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Australian Voices Ali Cobby Eckermann Christos Tsiolkas Lily Chan
You’re the voice try and understand it. Wise words from that great man, John Farnham. By the time the backing vocals chime in and the drums start thumping to bring home the chorus, making way for a rocking bagpipe solo, The Voice is something to get pretty darn excited about. The concept of the Australian Voice gets a little more complicated. This country we inhabit is nothing if not polyvocal. Trying to define what the contemporary Australian voice sounds like is as difficult as determining what an Australian meal tastes like. Though there’s no denying it exists. MUP publisher Louise Adler’s was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald two years ago as saying the key to Australian voice, “is in identifying ‘cultural markers’ and understanding our history and the Australian sensibility.” She continues, “We know there’s an Australian voice, idiom; there’s an Australian way of looking at the world.
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Who’s The Voice?
Why not own that? Why disavow that?”
Writer and Writers Victoria tutor Kelly Gardiner offers, on her blog kellygardiner. com, a different view: “...there is not AN Australian voice, it’s just that some voices are prized over others. Those that are most prized fit into a certain canon and that canon will have to change if only so we don’t get bored to death. The other voices (which is, let’s face it, just about everyone) are sometimes in danger of being drowned out, and we have to do a whole lot more to support them.” Gardiner feels optimistic that there are plenty of people who want to hear these Australian voices, and so do I. Tuck into them in this issue and I feel confident you’ll emerge anything but bored.
We have the chance to turn the pages over, Farnsy would tell us. So make a noise and make it clear. Wo-oh o-oh o-oh o-oh!
Cover “Lumos” (2013 Blake Prize finalist), oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, 2013, by artist Amanda Parer www.amandaparer.com.au
Editor Anna Kelsey-Sugg Editorial Assistant Bronwyn Lovell Editorial Committee Adolfo Aranjuez, Jane Fraser, Allee Richards, Sally Williams, Cory Zanoni Proofreading Robert Frolla, Carole Lander, Anna Brasier Design / Illustration transmig.com Printing Southern Colour Distribution Melbourne Mailing Printed on 100% recycled paper Subscribe Receive 10 editions of The Victorian Writer with Writers Victoria membership from $68/year. Join or renew memberships at writersvictoria.org.au or phone 03 9094 7855. Submit Submissions on upcoming themes are welcome from Writers Victoria members at least two issues in advance. Please see 2014 themes listed online first. Advertise For enquiries about advertising in The Victorian Writer, or in the enews, program or online, see writersvictoria.org.au/ magazine or email editor@writersvictoria.org.au Disclaimer While information is printed in good faith, Writers Victoria can take no responsibility for its accuracy or integrity. Inclusion of advertising material does not imply endorsement by Writers Victoria. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Writers Victoria staff or committee. Contact Writers Victoria, Level 3, The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne VIC 3000 Telephone 03 9094 7855 Website writersvictoria.org.au Email info@writersvictoria.org.au ABN 18 268 487 576 | ISSN 2203-1197 Staff Director Kate Larsen Admin / Finance Martin Tunley Publications Anna Kelsey-Sugg Program Alex Drevikovsky Membership Sarah Vincent, Bronwyn Lovell Write-ability Fiona Tuomy Acknowledgment The Writers Victoria office is situated on the tradition lands of the Kulin Nation. Big thanks ...to Denise Rose Hansen for all her help this issue.
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The Victorian Writer
News & Views A Month Of Christos Tsiolkas’ quiet place Ali Cobby Eckermann on poetry Giordano Nanni‘s Corenderrk story Lily Chan and memoir Leisl Egan clowns around PEN Melbourne Courses Calendar Opps & Comps Classifieds Quiz/Milestone=s/ Discounts Kid’s Lit & Taboos
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Grants for Writers with Disability
Our New Look
Unbound
You may have noticed that The Victorian Writer looks a little different this month. Writers Victoria aims to make our program, services and publications as accessible as possible for people with disability, which is why we’ve made the magazine clearer and easier to read for everyone to enjoy.
New crowdfunding platform Unbound is just for books! Writers present a pitch and readers pledge. Submissions being accepted from authors of fiction, non-fiction and anything in between.
Meet the Team
$5000 Poetry Prize for Young Indigenous Writers
Writers Victoria is thrilled to welcome three new team members in 2014. Our two new Membership Officers, Bronwyn Lovell and Sarah Vincent, may be contacted at members@writersvictoria. org.au. Alexis Drevikovsky returns as our new Program Officer and may be contacted on program@writers victoria.org.au
The Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize for Young Indigenous Writers offers an award of $5000 to an indigenous writer who is 30 years or younger. In 2014 the prize will be awarded to the best poem or suite of poems (limit of 100 lines). The successful writer will also be offered a place as Writer in Residence at Trinity College for a period of up to
unbound.co.uk
The Australia Council for the Arts will launch a new $300,000 funding round for artists and writers with disability in 2014. www.australiacouncil.gov.au
three months. The successful piece will be published in the May/June 2014 edition of Overland. The judges of the award are Sally DaltonBrown, Trinity College (Chair); Peter Minter, Overland; and Tony Birch, University of Melbourne. The closing date is 31 January 2014. overland.submittable. com/submit/24622
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A Month Of... Writing Residency by Michelle Wright
“Where you from?” asks the green mango vendor from behind his cart on the ramparts surrounding Galle fort. “Australia,” I answer, but immediately feel the need to add, “but my parents are from here.” “From here?” he repeats and I see that he can’t understand how that could be true. I don’t think his English will stretch far enough for a detailed explanation of the Burghers in Sri Lanka and their exodus after 1956 when Sinhala replaced English as the official language. So I smile and give an apologetic waggle of the head. “Holiday?” he asks. I just frown and give another waggle. “Residential writing fellowship” is not worth attempting. So he and I accept that it’s too hard to explain, but that it is. We accept it with a calmness that is so common here, an acceptance of how things are, a patience that slows you down and tells you – don’t get worked up, just see, just take note, just take the time that is needed. I don’t know why I insist on telling everyone I meet about my Sri Lankan origins. I guess it’s because I feel them so strongly; because they are so present in my thoughts, especially when I am here. I know that I am not from here. I know that although my parents grew up here, in many ways they were not from here either. Their language was English, their customs largely European. I do not speak Sinhala or Tamil. I know only a little of Sri Lankan history and culture. The origins of my colour, my hair, my skin are back there somewhere, in a mixing of genes that connected me to this place even before I was born. As soon as I land in this country, I feel as though I have come home. When I am walking in the street, everyone has the same colour hair as me. Yes, my skin is lighter, but it’s still a shade of the same colour – brown. I’m not chocolate brown or tamarind brown or teak brown like them, but I’m definitely a diluted shade of the same colour. I don’t feel
all that different, I don’t feel as though I stand out. No doubt in their eyes I do. No doubt I’m just as foreign as all the other tourists. But what I feel in my body and in my head is a sense of comfort, of belonging, of fitting in. Maybe it’s something to do with the food. I grew up with the tastes and smells of this country. Egg hoppers, pol sambol, rice and curry, parippu. These foods are a part of me, of my flesh. They were fed to me by my mother. So while English is my mother tongue, Sri Lankan food is my “mother food” – my mother’s food. And I think that’s part of this feeling of comfort, of familiarity. So this month of writing hasn’t begun with a culture shock. Not yet. I’m sure there will be many, many new sights and sounds and experiences. (Being woken this morning by the screams of a male purple-faced, long-tailed leaf monkey outside my window was one, I guess.) I already sense, though, that it won’t be a month of completely new experiences in a completely foreign land. It will be a month of seeing, of noticing, of taking the time that is needed. It will be a month of searching for stories in a land where I am already, in a small and inconsequential way, a part of the story myself. And when I am trying to know what to take from my background, and what to take from this country, and how to make sense of how they fit together, I will stop worrying and answer the green mango vendor’s question with the words of Jean-Luc Godard: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.” Michelle Wright writes short stories and flash fiction. She won the Age Short Story Competition in 2012. In 2013 she won the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Competition and came second in the Bridport Prize for flash fiction. She is spending a month at Templeberg Villa in Galle, Sri Lanka as the Writers Victoria Templeberg Residential Writing Fellow.
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Matt Hinson/Flickr CC, 2007.
Finding a Quiet Place In the wake of the publication of Christos Tsiolkas’ latest novel Barracuda, the author spoke with Anna Kelsey-Sugg about his “un-English” voice, learning to live with a nagging doubt and the passion that fuels him.
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n her recent Guardian Australia review of Barracuda, Mary Kostakidis gave the very interesting descriptor “most un-English” to Christos Tsiolkas’ writing.
