northerly

Inside: Jaipur Literature Festival • creating an eBook• introducing Lisa Walker

Degrees to help U pursue your passion Are you seeking a career in writing or the media?

At Southern Cross University we have creative and inspirational courses designed to suit you, from our Associate Degree in Creative Writing, which can be completed in two years of full-time study, to our Bachelor of Media and Bachelor of Arts.

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Media Press Ad(halfpage).indd 1

26/10/12 8:49 AM

in this issue ...

02

Noticeboard

03

A word from the Director

04

Introducing...

Lisa Walker

06

Jaipur Literary Festival

Faramerz Dabhoiwala 08

Cooking the books

Anna Maguire

10

Balancing act: profile on Lynda Hawryluk

northerly is the bi-monthly magazine of the Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre. The Writers’ Centre is a resource and information base for writers and readers in the Northern Rivers region. We offer a year-round program of readings, workshops and writer visits as well as the annual production of the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival.

The Centre is a non-profit, incorporated organisation receiving its core funding from Arts NSW. LOCATION Level 1 28 Jonson Street, Byron Bay POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 1846 Byron Bay NSW 2481 PHONE 02 6685 5115 FAX 02 6685 5166 EMAIL info@nrwc.org.au WEB www.nrwc.org.au

NRWC COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON Chris Hanley VICE CHAIRPERSON Lynda Dean 11 Joys of a book club SECRETARY Russell Eldridge

Pip Morrissey TREASURER Cheryl Bourne 12 Writing in the mythic realms MEMBERS Jesse Blackadder, Fay Burstin, Marele Day, Robert Hanson, Lynda Hawryluk, Brenda Shero, Adam Jane Meredith van Kempen 13 More than bricks & mortar LIFE MEMBERS: Jean Bedford, Jeni Caffin, Gayle Cue, Jill Eddington, Chris Hanley, John

Jeni Caffin Hertzberg, Fay Knight, Jennifer Regan, Cherrie 14 Byron’s yesteryears Sheldrick, Heather Wearne

Paula McDougall

Rusty Miller

16

17

Well versed: Laura Jan Shore Jane Camens

Hot topics at Bellingen

Amanda Cooke 18

Kids’ page

Tristan Bancks 19

From the reading chair

Laurel Cohn 20

Workshop & events

22

Opportunities & competitions

24

Writers’ groups and member discounts

CONTACT EMAIL: northerly@nrwc.org.au PRINTING: Quality Plus Printers Ballina MAIL OUT DATES: Magazines are sent in JANUARY, MARCH, MAY, JULY, SEPTEMBER and NOVEMBER ADVERTISING: We welcome advertising by members and relevant organisations. A range of ad sizes are available. The ad booking deadline for each issue is the first week of the month prior. Email northerly@nrwc.org.au.

The Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre presents northerly in good faith and accepts no responsibility for any misinformation or problems arising from any misinformation. The views expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily the views of the management committee or staff. We reserve the right to edit articles with regard to length. Copyright of the attributed articles is maintained by the named author and northerly.

Cover: Global Warming image copyright Judy Horacek, reprinted with permission

3 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Notice Board Book launches

Jesse Blackadder’s Chasing the Light Launched by Mandy Nolan at the Byron Community Centre on Saturday 16

Susanna Freymark’s Losing February Launched by Jeni Caffin in the Federal Store on Sunday 9 February

4 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Going, Going, Gone

S

hock horror: this will be the last issue of northerly that you receive unless you have already renewed your NRWC membership for 2013.

For further information please contact us on 02 6685 5115 or email: Sarah Ma sarah@nrwc.org.au

A word (well several) from the Director

Dear members,

‘Twas a wild and stormy night.

news that Lisa Walker has just joined us

Finally, the all important Residential

I’ve always wanted to begin a piece with

as Writer Development Manager for the

Mentorship is upon us and this is the

those words, against all learned advice. There,

Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre. Many of you

most significant and proven pathway to

now I’ve done it.

will know Lisa as the successful bestselling

publication in our NRWC calendar. The

Who knows what the weather will be like

author of Liar Bird and Sex, Lies and Bonsai

Residential Mentorship brings together

as you open this edition of northerly? But I

and realise that she lives in our midst. I urge

four selected writers and immerses them

imagine the swirling winds and relentless

all members who have manuscript questions,

in a week long retreat where manuscripts

rains visited upon the Northern Rivers region

writerly concerns and industry issues to

are dissected and shared under the expert

of late have seen many writers housebound

contact Lisa on lisa@nrwc.org.au. She will

guidance and mentoring of Marele Day. If you

and, looking for the silver lining as usual, I

be at her desk in the office on Tuesdays and

have a manuscript that you believe knows

am convinced that much powerful, intense

Wednesdays and Sarah and I are delighted to

where it is headed and is at an advanced

and evocative writing will emerge. Maybe a

welcome her. You will meet her more fully in

stage of development, please apply. No

manuscript for the forthcoming Residential

the pages of this magazine.

first drafts please. Deadline for submissions

Mentorship?

