courses in Blogging for Beginners, Travel Writing and Freelance Writing Stage 1. Then everything fell into place... read more

Jo Hartley’s life-changing leap from recruitment to successful freelance writer

Courses taken at AWC: Freelance Writing Stage 1 Copywriting Essentials Travel Writing Profile Writing When Jo Hartley took Australian Writers' Centre’s Freelance Writing Stage 1 course it totally changed her life. Today she calls herself a freelance writer and says she can’t imagine her life without writing. “It... read more

Margaret Morgan: “Through the course at AWC, I discovered that I really could be a novelist”

Courses taken at AWC: Write Your Novel Thanks to the Australian Writers' Centre’s Write Your Novel course, and the subsequent publishing of her first novel, The Second Cure (Penguin Random House), Margaret Morgan now proudly calls herself an author. “I’ve just had my first novel published and I... read more

Jaci Byrne’s dreams of being a published author come true

Courses taken at AWC: Freelance Writing Stage 1 Inside Publishing (previously called How to Get your Book Published) After self-publishing four novels and a series of eight illustrated children’s educational books on Amazon, Jaci Byrne decided that she wanted to get her books ‘traditionally published’. She took Freelance... read more

Sarah Bailey wins Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel

A HUGE congratulations to AWC Creative Writing Stage 1 graduate, Sarah Bailey who has won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel, The Dark Lake (2017 Allen & Unwin). The Dark Lake was a bestseller around the world and her suspenseful storytelling about a police procedural set in country... read more

How vision impaired Graham Frizzell gained the confidence to become a successful freelance writer

Courses taken at AWC: Freelance Writing Stage 1 Travel Writing How to Build a Successful Freelance Copywriting Business Copywriting Essentials Living with profound vision impairment (Graham is legally blind) and growing up prior to the advent of the adaptive technology that has so enriched his life today, Graham felt completely... read more

Mandy Foot lands children’s book deal as writer and illustrator

Courses taken at AWC: Writing Picture Books Congratulations to Australian Writers’ Centre Writing Picture Books graduate Mandy Foot on her publishing deal with Hachette Australia. Her charming book Joey and Riley (about a young boy and his beloved dog in rural Australia) is now published and Mandy is busy illustrating... read more