Does the bestselling author of book-turned-TV-show The Slap, and novels Loaded and Dead Europe, see this as a compliment? “I’ll tell you an interesting thing that happened about ten years ago around the time of Dead Europe,” Tsiolkas begins, by way of answer. “There was a friend of mine from Greece, an Australian of Greek heritage, who studied Greek at university level and was living in Athens at the time. She sent me the most beautiful email saying, ‘Look, I’ve been reading heaps of contemporary Greek literature and your voice is Greek’. “I thought that was really interesting. I write in English, that’s my language, but I do have the blessing, I think, of having also grown up with a second language, and maybe that gives you an outsider [position] or an observation of language that with only one language you don’t have. You realise that you can communicate between languages. “What it allows you to do,” says Tsiolkas, of his outsider vantage point, “is take risks with rules.” Taking risks is just what his work is all about. Not only thematically and linguistically, but personally. The very fact of his continued work as a writer is risky, as – despite the success – it’s a profession fraught with doubt and insecurity, that threatens defeat at any turn. ‘I think that nagging self-doubt is a part of the writer’s and an artist’s life, something that is ever-present,’ says Tsiolkas. ‘There has to be an acceptance that you will have to integrate that fear into your life, that that part of the artistic process is permanent. “One of the things that led me to athletes, to sportspeople, is that I had this end vision of the purity of their achievement – you know that if you’re the first one over the finish line, you’re the best. It’s quantifiable in a way that it isn’t for any artist. But then, of course, in doing the research in writing, I realised what I have as a writer, what you have as a writer, that those young people don’t have, is that we can do this until our old age.”
You will have to integrate fear into your life.
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I knew that I had to stop listening to that nagging voice of self-doubt.
transformed into something closer to compassion really”.
The writing of Barracuda followed huge success for Tsiolkas, including The Slap winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the ALS Gold Medal and a swag of others, as well as being adapted into a highly successful television show. Tsiolkas stresses his gratitude for its success: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful”, he says. Nonetheless, he was thrown by it. “It was a little bit disorientating in terms of something in the way of expectation, I guess, of what you do next...not feeling so sure of whether you deserved it.” The doubt lingered still, infecting the writing that followed.
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“I look back at the first draft [of Barracuda] and there was a point where I thought maybe I can’t do this, maybe this story isn’t going to work. Thankfully...there’s a certain level now where, I’ve done this for over 20 years, so I knew that I had to stop listening to that nagging voice of self-doubt and go back to the second draft, and I’m so glad I did.” But how does he simply ignore the voice, turn it off and trust the work he’s doing? “Look, all I can say is that what’s assisted me is to go back to the desk everyday and to work, no matter what the bad review says, no matter what the failure is, just to go back and to really realise that writing is work. To treat it as work. To treat it as really privileged work.” Tsiolkas says he learned early on to “just force myself to be disciplined. Otherwise there are always too many distractions in the way. In the place where I work I don’t have internet. I’ve got it at home, so I get up in the morning and I’ll check my emails, but then I walk, it’s 20 minutes to the studio, and I don’t have email there or internet. So it just means that I don’t have to pretend,‘Oh, I’ll do research for half an hour,’ and then four hours later...”
also useful, he says. “I feel really lucky that writing is my vocation, that I can do what I’m doing, but your relationships, your family, your community around you, are equally as important. In a way, I think the last few years have been about banishing that myth of the isolated writer alone in the garret. That actually is quite an unhealthy way to think about writing, I don’t think that can sustain you over a life of writing.” Tsiolkas has also been able to quash the self-doubt by realising that his writing, whether he considers it brilliant or otherwise, and all its fluctuations, is, no matter what, uniquely his. “After The Slap,” he says, “there was a sense of...this feeling, you don’t just want to be good, you want to be great. That’s part of the passion that fires, fuels your love of writing, whether you’re a really young writer or not. But you realise that greatness is a really rare quality. “I read this astonishing piece of writing from Sibelius, the Finnish composer, just a couple of years ago and this really steadied me as I was writing Barracuda. He was a Romantic composer of the mid-20th century, highly romantic work, and because he was highly romantic he was heavily criticised by the experimental composers. He was seen as fake and conservative, not politically, but formally. He was really wounded by that criticism, but he wrote – and I’m going to paraphrase him badly – we cannot all have greatness but what we can do is find our own quiet place. That really moved me and I thought, well, that’s what I can do. I love doing this, I love being a writer. I will find my own quiet place.” Tsiolkas credits “a range of tributaries” that led him towards the writing of Barracuda – his own experience of the fear of failure being one of them. His latest novel tells the story of young swimmer Danny Kelly, who struggles with fitting in and expectations of him when a scholarship sees him move away from his friends at his local school to the starkly different classmates of a wealthy private school.
I love doing this, I love being a writer.
Looking beyond the work is
Another tributary was the story of Nick D’Arcy, the swimmer suspended from the 2008 Beijing Olympics
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team after being found guilty of assaulting another swimmer. “I had misconstrued the early reports of that – I call it a mishearing,” says Tsiolkas. “I actually thought he was a working class lad who was in this very exalted privileged world. Very quickly, as soon as I started researching the story, I knew that wasn’t the story – but you have that moment as a writer going, well, that doesn’t mean I can’t write that story. Because I think the other thing I wanted very strongly to talk about was class and what class means. It felt like a time to return to that notion of class.” Tsiolkas also credits close friend and writer Angela Savage, to whom the new novel is dedicated, with inspiration for the book. “We have for years worked together, showing each other our work and workshopping our work together,” Tsiolkas says, “and she really pushed me. She said to me, ‘Christos, you really care about humanism but it’s almost like you’re shying away from that in your work’. It was a very gentle push, that’s what I call it in the acknowledgements. I really started to think about that and Barracuda, to me, is the story of – how do you be a good man, how do you be a good person?” But from Tsiolkas we might also garner lessons on how to be a good writer, and how to keep at writing when it seems too hard, too scary or too unknown.
gold, silver, bronze swimmer, but they’re always a good swimmer. [But] even the best writers can sometimes be bad writers, and that’s part of the process. That’s where I think the artistic life is different to the sporting life. A good swimmer is always a good swimmer in the water. “Sometimes in order to get to a kind of writing I want to do, I’ve got to be a bad writer.” If there’s only one thing – and surely there are more – to glean from his passion and the power behind his relationship to his profession, to writing, it’s that the hard work is surely worth it. Christos Tsiolkas is the author of novels Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe. He won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Slap. Barracuda is his latest novel. Christos is also a playwright, essayist and screenwriter. He lives in Melbourne.
Free-diving competion. Photo by Jayhem/Flickr CC.
“A good swimmer is always a good swimmer,” he says. “They may not be the
Even the best writers can sometimes be bad writers.
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My Best Friend, the Country Aboriginal writer and survivor of the Stolen Generation Ali Cobby Eckermann discovered her birth mother when she was 34. It sparked a reconnection with a culture she’d been cut off from. She speaks to Bronwyn Lovell about the process of discovering her roots and her voice, and how she is helping others to find theirs. In your memoir Too Afraid to Cry, the narrator doesn’t use her voice, she keeps silent about things. How did you find your voice as a person and as a writer? As children, we were raised on a farm. We would be seen and not heard. We knew we were adopted, but we never really talked about it. So, for most of my life I guess I never really thought I had a voice, or a right to voice an opinion, and you just sort of dealt with things without saying anything and I think that was a bit of a rural, Australian tactic as well – that you just sort of copped it sweet. I really lost my voice, a sense of voice, when I couldn’t hang on to my son and I became the relinquishing mother-teenager. Meeting my mother, finding my son, reuniting with my traditional family and moving back to the desert was a slow journey of healing. The way that kinship and place is structured in a traditional community is that you have a place and you have a right to a voice, and those two things were respected. These are old, cultural values from around the world when you learn more about Aboriginal communities. And so I still wasn’t interested in talking much about myself, but I was watching how my family was treated by the wider Australian community – with racism, not having access to services, being refused from cafés and stuff like that, even while we were travelling around together – and it was seeing the injustice of others who I really cared about – my family, my traditional family – that I think prompted me to start getting vocal. I would write and recite poetry in Alice Springs on behalf of the community people. That was the start of it. They said, “Ali, it’s lovely to hear your voice up on the stage”. And that, I think, was the moment when the seed was planted.
For most of my life I guess I never really thought I had a voice.
Your voice comes across as so direct and simple; therein lies its incredible beauty and strength. Does it take effort to make your writing appear so effortless? I really enjoy being a minimalist writer. I think minimalist poetry suits my lifestyle. I’m trying to cut out stuff that I don’t need anymore, to get closer to who I am.
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I was extremely moved by your memoir Too Afraid to Cry. It’s an incredible story. I was so lucky to survive. There are so many other Aboriginal people, that were stolen or not, who didn’t survive. Sometimes I feel guilty...about stuff that’s never been investigated properly or nobody’s given a damn about, you know? What were their stories, what were their thoughts, and how did they feel? I hope – no, I truly believe they’re in a more peaceful place, but you can’t write the good stories without thinking about those stories. You can’t be a survivor of anything without thinking about the other people who’ve suffered similar stories. And there are many people in Australia that had a similar journey to mine, and I just love that with the memoir Too Afraid to Cry – a memoir of a stolen generation – that women of similar age to me are getting messages to me and thanking me for this story, because it’s their story too.