Welcome also to Lynda Hawryluk, whose

is 2pm Thursday 28 March, just before the

Meanwhile, there are several causes for

interview makes fascinating reading in

Easter Bunny hops into view. Those chosen

celebration and I’ll begin with the joyous

northerly. Lynda is the incoming Senior

will be notified Wednesday 10 April and

Lecturer in Writing and Course Co-ordinator

the Residential Mentorship itself begins

of the Associate Degree of Creative Writing

Monday 13 May and concludes Friday 17

at Southern Cross University. She is also

May. All details and application form are

the newest member of the Committee of

to be found at www.nrwc.org.au Sharpen

the Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre and I

your wits and exercise your keyboard and

am looking forward to many opportunities

whip that manuscript into order: this is the

for closer contact between our two

thirteenth annual Residential Mentorship and

organisations. Lynda will experience her first

to date, ten writers have been snapped up

taste of Committee at the AGM on Monday

by prestigious publishing houses. Don’t miss

11 March. And members, remember that you

your chance to join their number.

are entitled to attend: details on the NRWC

Write now.

website.

Jeni Caffin 5 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Hello, please let me introduce myself...

Lisa Walker I am very happy and excited to be able to introduce myself to you as the new Writer Development Manager here at the Centre. It’s a big title and I’m looking forward to exploring exactly what it means. In short, I will be working on putting together a program of events for your Writers’ Centre. This includes the workshops and seminars, the annual Residential Mentorship, author visits and Litlink projects in collaboration with other writers’ centres. And let’s not forget the pitching at the Writers’ Festival – it’s always been one of the Festival highlights for me.

I am also here to provide advice and support to aspiring writers and professional development for established writers. As Writers’ Centre members, you will already know what a great program of events goes on during the year.

I have lots of ideas which I look forward to sharing with you. And if you have suggestions for workshops or events that you’d like to see happening, my hand is poised over the phone waiting to hear from you.

Please call!

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So how did I end up in this seat?

I have lived in Lennox Head since 1999 after moving up from Sydney to take a job doing community relations with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Before that I worked in a multitude of jobs including as a wilderness guide, environmental educator, tertiary lecturer and illustrator of crab larvae.

I have been a writer for many, many years and now have two published novels under my belt. The process of getting to this point was slow but satisfying. I’ve listened to many writers tell their stories of how they came to be published. The ones that always stuck in my mind are the writers who just kept at it, rejection after rejection after rejection. They kept at it because they had to.

Because once they’d started there was no way to stop. And that was, and still is, me.

I rather like this quote from Thomas Mann – ‘A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.’ Your family and friends will no doubt be asking you when you’re going to finish that book. But we all know it isn’t like

that. Writing is hard and it takes a long time. For most people. If you are not one of those people, lucky you and please skip to the end of the story.

I first embarked on a quest to write a novel when my older son was in Year Three. In 2012, when my first novel, Liar Bird was published he started university. So learning how to write a novel took me about as long as training to be a brain surgeon.

Liar Bird and my new novel Sex, Lies and Bonsai are the fourth and fifth novels I have written. I have a boy wizard fantasy and two feisty Gold Coast PI novels under the bed (as you do). While I didn’t get them published, each novel brought greater levels of encouragement.

With my first, I won a NRWC mentorship with Marele Day. With my second, I acquired an agent and my third made it all the way to acquisitions at a major publisher before being knocked back. I may brush that one off one day, but then again, maybe not. The joyous thing about writing is that, with practice, you do get better.

Along the way I experimented. I wrote a radio play and in a moment of sheer beginner’s luck had it

commissioned by ABC Radio National. I wrote lots of short stories and won awards for some of them.

I wrote travel articles and had them published in magazines. I wrote a script for a corporate video and had it produced. All of this kept me going.

When I wrote Liar Bird I was lucky enough to be selected for the Varuna HarperCollins Program. After the program, when the editor rang to say she was taking my book to acquisitions, I gave her the worst pitch in history for my next book, which became Sex, Lies and Bonsai.

‘It’s a comedy about a very shy girl who falls in love with a really depressed guy,’ I said. ‘Sounds hilarious,’ was her dry response.

But, miracles do happen, and when the contract arrived it was for two books. Turns out shy girl meets depressed guy is a story with legs.

Who knew?

So at last I have two boxes of books with my name on them and it’s been a little like bringing two new babies home from hospital. How will they go in the world? How will I go as a mother, I mean author? Should I have trained as a brain surgeon instead?

But no, I’m still writing. I do it because it helps me make sense of my life, because I enjoy the magic of creating something out of nothing and because it connects me with people I like. These are the things that will always keep driving me back to the keyboard. And I’m pretty sure that, even if I had never been published, I never would have stopped. Surprise, surprise – I have discovered that publication was not really my goal at all. It turns out that my goal was to keep writing.

So after all those years of slaving away on the keyboard, can I now spread my wings and fly on to glory, sipping at the nectar of my royalties? Um no, not with metaphors like that, she won’t, I hear you say. And you’d be right, of

Photo: Cristina Smith

course. The publication of Liar Bird didn’t bring me much in the way of money, glory or nectar. However, with my second novel now out, things have worked out better than seemed likely at any stage in the previous ten years.

