This could be you | Australian Writers' Centre

Sophie Gillies: How wombat poo led to picture book success

When Sophie Gillies was about eight years old, she was an avid reader, and often imagined telling Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls about life in the late 20th century. Fast forward to well into the 21st century and Sophie studied creative writing at university before finding herself working in environment education. But […]

Mitch Jennings on turning his novel writing dreams into published reality

Mitch Jennings had ambitions to be a novelist, but like so many others, didn’t know how to turn his dreams into reality. In his day job as a sports journalist, he was no stranger to writing, but crafting a crime novel would require a whole new set of skills. The Australian Writers’ Centre provided the […]

Kell Woods shares how she landed a dream two-book deal

Despite being surrounded by books in her day job, Kell Woods knew that if she wanted to be successful in publishing her own fiction, she’d need some guidance. That’s where the Australian Writers’ Centre came in – providing the content and flexibility to learn a range of new skills and improve her writing craft. It […]

Millie Lewis builds on her picture book success

“Writing Picture Books showed me that I could learn to master something I knew very little about (and trust me, there are transferable lessons there when it comes to parenthood!) For the first time since having a baby, I felt competent at something, and that was truly transformative for me,” Millie says. “Of course, getting a picture book contract the same year was icing on the cake!”

Bec Nanayakkara shares 5 tips for picture book success

For New South Wales-based picture book author Bec Nanayakkara, the past few years have been quite a whirlwind. A graduate of the Australian Writers’ Centre Writing Picture Books course, Bec found success immediately with her first two books Grow Big, Little Seed and Book Star – published by Hardie Grant and Affirm Press respectively. And […]

Shankari Chandran: From lawyer to award-winning author

When Shankari Chandran took time out of her career as a lawyer to have her fourth child, she turned her hand to writing in between baby feeds and family demands. This pastime has turned into a new career and Shankari has now released her first novel The Barrier, a futuristic fast-paced thriller that has been compared to the works of Michael Crichton and Matthew Reilly.

Kell Woods finds international success as fantasy author

After studying a suite of courses, starting with Novel Writing Essentials, and including History, Mystery and Magic and Plotting and Planning, Kell’s publishing dream came true when she landed a two-book deal with publishing powerhouse Tor US. Kell’s debut novel, After the Forest, was published in 2023, with international publication by Titan Books in the UK and HarperCollins in Australia/New Zealand.

How Emma Pignatiello went from teacher to romance author

The Australian Writers’ Centre’s Romance Writing course came at just the right time for school teacher Emma Pignatiello. She had written three YA manuscripts and was working on a crime novel, but she realised that what she really loved was romance.

Claire Thompson inspires with her true-story picture books

Deciding to write picture books was literally a lightbulb moment for media and communications manager Claire Thompson. Each time she put her newborn baby in the carseat, the interior lights flashed on, so Claire and her four-year-old invented a story about a magic baby. She immediately realised she wanted to write a children’s book and enrolled in the course Writing Picture Books a few days later.

Shelley Dark’s writing group and travel memoir

Australian Writers’ Centre graduate Shelley Dark has completed several courses with us. After completing our Write Your Novel program, Shelley formed friendships that evolved into a writers’ group – THE ALLWRiTE CLUB. We were delighted to hear that the group is still going strong. Many members of the writing group have gone on to secure […]