I’d just go down and have a cup of tea with the river.
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Your award-winning verse novel Ruby Moonlight tells the story of an Indigenous girl who survives a massacre in South Australian in the late 1800s. Ruby Moonlight is another girl’s story. Yet you manage to discover such an authentic voice in that character. How did you discover Ruby’s voice and bring it to life? I found that voice through the comfort of the land. When I first ran away from my adopted family, I actually ran to my mother’s birthplace, without knowing it was her birthplace. That fact still amazes me, because my son was conceived there. So there are three generations tied to a place but three generations who didn’t grow up together. For me that signals how powerful and loving our traditional lands are. I wrote Ruby Moonlight in Ngadjuri country – the country where I grew up – so I knew that country quite intimately too, but I hadn’t really been back there for 30 years.
I was leaving Central Australia and leaving my family and a more traditional way of life behind, so coming back to face my childhood and younger years was quite confronting. And my best friend was the country. I’d just go down the river and have a cup of tea with the river. It is like that if you really work at that connection. Some mornings I wouldn’t get out of bed until, you know, a bird would come to the window. So, it was the land that brought me Ruby’s voice. But I think that the essence of Ruby is the young women I see today. The aesthetics of the story may have changed – sure, we don’t walk around naked and live in huts cut into the riverbank – but the social interaction, and the effects of that, are still the same. So even though the setting was dated, I really felt that the story existed on that land. It still exists. Ruby Moonlight won the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards $30,000 poetry prize last year, as well as the $10,000 book of the year prize. Congratulations. It’s unusual for a poetry book to take out the book of the year award. And it’s interesting that the poetry and children’s writing categories have prize money that is $10,000 less than the fiction and non-fiction categories. Do you think poetry is an undervalued voice in Australian culture? I think in the country, in rural and regional areas, there were so many people that used to travel to distant areas and do bush concerts and stuff like that – we’re talking about all poetry here, so the bush ballads and the Slim Dusty ballads, you know. Now – whether it’s just the pace of Australian society, or the world, or the Western societies – it’s such a fast pace that, I don’t know whether poetry is undervalued, but maybe poetry just doesn’t fit into the pace of the lifestyle of today. So we have to be really grateful to the modern forms of hip-hop and spoken word that are sort of filling that void. I think the academics are a bit confronted by the sparseness of poetry because they can’t debate it. They can’t pull it apart because it’s a simple truth. And it has the potential to fiddle around with their emotions, which not much academic writing maybe does. If poetry is the heart, and other genres are the brain, well, you just have to be careful not to leave your heart behind.
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People were astonished, with Ruby Moonlight, that I’d put the emotion back into history. I think people forget that history always has an emotion and that, for Aboriginal people, when we reminisce about old history and contemporary history we always talk about it from an emotional view, because we’re always really close around the campfire and we’re very good at reading each other’s faces and body language, because you don’t have the luxury of much privacy (as in, everyone having their own bedroom or whatever). It’s lovely to bunk down with all your mothers and nannas and the grandchildren and be able to look after each other in that setting. You know, as much as I respect Anzac Day, I think Anzac Day’s become like Soundscapes for young people or the Big Day Out. It’s a day of putting the flag on and getting really pissed, instead of, you know—do they ever go and sit down with the old guys at the RSL and honour them by listening to their story, at the risk of these old men breaking down because of the memory? That’s how people heal. That’s how people learn from the mistakes of history, rather than recreating it. It’s through listening to the story.
Aboriginal literacy is not an item to put on the shelf.
You advocate strongly for Indigenous literacy and grassroots Aboriginal voices to be heard through literature. Would you like to speak a little about that and how you facilitate that through running the Aboriginal Writers Retreat in Koolunga South Australia where you live? Really, all I do, I think, is provide a safe environment. And in doing that, and in encouraging people to be involved in the decision-making process, people then have the skills to take it from there. They get a bit of guidance. Books are really thin out bush, and so all of a sudden being able to put 20 books by Aboriginal writers on the table is a profound statement, especially when quite a few of them have won awards. And there are
lots of different genres. Young people are surprised by the power of voice. It’s a safe environment and we provide a few tools, and lots of encouragement. We all meet on an equal basis, we build our own community, which we contribute to as a group. People have to help make salads and help do the dishes. There is no room for glamour or drama, really, and it just doesn’t even pop up, because people start talking and, actually, I think in those environments people are very respectful to the stranger they’re sitting next to who has a story, and can trust that their own personal story is going to be valued. And then the rest of it is up to them. The outcome has been beyond my wildest expectations. It’s such a wonderful process to be involved in. And you know, it’s not rocket science. There’s usually not much money involved; we do it pretty humbly. But it’s a safe environment, everybody’s a part of it, everyone’s respected for their story. Let’s see what we can produce. In my experience, everyone walks away a little bit prouder, a little bit straighter, and a little bit more valued, and that’s the beauty of Aboriginal literature as I see it. Aboriginal literacy is not an item to put on the shelf. Aboriginal literacy is an organic process that’s been around forever: with the songlines, the dancing, the singing, the stories, mentoring around the campfires. And when you’re just about to go to sleep out bush, usually someone is telling a story in your ear, when you’re falling asleep. Even at my age, it’s a wonderful thing. So it’s not an item. It’s a process. That’s how I view Aboriginal literacy.
Ali Cobby Eckermann’s is an awardwinning poet and verse novelist. Her work consistently reflects upon her personal journey and her reconnection with her Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha family. Her much-anticipated memoir Too Afraid to Cry (2013) is published by Ilura press.
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‘Wurundjeri People’ by William Barak (1824–1903), National Gallery of Australia
Bringing to Life the Voices of the Past Theatre provided the perfect medium for writer and historian Giordano Nanni to revive the 150-year-old voices of the Corenderrk community and share their incredible story .
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came across the transcripts, or “minutes of evidence”, of the 1881 Inquiry into the Coranderrk Aboriginal reserve 11 years ago. I stumbled upon them while studying in the archives at the University of Melbourne, doing preliminary research for a PhD in history. As I worked my way through the 141-page transcript over the summer I became captivated by the voices it contains. I became deeply inspired by the Coranderrk people, black and white, and the collaboration they had forged 150 years ago, which still strikes me as one of the most remarkable stories I’ve ever encountered. What struck me most powerfully was the fact that this was not a story about black versus white, but one that illustrates what can be achieved when white and black work together towards justice. Although Aboriginal reserves and missions were intended to be places of confinement and exclusion of Aboriginal people, Coranderrk, which was located on the lands of the Wurundjeri people near the present-day township of Healesville (about 60km outside Melbourne), was also a vibrant, productive and virtually self-supporting Aboriginal community. Its success derived to a great extent from the collaborative relationship, which the early Aboriginal residents (comprising some 40 surviving members of the Kulin clans of central Victoria) forged with the first manager, Scottish lay-preacher John Green, and his wife Mary. The Green and Coranderrk families founded Coranderrk together in 1863 and over the next 12 years lived there, raising their children and working the land side by side.
It still strikes me as one of the most remarkable stories I’ve ever encountered.
This small land holding, comprising 4850 acres, was all that remained of the once extensive territories of the Kulin clans. When the Aboriginal Protection Board attempted to remove them to make room for white settlement, the residents protested vehemently. They waged an effective campaign, which spanned several years, under the leadership of the charismatic Wurundjeri elder William Barak, writing letters and petitions to newspapers and ministers and walking in deputation into Melbourne. Their protests attracted the The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
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support of powerful allies in the white community – most notably the wealthy widow Anne Fraser Bon. Thanks to her persistent petitioning and lobbying, the demands of the Coranderrk community could no longer be ignored and, in 1881, a Parliamentary Inquiry was appointed to investigate the Board’s management and to review its decision to break up the reserve.
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It was the first Inquiry of its kind in Victoria and it enabled the people of Coranderrk to have their claims to justice placed on the official record. The Inquiry was successful in the short term, leading to the permanent reservation of the land in trust to the Aboriginal population. Tragically, however, the people were eventually forced off their lands in the closing years of the century through the implementation of the so-called 1886 “Half-Caste Act”. Yet the Coranderrk struggle went on to inspire other fights for land and self-determination, helping to kick-start the modern Aboriginal rights movement in Victoria.
had been sitting there in the archives gathering dust for more than a century.