So where to now?

I am excited to be taking up this role at the Writers’ Centre because the Centre has been a great source of support to me over a long time and I’m looking forward to providing that support to others. I have taken part in many workshops over the years and also run one myself, which was a wonderful experience I hope to repeat before too long. I have participated in the Residential Mentorship Program twice and also pitched twice to publishers at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival so none of this is new to me.

I am a great believer in the idea that the right person at the right time can make a big difference to your writing. I have been working as a manuscript assessor for about five years and discovered is that it is very easy to critique someone else’s work, but very hard to critique your own. While it is good to work by yourself at certain stages, there does come a time when you need to take your writing out and show it to someone. One of the wonderful things about writing is that the learning never ends. I am currently in my second and final year of the Masters in Creative Writing Program at the University of Queensland where I find the feedback on my work invaluable.

If you need advice on where you should be going with your writing, please get in touch. While I’m sure I already know many of you, I look forward to meeting more of you along the way.

Here are six fun facts I sweated blood to learn...

•

Your best writing comes not from trying to be like anyone else, but instead discovering exactly who you are and how you can express that

•

writing can be joyous, transcendent and life affirming but more often it is wracked with self-doubt and a certainty that you will never be any good. Just deal with it and keep writing

•

the first draft is bad. That is its purpose

•

even when you think you have learnt how to write, the first draft will amaze you with just how bad it can be

•

try to relax; things can only get better in the second draft

•

the muse exists, but she takes long holidays. Don’t worry, just keep waiting at your desk and she’ll be back from the South of France or the Bahamas shortly

Yours in writing, Lisa

7 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Jaipur Literature Festival 2013: A Writer’s View

By Faramerz Dabhoiwala

There are some invitations you just can’t turn down. Tea at Buckingham Palace, tickets to the Ashes, elevation to the House of Lords.

Almost a year ago, one popped into my email inbox, from a writer I’d never met before, but had long admired. “Dear Faramerz,” it began, “Would there be any hope of luring you out to India next January?

We’ll put you up in a palace, lay on elephants and dancing girls, and you’ll have a wonderful time. Do say yes!” It was from the travel writer and fellow-historian William Dalrymple (both are pictured above), and he was inviting me to the Jaipur Literature Festival, probably the biggest and most famous literary gathering in the world. Reader, I had no choice.

So last month, in the midst of a freezing English winter, I suddenly

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found myself transported into the blazing Rajasthani sunshine. The first Jaipur festival, back in 2005, drew fourteen visitors, most of who seem to have been tourists who had lost their way on a palace tour. This year there were close to a quarter of a million attendees and more than two hundred and fifty speakers, crammed into five days and six outdoor venues in the grounds of one of Jaipur’s most beautiful palaces (festooned with colourful banners and the logos of all the big-name sponsors). All the sessions are free, the audiences are huge, and everyone lines up for the same lunch-times buffets (and the same loos...) It’s rather like a cross between a carnival, a rock concert, and a postgraduate seminar, with some wonderful Indian food thrown in for good measure.

To speak there is an extraordinary experience. Never before have I had to fight my way through an adoring mob, have journalists almost come to blows over their place in the queue to interview me, or has a bookshop sold out of a hundred copies of my book in the space of twenty minutes. When I walked out on the stage of the wonderfullynamed ‘Google Mughal Tent’ to give a talk on The Origins of Sex, there were people sitting and standing literally as far as I could see. One news report claimed the crowd had been second only to that for the Dalai Lama (pictured opposite), the day before. (When I boasted about all this to my mother, she said, “yes, yes, darling – but did you see the Dalai Lama?”) If you’re a writer, appearing at Jaipur is probably the next best thing to heading up a major world religion.

What makes it different is not just the scale and setting. Because the festival is completely free, the audiences are younger and livelier than usual. And they have a tremendous hunger for new ideas and serious discussion. If, as I have, you’ve written a book explaining the emergence of sexual freedom in the west, it’s eye-opening to discuss the subject with people for whom the struggle for free speech, religious toleration, female equality, and sexual liberty are live, ongoing matters. The large police presence was a reminder that last years’ demonstrations against Salman Rushdie were not an isolated incident in a country where sexual, religious, and political tensions continually run high: several participants this year had arrest warrants issued against them for supposedly breaching Indian sensitivities during a panel discussion. I was glad to get away with one of my illustrations of the first sexual revolution, the eighteenth-century politician John Wilkes’s great line, ‘Life can little more supply / than just a few good fucks, and then we die’. It provoked lot of gasps and laughter, even a few boos – but no arrest warrant.

At every turn one was also reminded that, globally, the printed word is booming. It is remarkable, and refreshing, to be in a culture where newspapers are growing in importance, and books have

only just begun to reach a mass audience. One of the most moving panels I attended was one in which an aging civil servant described his life’s work bringing literature to the rural populations of India. The challenges are huge. In some parts of the country, the local dialect changes every 100 kilometres; in others, people speak languages that still don’t even possess a written form. To reach the remotest regions, the government gets travelling salesmen to carry books along with their ordinary wares. When such a hawker’s bullock cart reaches the edge of a village on its monthly visit, the civil servant recounted proudly, the local children often run alongside it, calling out ‘have you any books, any books?’.