Back in 2002, when I first learned about it and having only recently moved to this city, I assumed this chapter of history was well known to most Melburnians. The fact that it was almost virtually unknown seemed to me a great injustice. How could a story such as this, so tragic yet so inspiring and empowering, not be known locally? (Of course, most Aboriginal people in Victoria are all too familiar with it. But I hadn’t met any of Coranderrk’s descendants at that time.) I was particularly upset that the transcripts of the Inquiry, a rare and telling archive of Aboriginal and European oral testimonies from the late-nineteenth century, had received so little attention. Carrying the immediacy of the spoken word, the voices in the transcripts reveal the dignity, patience and sometimes humour with which the Coranderrk residents challenged the authority of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines and its officers; the arrogant (and at times ridiculous) ways in which the latter sought to justify their paternalistic policies towards Aboriginal people based on misguided racial ideologies; and the courage and integrity of the several white witnesses who defied convention and supported the Coranderrk residents. This evidence, so pertinent today,
Seven years later I made my first visit to Coranderrk and had the privilege of meeting Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin – Senior Elder of the Wurundjeri people and great-great niece of William Barak. I spoke to her about the idea of re-enacting the Inquiry and with her blessing and encouragement began working closely with the transcripts to draft a script. As the journey unfolded an extraordinary and diverse group of people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, came together: researchers at the University of Melbourne, thanks to whom the necessary funding and support was secured; Rachael Maza (of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company), who directed the initial performances; Liz Jones (of La Mama Theatre), who generously provided performance and rehearsal space, and also acted in the part of Anne Bon; and, of course, my able co-writer Andrea James,
Instead of talking about the past, we could allow the voices of the past to speak for themselves. And then one day an idea floated into my mind: what if we could get brilliant actors to re-enact sections of the Inquiry on stage, thereby bringing the actual voices of the past within direct reach of a much bigger audience? Instead of talking about the past, we could allow the voices of the past to speak for themselves. As exciting as the idea was, I had to put it on ice: I had a PhD thesis to start writing...
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
audiences to form their own conclusions based on the evidence presented.
with whom I edited the script. The Minutes of Evidence project (MOE) was born. In 2010, we assembled a cast of nine brilliant black and white actors, including Uncle Jack Charles (himself a descendant of Coranderrk), to pilot the first-ever reading of the Coranderrk Inquiry. The response was more powerful than any of us had expected and consequently, after conversations with descendants and the local community in Healesville, two more readings took place for the local community at a venue on land that was once part of Coranderrk itself. These historic performances were attended by descendants of Coranderrk, including those of John Green. How amazing to be among the descendants of the people who had established Coranderrk – together again on Coranderrk land after 150 years – hearing the actual voices and words that were once spoken at the Inquiry. The MOE project was subsequently awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) grant, which enabled the first public performance of Coranderrk – We will show the country. It premiered at the La Mama Theatre in 2011 under the direction of Isaac Drandic (ILBIJERRI Theatre), and was followed by further performances at Melbourne’s Federation Square and the Sydney Opera House in 2012. I think the success of the performances is a testament to the genuine yearning many people now have for the truth about the nation’s past and to the need for an honest and un-sensationalised way of portraying it. By providing access to primary historical documents – and crucially, to the voices of Aboriginal people in the nineteenth century, often conspicuously absent from historical records – Coranderrk enables
Theatre provides an ideal medium for younger people to learn in an engaging way and it’s therefore exciting that the Victorian Department of Education (one of the MOE project’s key partners) is creating resources and materials about Coranderrk to accompany the play. The play itself has also been adapted for school audiences. Entitled CORANDERRK, it premiered in December 2013 at Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney and will continue to tour in 2014. The new script combines verbatim and non-verbatim elements in order to retell the broader history of Coranderrk in an engaging and theatrical way, and Andrea James has brought a powerful contemporary Aboriginal perspective to the new work, essential for the story to be retold in a culturally appropriate manner. I’m honoured to have played a part in shedding more light on the beautiful history of Coranderrk. Thanks to the collaboration between the MOE project partners, to ILBIJERRI Theatre and to Victorian teachers, I hope that in ten years Coranderrk and the names and voices of its people, black and white, will be known widely to all who live and grow up in Melbourne and Victoria. Note: Those who were unable to see the play may be interested in the book, Coranderrk – We will show the country, recently published by Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS; featuring the original verbatim script and a history of Coranderrk and the 1881 Inquiry, including over 40 archival and performance images of the play. www.readings.com.au/products/17493859/ coranderrk-we-will-show-the-country www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/coranderrk.html Dr Giordano Nanni is a writer, historian and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He conceived the idea of re-staging the 1881 Coranderrk Inquiry using verbatim-theatre and was central to its development through the ARC-funded Minutes of Evidence project. He is the author of The Colonisation of Time (2012) and co-writer of the cult internet show, Juice Rap News.
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The Empress & her Epic Lily Chan explores memories and the way they change, grow and fall in this, a version of a version of her memoir.
A
s a kid I thought grandmothers should be amiable, knitting, cake-baking beings with soft hands. Toyo was a different kind of grandmother: she had soft hands but they were ringed in jewels. She knitted beanies but they were intricate confectionery-like works of art. Toyo’s nickname was The Empress – we were royal subjects bound by mood or whim or evocative and astonishing stories from her past. Toyo seemed a surreal character in the rural West Australian town of Narrogin where we lived, surrounded by wheat fields and dryandra. Her aura radiated elegance and jazz – of Audrey Hepburn and Ingmar Bergman.
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Struck by a morbid thought that she would one day pass away and these stories would disappear, I began to record them. I did not yet know that this would become a book – I was collecting stories, lollies in a jar. Years later my sister found these stories interleaved through my school folders. I had written surreptitiously about Toyo in class; she had grown into an obsession. It was when I went to university in Perth that Toyo became ill. At first I believed this was the end of the writing project. But the illness progressed slowly. It took the more recent memories first. Toyo had repeated her stories so often to so many family members that I reverted to my parents to confirm details. I recorded versions of a version of a story. I wrote letters to relatives in Japan I had never met. I researched history and social context in libraries. Unmarried mothers in the 1930s, Chinese migrants to Japan, Japanese women marrying into Chinese families during a time of racial tension and ostracisation – these were the voices of people who did not occupy large tomes in history. I dug through old photo albums and began to flesh out silences and gaps. I found stories she had chosen not to tell me. The illness, too, began to be part of the book; it broke apart some of the stories she
had repressed. Toyo was unable to keep the secrets she had held so close for so long. There was the matter of how to depict those relatives who were still alive. Just after publication I suffered fits of guilt: how dare I write about my family in this way, without taking into account the full richness and depth of their personalities. Did they appear as the nuanced and complex persons that they are? In the memoir, as in life, we were merely supporting characters in a tableau and Toyo the star. There is the matter of truth. As a child Toyo saw samurai warriors in a katana (traditional Japanese sword) shop. In writing this episode it was irrelevant that samurai warriors had disappeared at least 80 years ago with the encroachment of modernisation. Toyo believed she saw them, these warriors which loomed large in myth and history, wielding their katana swords. I picked out certain strands of her life and imbued some stories and meetings and people with more meaning than others. A life – one life, in itself – is so much more sprawling and gargantuan and messy than I can ever hope to contain in these pages. Writing has been compared to weaving, choosing a colour thread over another, to highlight and feature in composites. Writers such as Anaïs Nin gave solace and inspiration: “There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” I was greatly aided by the acute intelligence and discernment of my editors in constructing this mosaic, and mentors and friends over the years. From first story to publication spanned a long journey of 15 years, of exploring style
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
became yet another game like the charades we used to play in the loungeroom, the entire family split into two teams and shaking with laughter as she mimed eating an invisible meal, climbing a wall, a frightened possum, a gargling kookaburra. I danced in a folk festival when I was nine. Toyo clapped and sang and took photos of me dancing in the straw hat she had ribboned and the flowery dress she had sashed. It seems we have come full circle. Once she had taken photos of me. Now I have tried to capture her. We are repositories of these people, of those who die in a true sense when they can no longer be remembered. Virginia Woolf wrote: “Until I was in the forties...the presence of my mother obsessed me. I could hear her voice, see her, imagine what she would do or say as I went about my day’s doings. . . . I wrote the book [To the Lighthouse] very quickly; and when it was written, I ceased to be obsessed by my mother. I no longer hear her voice; I do not see her.“
and structure, voice and relevance, the growth of psychological maturity to an extent in order to sift through her life. By the time I had finished the memoir, Toyo had lost the continual capacity to understand its significance. She would exclaim in surprise and point to herself on the book cover – a stunningly cute photo of her three-year-old kimono-clad self. We were dictated by her seasons. We played the roles of famous singers and celebrities, other family members, strangers, carers; we became whoever she wanted. Her mind was a playground. Sometimes she play-acted the illness; she mimed the severity and laughed at it. She winked at us slyly, “So what is your name? I don’t know anything. I don’t know anything about that. Why don’t you sit down here and tell me everything.” The illness
I continue to be obsessed. Even now, the fact that Toyo is gone does not sink in. She feels alive, still – so vivid. A strange delight fills my chest when I remember the makeshift flowers I gathered on my way to the temple in Footscray. There were weeds, dandelions, wild rocket, picked and bundled together along the Maribyrnong River. I think she would have liked the offering, how it came together in the end. Lily Chan was born in Kyoto in 1986, raised in Narrogin and now resides in Melbourne’s inner west. Toyo: a Memoir is her first book out now through Black Inc. It won the Dobbie Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award in 2013. Praise for Toyo: “This is a beautifully lyrical and compelling voice, infused with deep insight and love” – Alice Pung; “Vivid and surprising at every turn” – Amanda Lohrey; “Colourful, astonishing and intelligent” – Courier Mail.
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Clowning Around In the Big Town When Leisl Egan entered an international competition earlier this year, she could never have imagined that her writerly voice would carry her so far, or that Gary Shteyngart would be reading her words at a prestigious launch party in New York City.
S
o, I work in TV as a writer. I get to write gags, indulge in my love of puns, and sow thinly veiled threats to morons among my words. But it’s all on someone else’s ticket. When it comes to picking up a pen and giving into the stories that fill my head, I’m lucky if I can jot down dot points in between phone calls and briefings.
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This year I decided to set small achievable goals. I knew I wouldn’t have time to fit in writing my Oscar winning screenplay as well as my three-novel fiction series. But I didn’t despair. I love story in any format, and if comical nonsense stories were all I had time to do, then that’s what I would do. And wowsers, did that work out well for me this year! There were a number of contests out there that were providing me deadlines I could work towards: some I got shortlisted in, some gave me honourable mentions and some I never heard back from. And then one day I got a call, which I missed because I overslept. I was halfway into the shower as I checked the voicemail. There was a polite message asking me to call back; it was about my entry to the Prada Journal competition. A friend had passed me on a link to the competition months earlier, which was run in conjunction with the launch of Prada’s new eyewear range. I hastily ran through the details of my application and wondered what I’d stuffed up, surely I’d crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s? A call to Prada confirmed this.
It also informed me I was a winner. The only winner from Australia. One of five global winners. And I needed to be in New York for a big press launch the following week. And I was getting flown there to attend! The competition had asked, “What are the realities that our eyes give back to us, and how are these realities filtered through lenses?” When thinking about which story I should submit, I began to think about how most of what we take for reality is what is presented to us by someone else. I had the perfect piece! A story about clowns, magic and the death of the circus. I submitted “Punchline” – a short story I’d written at university and rewritten with this theme in mind. And a few months later I was on my way to New York! What followed was a whirlwind of awesomeness that the rest of my life will have to work pretty hard to beat. I was flown business class and put up in a beautiful hotel. There I was greeted by Prada representatives who were lovely and Italian and treated me like the author I’d always imagined myself to be. They fed me and prepped me and were respectful of my work and what I was trying to say. The night of the launch was intense. Oliver Platt was MC, Meryl Streep’s daughter was there, and everyone was beautiful and fashionable and I just smiled and pretended I totally belonged there. Which, despite the crippling uncertainty that follows me everywhere, I did!
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
I began to think about how most of what we take for reality is what is presented to us by someone else.
The other winners were all as nervous as I was, but we answered journalists’ questions with ease and sipped our cocktails like pros. Excerpts of our works were read out by prominent New York writers, and when I heard Gary Shteyngart read out my words I pretty much fell through the floor.
So, despite my several freak-outs in the bathroom of the Prada store on Broadway, the event was spectacular. And I thought about how my little short story about clowns I’d written six years ago had got me all the way to New York, and within stalking range of Oliver Platt. And not for the first time, I was thankful for choosing this crazy emotional rollercoaster of a passion called writing. After an unsuccessful career in zoo keeping (that binturong had it coming!), Leisl Egan defected to Melbourne and headed to RMIT to study Professional Screenwriting. She remains a drop-out of that course to this day, accepting a job with a web series. From there she interned at an animation company, did odd job-writing stints, and until recently, worked as a Writer/Producer at Channel Ten’s The Project. Egan’s now thrown caution to the wind and set out to pursue freelance work and her first love: writing. The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
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Translation: Promoting Literature, Defending Freedom of Expression by Christine McKenzie, President PEN Melbourne
‘T
ranslators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who have enabled us to understand that we all, from every part of the world, live in one world.’ Paul Auster I wonder how many of the books, poems, essays you consider essential to your reading life, to your sense of yourself as being widely read and well informed, to your views of the world and its peoples and to your own development as a writer are works you’ve read in translation. My own list is extensive. Flaubert, Tolstoy, Tagore, Akhmatova, Marquez, Orhan Pamuk, Tove Jansson, Halldór Laxness, the ongoing reading of Proust. I’ll never know these writers in their own language so the gift of the translated word is one for which I’m forever grateful.
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PEN Melbourne is delighted to have produced the first in what we hope will be a series of works in translation with the recent publication of The Attic, ten poems by Alex Skovron and translated into French by Paris-based poet and translator Jacques Rancourt.
number of Skype sessions over a period of some six months. Alex Skovron has described these discussions as being around ‘alternative ways to render specific words, idioms and nuances of meaning, negotiating the comparative economies of expression and lineation, or fine-tuning the rhythm.’ And as ‘a splendid exercise in the pleasures and pitfalls, the exciting opportunities and the necessary constraints, of the translational enterprise.’ The PEN project around translation and linguistic rights and maintaining the diversity of languages around the world is crucial at this time when so many languages are being lost to us, and with them the life, culture and identity of the communities that once spoke them. The Attic is available from Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne. PEN Melbourne www.melbournepen.com.au
During the translation process Skovron and Rancourt were in touch by email, but the actual work was carried out during a Galatea
Galatée
It’s worst when he lugs me to his bed at night:
Le pire c’est quand il me traîne dans son lit la nuit :
The soft clammy flesh, the sweaty fumbling,
Sa chair molle et moite, son tâtonnement en sueur,
Those flabby encroachments. Yet the eyes haunt me.
Ces intrusions flasques. Pourtant, ses yeux me hantent.
‘Oh, hold me, hold me!’ he whimpers, pathetically,
« Oh, serre-moi, serre-moi ! » supplie-t-il pathétiquement,
Though he knows my paralysis – all I can do
Bien qu’il connaisse ma paralysie – tout ce que je peux faire
Is gape unblinking at the stony ceiling.
C’est de fixer sans ciller le plafond de pierre.
Afterwards he’ll always caress me lovingly,
Ensuite, il me caresse toujours amoureusement,
Polish my thigh with a garland of tissues,
Polissant ma cuisse avec une guirlande de tissus,
Then dwindle to a snore. I slip the blankets
Puis s’efface dans un ronflement. J’écarte les couvertures
And stand in the rain. Stand there imagining skin.
Et me tiens sous la pluie. Me tiens là à imaginer la peau.
– Alex Skovron
– translation Jacques Rancourt
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
Courses 2014 See the full year’s program online at:
writersvictoria.org.au
Booking Book and pay online at writersvictoria.org.au or phone (03) 9094 7855. Events at the Wheeler Centre provide access for writers with a disability.
Summer School
1st Draft: Novel In A Year
When: 10am – 4pm Cost: Members $120/$130, Non-members $180. Level: Early and emerging Short Story with Laura McKay T OUJean KED Monday 13 January BOO Writing for Children with Hazel Edwards Tuesday 14 January Freelance Features with Graeme Orr Wednesday 15 January
In this series of short workshops 10 writers guide you through the key elements of novel writing. Each workshop is followed by a facilitated writing-group session. Individual sessions: Members $70/$80, Non-members $110. All 10 sessions (save 15%): Members $650/$680, Non-members: $780
25 Plot & Narrative Arc withUGraeme Simsion T ED O Sunday 23 February OOK B
Poetry & Performance with Maxine Beneba Clarke Thursday 16 January
Whether planned in advance or emerging from the writing process, a well thought-out plot is the foundation of a novel that hangs together and engages the reader.
Writing your Life with Vanessa Russell Friday 17 January
Graeme Simsion is the author of novel The Rosie Project, which has become an international bestseller.
Marketing your Work with Donna Ward Saturday 18 January Write Convincing Erotica with Kate Belle Monday 20 January Historical Writing for Young Audiences with Kelly Gardiner Tuesday 21 January Digital Makeover for Writers (part 1) with Euan Mitchell Wednesday 22 January
Structure with Steve Carroll Sunday 16 March Structure houses the writing and, no matter how good the writing is, if the house falls down so does everything else. Steve Carroll has been a writer for 30 years and has published nine novels, most recently A World of Other People in 2013. Setting with Arnold Zable Sunday 13 April
The Power of Food Narrative with Richard Cornish Thursday 23 January
Explore the research necessary to bring texture to a scene, the art of depicting the relationship between characters and place, and the different points of view they bring.
Structure & Narrative with Alison Goodman Friday 24 January
Arnold Zable is an award-winning author of books including Café Scheherazade, Sea of Many Returns and more.
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Courses 2014 Character with Paddy O’Reilly Sunday 18 May This workshop will look at how to reveal characters in the narrative without judging or explaining what we think of them, and will question how we invite the reader to “know” our characters. Paddy O’Reilly has published two novels and a short story collection. Her latest novel will be published in 2014. Voice & Point of View with Robert Gott Sunday 15 June A decision to write in the first person creates both opportunities and limitations. This workshop will help you decide on the best options for the story you want to tell. Robert Gott has been a professional writer for more than 25 years and has written 90 books. Dialogue with Toni Jordan Sunday 20 July If you write bad dialogue, even if everything else is great, good readers will think you’re not a good writer. Good dialogue gleams and glows and makes everything better. Toni Jordan’s second novel Fall Girl was published in Australia, the UK, France, Germany and Taiwan and has been optioned for film.