There were sessions in many languages and on an infinity of topics – from poetry readings and celebrity book-launches to heavyweight discussions of literary theory, global politics, and censorship. I was enthralled by the impassioned debate between the North African novelists Ahdaf Soueif and Tahar Ben Jelloun on the politics of fiction-writing before and after the Arab Spring. I also loved a panel on ‘The Novel of the Future’, in which Howard Jacobson and Zoe Heller expanded on their very different visions of what they believed would come to pass. But it was hard to choose even which sessions to attend: everywhere, it seemed,

there were intellectual riches for the taking.

In that respect, what I brought away from Jaipur was the same as from every good festival. For, beyond meeting wonderful, engaged readers, the fundamental reason that writers travel thousands of miles to attend such literary gatherings is the same as that which draws all the other attendees to discover new writers, and to celebrate the power of literature.

For me, some of the highlights of Jaipur were making friends with and listening to the hilarious TurkishAmerican essayist Elif Batuman, the legendary Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman, the brilliant critic Ian Buruma, and the novelists Madeline Miller, Lawrence Norfolk, Selma Dabbagh, and Linda Grant. Yes, there were elephants, and camels, and dancing girls, and palaces, and maharajas, and endless parties. But the most exhilarating fun we all had was the simplest: the pleasure of talking, long into the night, about books, and writing, and why they matter.

Faramerz Dabhoiwala’s book The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution (Penguin) is out now in paperback. For more information please visit his website, www.dabhoiwala.com

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Cooking the Books Key Ingredients Needed to Create Great eBook Content

By Anna Maguire The choices available to writers who want to self publish are now so numerous that it’s no longer a question of “should I?” but rather “what options should I pursue?” However, with the ease of online publishing it is also possible to go to market with a book that is not quite polished for publication.

Instead a writer should consider all the services that a traditional publisher once bought to the table and choose in an ‘a la carte’ fashion those that they need for their publication. Let’s consider some of the key ingredients to creating great digital content – apart from the content itself!

Editing This is something I feel strongly about – do not think this is a step that you should skip or short track.

When I’m presenting to authors I like to show them this from the Catherine, Caffeinated Blog where she states why an editor is needed (http:// catherineryanhoward.com/2011/08/23/ why-you-need-an-editor-ademonstration/) I suggest that you read this article and watch the demonstration. A copy edit and structural edit are strongly recommended.

Remember that you can’t edit your own work. No matter how many times you think you’ve checked it, read it, restructured or improved it you are too close to the work. I’ve certainly discovered this numerous times with my own writing and it is imperative that someone with fresh eyes is involved with your writing. And no, that doesn’t mean a family member or friend. What you want is someone to proof your work and someone to do a structural edit. You need someone who is not afraid to give you some tough feedback for the benefit of your work. A well edited title lifts the standards of self-publishing. Don’t cut corners on editing – it reflects poorly 10 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

on you as the author and the whole industry of self-publishing.

Book or Ebook Cover If you are self-publishing a printed book then obviously all the usual rules of cover design apply. You need to consider what is on the front cover, back cover and spine. However, with an ebook you only have the front cover and it is very important to get the design right.

Unlike bookstores, your potential readers won’t have the opportunity to pick up your book and browse through. In the online world your book is competing with everyone else who has something available and if you don’t grab his or her attention immediately then it’s likely you’ve lost a sale.

There are a few key things to consider with ebook cover design: • A good exercise is to go onto any book retailing site and search in the genre of your book. You will find a list comes up – but can you see that some stand out on the results page in small size and some are not legible at all?

• Your cover needs to be eyecatching in a thumbnail size of 100 X 140 pixels and encourage people to click through to find out more.

• What needs to stand out?

Unless you have a known author-brand then the most important factors are the book title and to show what the book is about, perhaps by design and illustration. Don’t make the design too complicated. Simplicity often works better than too many elements.

• Remember you have no back cover and blurb – that’s in the metadata.

• Yes, it is possible to do your cover design yourself but using someone experienced in book design will ensure a professional result.

Metadata When I put the word ‘Metadata’ up on the screen when teaching I usually quickly follow it with this slide:

Let’s face it – metadata sounds a bit technical and writers initially feel it doesn’t have much relevance to them. But it does. Metadata is terribly important and authors need to know what it is and learn how to exploit it fully.

Metadata is usually described as ‘data about data’. But let’s put it another way: Metadata is all the information about your book that allows it to be found and sold online.

This quote from Michael Bhaskar, Digital Publishing Director, Profile Books explains it perfectly: Metadata influences search, it influences territoriality and categorisation – metadata is the advert, the sales pitch, the sell in and the advance promotion; metadata is the random book left on the table, the fervent recommendation of a friend, the arresting blurb, the good review, serving the random browser and the determined buyer alike.