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Conflict with Alice Pung Sunday 17 August Explore themes of conflict and climax in writing a novel, exploring voice, characterisation, momentum, dialogue and story through a series of writing exercises. Alice Pung is the author of Unpolished Gem, Her Father’s Daughter and Growing Up Asian in Australia. Resolution with Romy Ash Sunday 21 September An ending should feel inevitable and yet come as a surprise. Learn how to capture this feeling so that your ending feels natural and makes complete sense. Romy Ash’s first novel Floundering was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, Prime Minister’s Award and Commonwealth Writers Prize and Dobbie Award. Editing with Trischa Mann Sunday 19 October This course gives you a structured way to approach self-editing, using the same procedures professional editors use to polish every author’s work ready for press. Trischa Mann has edited all kinds of work, from cookbooks to novels to poetry. She is president of Editors Victoria and a lecturer in publishing and editing.
Synopsis & Pitch with Clare Allan-Kamil Sunday 16 November The prime tool for articulating your work to publishers and agents, a synopsis should clearly highlight the thesis and construct of your work in an engaging style. Learn how to approach this task with confidence. Clare Allan-Kamil has worked in creative and non-fiction writing from books to performance, film treatments to poetry. She has worked with Pearson (UK), Oxford University Press and Allen and Unwin. Tutored workshop: 1–4pm Facilitated group: 4–6pm Where: Writers Victoria Board Room (Level 3) or Workshops Space (Level 4), The Wheeler Centre Level: Emerging and established
Masterclass Biography masterclass with Benjamin Law If you’ve ever considered writing about your life – in columns, personal essays or as a memoir – but weren’t sure where (or how) to start, then join this in-depth exploration of writing the most important story you’ll ever tell: your own. Learn key techniques for writing about not only yourself, but the people, places, and experiences of your life in a way that remains true to memory and excites readers. Benjamin Law is the author of two books: the black comedy memoir The Family Law and the travel adventure Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East, both of which were nominated for Australian Book Industry Awards. This tour is made possible by the support of the Australia Council for the Arts in collaboration with the national network of State Writers Centres. It is presented in collaboration with The Walkley Foundation and the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. MEAA members can book at a discounted rate. When: Saturday 1 March, 10am – 4pm Where: Writers Victoria, Workshop Space (Level 4), The Wheeler Centre Member price: $170/$180 MEAA Member price: $205 Non-member price: $230 Level: Established writers
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
Courses 2014 Digital Writing & Publishing
Alison Croggon was the 2009 Geraldine Pascall Critic of the Year and ran the influential review blog Theatre Notes for eight years. She has reviewed for the Bulletin, Australian, Guardian and ABC.
Short Story Clinic
When: Thursday 14 February, 10am – 4pm
with Laura Jean McKay Submit drafts and receive direct feedback on your stories, including on character, voice, timing and structure. You will be encouraged to develop drafts to work towards a single or suite of completed stories ready to submit for publication.
The Art of Critique... Literature with Bethanie Blanchard
Laura Jean McKay is the author of Holiday in Cambodia and has been published in The Best Australian Stories, The Big Issue and more.
Explore what makes an effective and engaging review as well as publication opportunities for print and online – from mastheads to personal blogs. Learn about critical culture in Australia, how to pitch to publications, opportunities for payment in literary criticism and whether to write for free.
When: February to June (submission deadline on the first Wednesday of month) Cost: Members $175/$185, Non-members $235
Bethanie Blanchard is a books writer for Guardian Australia, the literary critic for Crikey with Liticism and a regular reviewer for The Australian.
Blogging 1.0 with Karen Andrews
When: Friday 15 February, 10am – 4pm
Just started your blog or want to take it to the next level? This two-day course will show you how to get established, plan your content, investigate social media and strategise your path in this fast – and fun – medium. Karen Andrews is an award-winning writer, author, editor, poet and publisher. Her latest book is Crying in the Car: Reflections on Life and Motherhood. She has been blogging as Miscellaneous Mum since 2006. You will need to bring a laptop to this course. When: Sat 8 and Sun 9 Feb, 10am – 4pm Cost: Members $260/$280, Non-members $380 Level: Early and emerging
The Art of... The Art of Critique... Critique Are you a reviewer, blogger, critic or commentator? This mini-festival will look at the art of critique across the worlds of theatre, literature and politics. Cost: Members $120/$130, Non-members $180 The Art of Critique... Theatre with Alison Croggon This course will investigate the many aspects of critiquing performance, including writing about the wordless art, analysing collaborative work and criticism as a dialogue.
The Art of Critique... Politics with Van Badham This course is designed to assist policy wonks and would-be pundits to learn and practice the technical stylistics of writing political commentary, to analyse the literary style of top commentators and to gain understanding of how and where comment is made. Van Badham is one of the most controversial political commentators in Australia, writing for The Guardian Australia, The Drum, Women’s Agenda, No Fibs, Telegraph UK and The Hoopla. When: Sunday 16 February, 10am – 4pm Where: Writers Victoria, Board Room (Level 3), The Wheeler Centre Level: The Art of Critique workshops are for emerging and established writers
Special Events Funding for Writers with Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts Find out what funding opportunities are available to writers in Victoria and beyond. When: Monday 17 February, 6.30–7.30pm Where: Writers Victoria, Performance Space (Level 2), The Wheeler Centre Member price: FREE Non-member price: $15 Level: All
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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
EVERY MONDAY
EVERY TUESDAY
EVERY WEDNESDAY
ONE THURS/MONTH
Roarhouse music Write Track Writers Group. Aural Text on 3RRR. and poetry. 7–10pm, 12–2pm, Box Hill Library. (102.7FM), 12–2pm. 303 Bar, Northcote. kicho-nobunaga@ ONE WED / MONTH fi.roarhouse@gmail.com hotmail.com Phoenix Park Writers. Roarhouse music FORTNIGHTLY Meet weekly on Monday Melbourne Writers & poetry. 7–10pm, 10am - 12pm, 12.30-3pm Meet-up Group. 6pm, Caulfield Writers Esplanade Basement Bar, and 6.30-8.30pm. Melbourne CBD. Group. 7.30pm, Godfrey St Kilda. Free. To perform: 22 Rob Roy Rd, East melbournewriters@ St. Community House. fi.roarhouse@gmail.com Malvern. 9530 4397. gmail.com caulfieldwriters@gmail.com 1ST WEDNESDAY Scribes Writing Group. Geelong Working Writers. 1ST THURSDAY Coast Lines Poetry 9.30am–12pm, (school 3–5pm, Sth Barwon Group. 10.30am, Brighton Reading nights. 7.30pm, terms). South Barwon Community Centre. Ballarat Mechanics Library, Wilson St. Cecilia Community Centre, $2. 0412 015 470 Institute Library, $5. www. Morris, 0412 021 154. 33 Mount Pleasant Rd, FORTNIGHTLY ballaratwriters.com Belmont. Jan, 5243 8388. 2ND WEDNESDAY Inner City Writers. Australian Society of FORTNIGHTLY Southern Pens. 6.30pm, The Wheeler Technical Communi1-3pm, Rosebud Library. Reservoir wRiters and Centre. join.innercitycators (Vic) meeting. Kaye, 5985 6773 / Reciters. 1–3.30pm, writers@gmail.com southernpens@live.com.au 6.30–8.30pm, South Reservoir Library. Melbourne. president@ Mordialloc Writers’ ruthvenstorygarden@ 3ND WEDNESDAY astcvic.org.au Group. 8pm, Mordialloc yahoo.com.au / Neighbourhood House. Busybird’s Open Mic Night. Brunswick Poets’ & 0403 708 759. mairi@ozemail.com.au 7-9pm, 2/118 Para Road, Writers’ Workshop. 1ST & 3RD MONDAYS Montmorency. Not Feb–Nov, 7pm, Campbell Wordweavers Writers’ Dec–Jan. 9434 6365 / Turnbull Library. 9384 1277. Passionate Tongues Group. 9.45am – 12pm, les@zigomanis.com Poetry. 8.30pm, Brunswick Waverley Community Upper Yarra Writers Hotel, Brunswick. Michael, Learning Centre, LAST WEDNESDAY Group. 7-9pm, poetrymg@hotmail.com 5 Fleet St, Mt Waverley. Warburton. askvalissa@ Wednesday’s Child 9807 6011. valissaenever.com.au Writers’ Group. 6.30pm, 1ST TUESDAY Bartiste Lounge, Ross 2ND THURSDAY Smith Lane, Frankston. Williamstown Writers. Bilingual Haiku Writers francashman@msn.com 8pm. $2. williwriters@ Group. 10.30am–12pm. hotmail.com Writers Victoria. 9830 1786. Words and Music poetry and readings. 98.1FM. 10.30–11am.