Basic or core metadata includes: • Book title • Publisher • Author/s • ISBN • Book Description • Categories

understand that writers are trying to save costs and many retailers offer free or cut price ISBN’s.

BiblioCrunch recently ran a very important piece by Laura Dawson that explains just why this is so important. They also followed up with Should You Buy ISBN’s. Just remember – if you don’t purchase your own ISBN you may not be listed as the publisher of your own work!

Laura Dawson said in her post – your book result will be prioritised in search engines if you have an ISBN. Please. Buy your own.

•

Book cover • Price • Page extent (for printed books) and format • Language and rights • Category • (ie Fiction/Commercial Fiction) • It can also include: • Keywords • Tags • Reviews • Author biography • Book blurb • Excerpts • Prizes It’s ideal to fully utilise all fields of the book information that are made available to you. When you are getting your title edited you may like to ask your editor to also finesse your book description. Always check the categories or keywords that books you believe to be your competition are using and keep testing and changing to see if these affect sales. It may be possible to change your book category on retailer website to a less competitive one to see if this increases the sales ranking.

Remember that the book cover and book description are two key factors influencing discovery and purchase of your book online. It’s all about maximising every chance ISBN When I talk to authors about digital publishing I often get asked “Is it really necessary to buy my own ISBN?” I can

Marketing and Promotion It would be nice if there were some sure-fire way to guarantee success, but sometimes it is partly luck or good timing, partly hard work and partly great content that people want to read.

What will help your chances of success are all the factors mentioned above – a good title and cover, a great book description and metadata, ensuring your book has an ISBN to bring it higher up search results.

What IS important is to have an online destination for people to find you whether that is a website or a blog with a static front page. A lot of writers don’t have the time to blog while others find it a pleasing interlude from their work.

Whatever path you choose you need to have somewhere for people to find you.

There are a number of social media platforms that are useful in interacting with other writers and readers. Over time you can grow followers organically who may be interested in your book, but remember not to only mention your book or reviews. That just gets boring so make sure you have conversations because interaction is what is important.

If you do want to investigate just one or two forms of social media I would start with a Facebook Author Page and then move onto Twitter.

There are debates about how many sales may actually come via social media but what is known is that it is useful for spreading knowledge about your work.

Don’t feel that you need to dive into all possible options. It’s best to try one and feel comfortable and familiar before you move onto another. Guest blogging,

commenting on other blogs, forums and social media are also good ways of interacting online.

Marketing your book can take a lot of time and effort but it IS a necessary part of publishing. Ideally your marketing should start before your book is published. Build interest, anticipation and a bond with others who will share your excitement on the day it is available.

Creating great content isn’t just what is inside the book. It is also professionally producing your book and knowing all the ingredients to maximize your chance of success. Enjoy the journey!

A version of this article first appeared on the BiblioCrunch Self Publishing Blog January 2013 ============================ About Anna Maguire Anna Maguire has worked in publishing and digital content for 25 years. She is a former head of production and interactive at Random House Australia and is a passionate advocate for digital developments in the book industry and the emerging Australian ebook and app market. Anna teaches authors about their digital publishing and crowdfunding options and trains publishing students. Anna has spoken at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and is a graduate of the Yale Publishing Course.

In October 2012 Anna published Crowdfund it! – her first ebook with digital-first publisher Editia. Anna blogs about digital publishing at www. digireado.com.au and crowdfunding at www.crowdfundit.com.au.

11 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Balancing Act

Paula McDougall talks to Dr. Lynda

Hawryluk, the newly appointed Senior Lecturer in Writing and Course CoOrdinator of the Associate Degree of Creative Writing at Lismore’s Southern Cross University.

“Incredibly verdant,” is how Dr. Lynda Hawryluk describes the Northern Rivers landscape. Environmental diversity has a massive impact on her writing and living in regional areas has made Lynda conscious of the life/work balance that is very important to her. “It’s an extremely lush landscape here compared to where I’ve been living recently and I’m inspired by the physical environment in which I live. My poetry and writing are acutely influenced by my surroundings,” she says. “I do love being in cities but there is something to be said for big skies and fresh air. I find I’m always drawn back to regional areas. The subjects I write about as a poet change with the different environments I find myself in and people respond to that.”

Lynda grew up in Sydney’s western suburbs and after graduating from UWS she taught English at high schools for ten years while completing a PhD in Writing. With degrees in Literary Studies (BA), Writing (MA – Hons) and Education qualification (Secondary Ed.) Lynda was offered a position as Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies at CQU, Rockhampton. The Qld regional landscape was quite a contrast to city life and the stark environment soon shaped and influenced her writing.

“I moved to a place where there were millions of stars and wildlife all around the house,” she says. “The first poem I wrote there was called The Sky is Darker at Night. Up north the sky is enormous and incredibly black. Seeing the big sky at Longreach was a privilege for me.

From a city perspective you think there’s nothing in the outback, but when you stop and look at the landscape it’s so rich.”

While working in Rockhampton and living in Yeppoon, she met a woman who was to become influential in her

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life and also a good friend. In the 90s Dr. Liz Huf founded the Idiom 23 Writers’ Workshop and courses were held in various locations including the local rainforests, Pumpkin Island and North Keppel Island. Liz sought Lynda out and so began Lynda’s work with Liz on community based writing workshops.