2ND TUESDAY
Poets@Watsonia. 7pm, Watsonia Library. $5. 0404 517 881. Friends of Paynesville Library. 2pm, Library meeting rooms. 5153 9500. 4TH TUESDAY
3RD THURSDAY Baw Baw Writers’ Network. 6.30pm, Drouin Public Library. writermansfield@gmail.com The Courthouse Readings. 8pm, Eltham. $5. 9439 9732.
Rowville Writers. 1–3pm, Rowville Library. rovwille 1-3pm. rowvillewriters.wordpress.com
Emerging Writers and Poets Group. During terms. 7.30pm, Alphington Community Centre. 3078aewps@gmail.com
LAST TUESDAY
LAST THURSDAY
Docklands Writers. Reforming. Looking for new members. sueacwn@ hotmail.com
Canterbury Writers Group. 10am – 12pm. Canterbury Neighb. Centre. 9830 1786
Melb Children’s & YA Writers. 6.30pm, Melbourne CBD. melbcya@yahoo.com
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Highlights
EVERY FRIDAY
EVERY SATURDAY
FIRST SUNDAY
SATURDAY 4 JANUARY
Andrew Thompson on 3WBC. (94.1FM), 12.30–1pm. Short stories, poems, music.
Poetica. 3.05pm, ABC Radio National.
Mornington Community Writers Group. 10am and 7.30pm, Mornington Community House, Albert Street, Mornington. 5975 4772 , www. morningtoncci.com.au 1ST FRIDAY
ARVOS. Australian Rhyming Verse Orators. 2-5 pm, Scout Hall, Poetry Sessions. 2pm, Dan O’Connell Hotel, Jack O’Toole Reserve, 225 Canning Street, Carlton. Willsmere Road, Kew. 9387 2086 / 0412 224 655. arvosbushpoetry.com poetry@fedsquare. 2–4pm, 2ND & 4TH SUNDAY Feb–Nov, in the Atrium. www.fedsquare.com 1ST SATURDAY Word Tree. 3pm, Burrinja Cafe, 351 Glenfern Rd, Upwey. 9754 1789.
Life Writing Group. 7–9pm, Village School, 9–13 2ND SATURDAY Holloway Road, Croydon North. $2. 0468 882 256 / Wordsmiths of Melbourne melaleucablue@gmail.com Poetry Group. 2–5pm, 8 Woodhouse Rd, East 2ND FRIDAY Doncaster. $30 yr/$5 The Friday Group. 10am– session, $3 concession. noon, Writers Victoria. 9890 5885, poeticabarryrevill@bigpond.com christi@netspace.net.au LAST FRIDAY 3RD SATURDAY Melbourne Poets Union meeting. 7pm, various locations, usually Wheeler Centre. $10/$9/$8. mpuinc@yahoo.com / 0404 517 881.
West Word. 2pm, Dancing Dog Café, 42A Albert St, Footscray. west_word@yahoo.com 3RD SUNDAY Melbourne Romance Writers Guild. Fitzroy Library. www. melbournerwg.com / 0401 200 431. FAW Mornington Peninsula Branch. 1.45 for 2pm, Community Contact House, 9 Albert St, Mornington. charmaine calaitzis, 9770 9405.
Henry Lawson Society. LAST SUNDAY 1.30–4.00pm, Monastery Readings by the Bay. Hall, St. Francis Church, Lonsdale St, City. 9785 7079. 2–5pm, Mordialloc Neighbourhood House. LAST SATURDAY mairi@ozemail.com.au / 9587 8757. Society of Women Writers Boroondara Writers’ Group. Feb–Nov. 1–4.30pm, VIC meeting. 11am, Hayden Raysmith Room on Balwyn Library. 0419 399 the 4th floor of Ross House. 140, boroondarawritersgroup@gmail.com $5. www.swwvic.net.au
Tea Cosies and Spoken Word. Spoken Word artist Jessie Giles will perform at Queenscliff Uniting Church’s annual tea cosy exhibition at 4pm. Giles will perform original pieces, including some written about specific cosies in this year’s exhibition themed “Landscapes of Tea Cosies”. Details: Heather on 5258 2854 SUNDAY 12 JANUARY
The Book Thief screening with Markus Zusak. See the film, hear Zusak talk about the book and receive an autographed copy. It’s the best way to catch this anticipated film. www.readings. com.au/events SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY
Readings and afternoon tea. Harvest Writers is having readings and afternoon tea, 1pm to 4pm at Expressions of Love Cafe in Fisken St, Ballan. RSVP to jennief@ wetsnet.com.au
Opportunities Residential Editorial Program Closes 13 January An intensive, five-day program offering mid-career editors the opportunity to develop their editing skills with highly respected industry practitioners and join an alumni of more than 80 editors.The program is hosted by the Australian Publishers Association and will be held at Varuna, the Writers’ House, from 5–10 May 2014. www.publishers.asn.au/index. cfm?menuIDNo=105 Ugly Speaks Closes 1 February This anthology seeks fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction on the theme of “living with a label of ugly”. Submissions up to 20 pages. Contributors will receive a copy. medusatalksback.wordpress.com
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Dimension6 magazine Closes 22 February Dimension6 magazine is looking for strong, original speculative fiction stories. The minimum word length is 4500 words, and if it’s really good they’ll publish novella length (up to 40,000 words). Fantasy and horror accepted. keithstevenson.com/CDLblog/submissions
Billilla Mansion Residency Closes 28 February Writers, visual artists, sculptors, composers and multimedia artists are invited to apply for a 12-month studio residency at Billilla Mansion in Brighton from July 2014. www.bayside.vic.gov.au/billilla Australian Love Stories 2014 Closes 28 February Inkerman & Blunt has opened submissions for Australian Love Stories 2014, edited by Cate Kennedy. inkermanandblunt.com Melbourne Anthology Closes 23 April Sparkling stories, creative non-fiction and poems for an anthology being published by The Cartridge Family. Pieces must engage with Melbourne, past, present or future, in some original way. Any style/ genre. Max 3000 words. Payment from $50. Request further information by email. cartridgeswriters@gmail.com Teen Romance Open Macmillan is looking for manuscripts of teen romance. Submit your manuscript to the website and if the audience votes for you, you could be offered a publishing contract with a US$15,000 advance. Join and submit through the website. www.swoonreads.com 21D Open This literary art magazine seeks fiction up to 2000 words, non-fiction up to 1500 words and poetry up to 50 lines. See the website for submission instructions. www.twentyoned.com.au Hague Publishing Open Western Australian digital press Hague Publishing invites submissions of science fiction and fantasy manuscripts of 30,000 to 80,000 words. Submit full manuscript and synopsis online. www.haguepublishing.com
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
Competitions The Stringybark Short Story Award Closes 19 January Open theme. The only proviso is that your story must have a link to Australia. Writers have 1500 words to produce a short story that will delight and entertain the judges. Prizes in cash and books available.
[untitled] Short Story Competition Closes 15 February 5,000 word limit, no genre specs. Prizes are 1st wins $500, 2nd wins $250, 3rd wins $125, and two highly commended. All five published in [untitled] issue 7, due out next year.
www.stringybarkstories.net
www.busybird.com.au
Adelaide Plains Poets Competition Closes 19 January The Adelaide Plains Poets Competition invites entries of poetry up to 60 lines on the theme “my passion”. Email jeebers@aussiebb.com.au for details.
Fish Publishing Flash Fiction Contest Closes 28 February Flash fiction stories up to 300 words are invited for entry into the Fish Publishing Flash Fiction Contest.
Fish Publishing Short Memoir Contest Closes 31 January Short memoirs up to 4000 words are invited for entry into the Fish Publishing Short Memoir Contest.
Editia Prize for non-fiction
One-Act playwriting competition Closes 31 January Aspiring and established playwrights are invited to submit unpublished one-act play scripts to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers One-Act Playwriting Competition. The best three performed during the Toowoomba Carnival. First prize $2000. www.toowoombarepertorytheatre.com.au/black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowships Closes 31 January For published and unpublished Indigenous writers of novel, short story, poetry or children’s books. Two winners will each receive $10,000 prize money, manuscript development with black&write!’s Indigenous editors and publication by prestigious Indigenous publisher Magabala Books.
fishpublishing.com Closes 1 March The Editia Prize is a new national award for unpublished Australian creative non-fiction writing of between 10,000 and 35,000 words. The winner receives a digital publishing deal and a $2500 advance on royalties. editia.com/editia-prize FAWQ Poetry Competition Closes 31 March The judges want to see, hear and feel the cadences and lyricism of your poems, all within a maximum of 40 lines. www.fawq.net ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Closes 1 May Prize is worth a total of $8000. Entries must be a single-authored short story of between 2000 and 5000 words, written in English. www.australianbookreview.com.au fishpublishing.com
www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on Dahlia and Arts Festival Literary Competition Closes 14 February Inviting entries of short stories up to 3000 words, poetry up to 30 lines, and bush verse up to 52 lines. Must use rhyme, metre and have an Australian theme. www.dahlia.bendigo.net.au
While information is printed in good faith, Writers Victoria can take no responsibility for its accuracy or integrity.