“The courses were deliberately focused on community participation rather than being profit-oriented, as writing workshops can become expensive’” she explains. “Liz’s way of thinking was that everyone should have the opportunity to attend. She was very big on providing opportunities to people who otherwise would be excluded because of affordability.” Liz showed Lynda the importance of community and how to make herself available to people. She also learnt how essential it is in regional areas to become altruistic—that to be part of community you need to give back to community—and it was this that influenced Lynda’s decision to join the Yeppoon group of QLD’s SES. Liz died in November 2011 and Lynda remembers her as a kind woman who knew how to get things done. “She is a very important person in my life,” she says, “and her family is my family. She is a very generous and inspiring woman.”

When the floods hit Central QLD in the summer of 2010/2011 people were dispossessed and many areas became isolated. CQU became an evacuation centre and with Prof. Donna Brien, Lynda organised creative writing workshops in the local and regional community. Lynda saw first hand how regional people became resilient in times of natural disasters and the community workshop called the Resurfacing Stronger Project enabled victims to write their personal stories of the disaster. It proved to be a much needed cathartic experience for many. “A lot of the people who came to these workshops were already voiceless in life,” says Lynda. “They had this terrible experience and felt completely forgotten and we provided an outlet for people who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to express themselves.” The aim of the workshop was to help the healing process in that

people felt listened to and their stories validated. “Because of my involvement with the Resurfacing Stronger Project,” she says, “I’m now even more cognisant of how life affects people and how quickly things can change.”

Yet writing openly about her own experiences is not something Lynda has applied to her own writing.

“Obviously poetry is about you and your experiences and your world,” she says, “but I haven’t written very much true memoir. However, I have a lot of experience with it through my PhD students. Their writing can certainly delve into the cathartic. So by default I have become quite knowledgeable not only about memoir but also grief and mourning studies.” Lynda is mindful in how she supervises people who are going through these emotional issues while working on their writing. “It’s a special relationship,” she says.

What attracted her to the position at SCU was the depth and breadth of the writing program that exists. As Deputy Chair of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs Lynda says “I’m fairly aware of what other universities offer in regards to writing programs in Australia.

What they do here at SCU they do really well—it’s very impressive. It would have to be one of the biggest writing programs in the country.”

The majority of Lynda’s body of work is as a poet and a book of her poetry entitled Sub-Urban Poems was published in 2004. Through her work

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as a supervisor of Masters of Letters and PhD students she’s been reading a fair amount of prose poetry. Poets who focus on sense of place interest her and she is a fan of Australian poets Les Murray, Judith Beveridge, Dorothy Porter and central Qld poet Kristin Hannaford. American poet and author Maya Angelou is a favourite and The Beat poets also rate a mention. Creative non-fiction has become an interest and she is enjoying the transition to incorporate more of it into her academic writing. Other writers she finds influential include Joan Didion, Annie Proulx, Alice Walker, Truman Capote and writers from the American South such as Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty and Harper Lee. So when she’s not teaching, marking papers, writing, reading or giving workshops what does Lynda do to relax?

She surfs. Admittedly she’s a novice but Lynda has found since she took up the sport she has become more conscious and aware of her environment. “Living in a place where life moves more slowly you are afforded the opportunity to look at sunrises and sunsets,” she says. “To sit out the back and hear the waves lapping against your board, feel the wind and

sun on your skin. To be conscious of the wildlife that surrounds you out on the ocean. It’s very special and grounding.”

She believes surfing has enriched her creativity and allowed her to explore her identity within her writing.

As well as the career opportunity at SCU, it was the environment that drew Lynda to Northern NSW. “It’s an extremely lush landscape here,” she says, adding that although the Northern Rivers region is quiet and relaxed it has an abundance of culture and she is intrigued by the “rich diversity of people who live here.”

Lismore’s Star Court Theatre and its screenings of art house films has quickly become a favourite haunt and Lynda is looking forward to The Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, The Nimbin Poetry World Cup, Bluesfest and the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival.

“One thing I learnt from Liz Huf,” says Lynda, “is that you’ve got to enjoy your life while you’re doing the things you’re doing. Being a member of the NRWC is a part of my life that is correlative to my job, my interests, and I’m really fortunate to have access to a wonderful resource.”

She appreciates that she has been very well educated and that education has

afforded her great opportunities. Lynda’s goal is to be able to offer other people those opportunities through her work at SCU and contributions to NRWC. “I’m lucky in that I absolutely love my job and I know I’ll enjoy working at SCU and living in the Northern Rivers region. Work/life balance is the common dilemma that we all have,” says Lynda, “and I acknowledge how privileged I am to be as close as I can be to reaching that balance.”

And in a newsflash just to hand, the Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre is delighted to welcome their newest Committee member: Lynda Hawrluk!