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
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Classifieds Writing studios
Weather Walks In
Writers Victoria has atmospheric writers’ studios for hire at Old Melbourne Gaol in the heart of the CBD and in the peaceful environs of Glenfern, a Victorian Gothic mansion in St Kilda East. See the Writers Victoria website for details on rates and how to apply.
Tony Lintermans’ third collection of poetry, Weather Walks In, was recently published by Hybrid Publishers. It is now available from selected bookstores or through the publisher, www.hybridpublishers.com.au
writersvictoria.org.au/help-forwriters/writers-studios Readers and writers retreats Surf Coast Cabins in Aireys Inlet is the perfect setting for solitary writers or book clubs. Choose an individual cabin or come as a group utilising our 11 double bedrooms and new meeting space. Nestled in a lovely bush garden and a short walk to fabulous beaches. surfcoastcabins.com or 0458 756 295.
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Writers Journey international retreats 2014 Writers Journey international retreats for 2014: Jan 9-22, Moroccan Caravan; Feb 11-23 Temple Writing In Burma; March 8-15, Fiji Island Lab; Aug 15-31, Indochine Journey, Vietnam. More info: www. writersjourney.com.au 0415921303 Writer’s home for sale Circa 1890 restored timber cottage in Henry Handel Richardson’s hometown. 3br plus sunroom, light-filled living areas and tranquil gardens. 8 Main St, Chiltern - a quaint and creative place to retreat. m$199,000 view at realestate. com.au or wodongafn.com.au and call 02 6024 9222 or 0419 420 397. January writers retreat An intensive writers’ retreat in January “Writing the New Stories”, is offering Writers Victoria members a $50 discount. A fantastic panel of writing professionals will be part of the event, including Tim Ferguson, Geoffrey Atherden, Posie Graeme-Evans and Stephen Measday. You can find out more at: www. wildpureheart.com/writersretreat
Military history non-fiction writing group Writers Victoria member Hugh Dolan wishes to establish a military history group. Interested writers should contact him on 0421 686 312 or hugh@zbeach.com.au Science fiction and fantasy writers group Writers Victoria member Kat Clay is keen to start up a Science Fiction and Fantasy writers group in Melbourne. Interested writers should contact her by email: katclay@gmail.com Coaching for writers Struggle to set goals? Limited by procrastination? Want to market your writing in alignment with your values? Need to develop a business plan? Writers Victoria member Andrew Tobin offers personal coaching for writers. He is a member of the International Coach Federation and offers Writers Victoria members a special price of $120 per hour session. www.coachingforwriters.com.au Email: coachingforwriters@gmail.com Children’s books Writers Victoria member Goldie Alexander has the following new children’s books available for purchase: eSide: A Journey Through Cyberspace and Neptunia (middle school fantasy novels) and Cybertrix 2043 (middle school science fiction), which can all be found online at www.fivesenseseducation.com.au; and Gallipoli Medals (junior novel) www.anzacday.org.au Daylesford gorgeous cottage rental Member discounts apply. Great writer’s retreat. www.queensberrypip.com, 0421 865 849
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
Nitpicker Your monthly editing lesson, brought to you by Penny Johnson, Program Coordinator of RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing.
Member Discounts 5% DISCOUNT Deans Art www.deansart.com.au Punthill Apartment Hotels www.punthill.com.au 10% DISCOUNT
1. On New (Years / Year’s) Day I make a raft of resolutions that invariably I struggle to keep. 2. By Australia Day I have decided to make (fewer / less) resolutions but stick to those I make.
Ballarat Books www.ballaratbooks.com.au Benn’s Books www.bennsbooks.com.au Brunswick Street Bookstore www.brunswickstreetbookstore.com Busybird Publishing www. busybird.com.au
3. Between you and (I / me) my toughest resolution is to spend the first waking hour of every day writing.
Collected Works Bookshop Lvl 1, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne. 9654 8873.
4. The racket made by the children next door (affects / effects) my concentration.
Continental Bookshop Soundbooks www.continentalbookshop.com
5. Social media is also distracting (, therefore / ; therefore,) I start writing at 5 am.
Create a Kid’s Book www.createakidsbook.com.au
(Answers at bottom right.)
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Hares & Hyenas Bookshop www.hares-hyenas.com.au New International Bookshop 54 Victoria St, Carlton South. 9662 3744.
Milestones
Paperback Bookshop www.paperbackbooks.com.au
Greg Bogaerts’ collection of stories Walking Paris Streets with Eugene Atget was published in America by Shanti Arts Publishing.
Readings State Library www.readings.com.au
Queensberry Pip holiday rental Daylesford www.queensberrypip.com
Cate Davis’ book From Gallipoli to Coopers Creek will be published by Horizon in 2015.
The Lifted Brow literary magazine theliftedbrow.com
Hugh Dolan’s first book, 36 Days, is now a 60-min documentary on the History Channel. His second book is Gallipoli Air War.
15% DISCOUNT Sybers Books www.sybersbooks.com.au
Wendy J. Dunn’s first historical novel for young adults, The Light in the Labyrinth, will be published by Metropolis Ink in 2014.
Angleton’s Office Supplies 187 Smith St, Fitzroy. 03 9419 5855
Tony Lintermans’ third collection of poetry, Weather Walks In, was recently published by Hybrid Publishers.
SPECIAL OFFERS Exile Publishing www.exilepublishing.com.au
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014
1. Year’s 2. fewer 3. me 4. affects 5. ; therefore,
Bronté Jackson’s book Roman Daze: La Dolce Vita for All Seasons was published by Melbourne Books.
ANSWERS
Taboos & Kid’s Lit by Jac Torres-Gomez
I
t’s not something that is usually spoken (or written) about in the same sentence, and even less likely in children’s literature. Children and menstruation. Humm. . . I suddenly hear shuffle in seats, a few blank looks or even one of wide-eyed fear rapidly searching for the nearest exit. There is often a grunt, or a polite strained smile. For those who have worked in developing contexts, one’s nervousness or embarrassment is often covered up by some importantsounding academic reference around helping girls stay in school. But mostly the concept of writing about menstruation within the context of a children’s book often faces complete shutdown.
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Yet, this week, after 12 months of these grunts and polite smiles, I have gone ahead and self-published a book which is considered one of the first of its kind globally: a gorgeous new picture book that gives parents and teachers a positive tool to begin a conversation about menstruation. Currently there is no known single tool for parents and educators to begin a conversation about menstruation, and thus parents and educators can also feel limited in their capacity to speak to their children about this theme. My picture book allows children to become more familiar with the meaning of menarche and helps reduce any anxiety and fear related to this time. It also introduces children to some basic cultural celebrations related to menstruation. All this is supported by a helpful tips-and-notes page at the end of the book for parents and educators to make starting this crucial discussion with children that much easier. Girls who have been given a positive platform to speak about their bodies and menstruation from an early age are more likely to have a positive sense of self and opinion of their bodies, which may lead to improved mental health, self esteem and life choices. I could say my writing journey has been primarily focused on finding courage to avidly avoid the mountains of criticism and negativity about deciding to write this book, including sadly from potential
publishers who just do not seem to be ready to ‘go there’ quite yet. While this has been a part of my journey, more importantly, the last twelve months have been all about remembering WHY I was called to write about this topic in the first place. And I am reminded every time I speak about my book. Every conversation, from talking to my own mother about the concept initially, to sourcing an illustrator, to speaking to strangers about my book while waiting for our coffee orders, means I am achieving my goal of having positive conversations about menstruation. Most surprisingly, I’ve found many women have wanted to share their own story of menarche, and often say they have never been able to share their story with anyone before. Further, many of these conversations have been reported to have continued at the homes of those I have spoken to. One woman said to me recently ‘Jac, you know that book you’re writing, I needed it last night.’ When I asked her what she meant, she told me that her six-year-old daughter had been rummaging through her bathroom drawer and had found a menstrual pad and queried her mother about what it was. This woman told me, “If only I had your book in that very moment Jac, I could have started THE conversation with her right on the spot! So I told my daughter honey wait until January, and then ask me about this again!”. Not only this, but I have been surprised by the global interest my book idea has captured, with requests already received to translate the book into Portuguese, Spanish and Slovak. But when I am asked why are you doing this Jac? Why this children’s book about menstruation? Why now? My answer is, why not? Isn’t breaking down a taboo all about starting difficult conversations? And I have started one. Care to join me? Jac Torres-Gomez is an award winning community development practitioner, teacher and writer. Cycling to Grandma’s House is her first published children’s book and will be available to order online through Lulu and Amazon from February 2014. www.crimsonmovement.com
The Victorian Writer | Issue 1, 2014