Lynda and Liz Huf 13 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Writing in the Mythic Realms I love mythology. As a child I loved reading fairy tales, fantasy and mythology – I could never get enough of those Greek myths. They promised so much. Stories of women turning into trees or animals, of the glorious golden sun drawn by a chariot across the sky, of curses and prophesies and monsters that lived in the centre of the labyrinth.

There was something about those stories, where they didn’t give everything away. They told you what happened – and the fantastic events were presented as fact, another entrancement – but they didn’t tell you what it felt like. What did Ariadne feel, while she stood at the entrance of the labyrinth, waiting for Theseus to return?

What was Persephone thinking in those long Underworld months before she ate the pomegranate? What was it like for Hades to be handed the least desirable of the three realms when the world’s domains were split between him and his brothers? How did Artemis feel when she saw Acteon torn to pieces in front of her?

The story doesn’t say.

I think this is why myths are wide open for exploration, discovery and rediscovery, why we create such a personal relationship with them when we read them. We invest a part of ourselves into them, their archetypes call out to us reminding us of times in our lives we’ve been in similar situations.

Remember waiting for a loved one to return to you? Remember those long months when you were practically dead, didn’t know how to return to life and just had to keep surviving? Remember missing out on a job you wanted, or mark you deserved, or the notice of someone important to you? Remember watching your dreams being ripped to shreds, in a relationship, career or creative endeavour?

That was how they felt; how Ariadne, Persephone, Hades and Artemis felt. And yet for each of us, and each time we experience those things, it is unique, and as if it has never happened before. This is part of why the mythic realm is such a rich field for writers, and artists of all kinds. The dream-like imagery and language of myth offers itself to interpretation by each person 14 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

who comes across it. When as poets, storytellers, playwrights – or dancers, painters, sculptors, musicians – we step into that myth and begin to feel and live it for ourselves, that is when we put flesh on the bones of the story and our audience falls in love not just with what we’ve created, but with the meaning that lies in the mythic backstory and archetypal characters and events, that resonates with their own lives.

One immediate access into a myth is to employ a type of enquiry often used in understanding dreams; that is to speak from the point of view of each character. In Theseus’ story of entering the labyrinth, his point of view is the one most often considered; and the story is occasionally told from Ariadne’s perspective. No-one writes of the Minotaur, what he saw or felt. Or from the perspective of the labyrinth itself, that incredible maze-like structure designed to confuse and contain.

Listening to these other sides of the story takes imagination, it takes an open mind and a willingness to have what we thought we knew contradicted, as well as an understanding that just like real life, no one interpretation of our actions or motivations is ever the full story. Once we are engaged with the myth it will begin to tell us incredible things, not just about its story, but about ourselves, but even these things are not the end of the story.

We learn, for instance, that just like Ariadne we have hesitated at the threshold of the mysteries, preferring to send others ahead of us; or we learn of Persephone’s courage in the Underworld, and therefore of our own.

In Ariadne’s choice to betray her family and help her lover, we may reflect on moments or choices of our own lives; and understanding Persephone’s long absence from the upper world may help us to come to terms with times we have been absent from our lives, unavailable to children, friends or commitments.

But how is this useful for writing? In working with a story everyone is familiar with, but unpicking it or showing a different side, any writer is immediately plunged into an already present tapestry of event and complex layers.

We are writing or rewriting not just a

commentary upon the character; and ourselves; but also on the social and cultural understandings. In the Shadow of the Ark, by Anne Provoost is a retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark, from the perspective of Noah’s third son’s wife.

It is also a story of racism and cultural genocide. Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent is a commentary upon women’s culture, and offers contemporary women not just a connection with ancient history from a previously barely-voiced perspective, but also a reconnection with the female-centred spiritual life she depicts. Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, a narrative poem that has also been performed as a dance piece, writes the Homeric tale of Odysseus’ absence and slow return to his wife from her point of view, introducing questions of women’s perspectives, as well as the nature of love and betrayal.

Myth can provide a character or setting for a completely different work; Kim Falconer’s Kreshkali in her Quantum Enchantment and Quantum Encryption set of works does not just carry part of the Sumerian Underworld Goddess’s name, Ereshkigal, in her name, she also imports Ereshkigal’s Underworld realms into an alternate Earth, as fact, not mythology. Myths can be rewritten into contemporary settings; Judy Grahn’s play, Queen of Swords takes this same Sumerian myth and transports it to a contemporary lesbian bar.

What does a writer want, after all? A good story, and an untold story. And yet it has been said many times, that all stories are retellings of earlier stories; that there only really five (or eight, or twelve) stories in the world; that there is nothing new under the sun. But within this moonlight realm of the mythic the new awaits us, lying dormant until now within the old, the already-known. When we choose to engage with a myth not merely on an intellectual level, but in the emotional and physical realms, we do not know what we will find.

If I hand you the end of a ball of thread and ask you to walk into the darkness of a labyrinth, you cannot fully know hat you will feel until you are doing it.

This is Theseus’ labyrinth but also your labyrinth, and in exploring it, and in writing it, you are finding a story. It

MORE THAN BRICKS & MORTAR

By Jeni Caffin Well Byron Bay has had some highly anticipated, controversial and iconic building activity of recent years. The splendid Byron Community Centre leaps to mind, as does the Byron Regional Sport and Cultural Complex, but perhaps none has had such a long and fraught gestation period as the Byron Bay Library.

It’s been almost thirty years in the making, but on Monday 11 February 2013, at 9.30am, the new library opened its doors to the breathless and enthusiastic reading community to whom it belongs. The fact that it exists at all is testimony to the generosity and steadfast commitment of a core of visionary leaders from within our region. The gift of land upon which the library sits so elegantly and naturally was made by the Bundjalung of Byron Bay Arakwal People and Delta Kay was on hand at the special plaque unveiling on Saturday 9 February to provide a poignant and heartfelt welcome to country. Of the many speeches that marked the occasion, that of Yvonne Stewart, CEO of Bundjalung of Byron Bay Aboriginal Corporation (Arakwal) stood out for its simple eloquence and depth of emotion. Central to the library are rooms dedicated to indigenous art and learning, and Yvonne took pains to point out that these rooms are not reserved for Aboriginal people, but will be developed and resourced to provide opportunities for learning for all interested readers and seekers of

knowledge of our area, its history and its traditional owners.

Byron Bay Friends of the Library President Bob Levett acknowledged the role the Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre and Byron Bay Writers’ Festival has played in raising money earmarked for the books sorely needed to fill this beautiful space.

Audiences at the BBWF over the years will have become accustomed to the buckets circulated during crowded sessions in the huge marquees, sessions often moderated by NRWC Chair Chris Hanley, who has been a vocal and steely supporter of the new library since the possibility was first mooted.

Those capacious buckets have gathered over $70,000 and Festival goers can congratulate themselves that their donations will be realised in the form of precious books as the acquisitions roll out.

Byron Shire Mayor, Simon Richardson, echoed the thoughts of us all when he said “ This truly is a remarkable building.

From the foyer which features the donated artwork by award winning Australian environmental artist John Dahlsen to the rooms filled with books,

may be a story of self-discovery, or an adventure with monsters and heroes; it may be a poem of the unwinding of a precious thread or a play where all the characters, including the minotaur, are given a voice. It may be a song of the abandoned woman, or a treatise on how to navigate the dark times in our lives but at its heart will be the labyrinth, and your connection with it. Readers will be invited in on three levels, the story of the archetypal labyrinth with Theseus, your story of the labyrinth and their own stories as they relate to the labyrinth.

As writers we may be interested in exploring the richness of these mythic realms and tales; we may be curious about what ancient myths potentially offer to current writing or we may seek to speak with those voices, the ones that never quite spoke up loudly enough in the versions of the stories we read in childhood, and to discover finally why we kept reading and rereading them.

Daring to step inside these myths, and discover them for ourselves is like taking that step through to Narnia, accepting the invitation to Hogwarts or putting

children’s play area and study rooms. This is a place for everyone.”

Indeed. On a visit made at the end of its first week of operation, it was glorious to see people congregating in conversation at its relaxed and spacious entrance, children sprawled on the floor and sitting at tiny tables lost in the world of story and all ages, all demographics intently surfing the web, drawing up chairs to examine a chosen book, scouring the shelves and exploring the building. Everywhere the light plays beautifully through the rooms, the garden and trees shade and green the vista and one cannot fail to appreciate the aesthetics of the building and the site with which it blends.

This is a sophisticated and sustainable building with a 5 star green environmental rating. It is a building for the people, it is the library our community deserves and a worthy centre of learning and discovery. Let us celebrate.

our head through the cloud at the top of the Faraway Tree to discover a new land.

This is the elusive invitation of story that called to us when we kept going back to those myths…the stories that never quite let go. Within them, at the heart of those mythic labyrinthine stories, each of us explores a mystery and seeks a treasure and a treasure.

Please go to page 20 for further information on Jane Meredith’s workshop.

15 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

The better and not so good of Byron’s yesteryears.

Subjective remembrances by Rusty Miller Believe it or not at one time Byron was referred to by some of the locals as ‘Boring Bay.’ Yes its true, there was not much of a night or cultural life during the early 1970s, other than the wild Friday and Saturday nights at the Seaview (Top Pub) when they would have a live rock band from Lismore or the group which is remembered as its residency group: Chincogan. Early in the 80s the Rails and the Arts factory started putting on live music on a more regular basis. Before then we would have to go to Lismore to see the top travelling bands at the Workers and the Italo Clubs to obtain our dose of music stimulation. Lismore at that time was a significant regional centre and you would have to go out there anyway to do your big shops or obtain essential parts for farm gear and construction projects.

But this distance (literally and perception wise) away from urban centralisation did encourage Byron to become more creative and imaginative in its expansion of music and other cultural pursuits including new types of food places.

There were several green grocers and butcher shops in the main section of Jonson Street where you could obtain fresh local produce.

The Norco Co-Op on the Services club end of Jonson Street had a full retail shop where you could buy cheeses, cold cuts, milk, cream and butter. The products were wrapped

16 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

in newspaper on the spot. The Norco factory here at one point was producing 40% of the state’s butter.

It closed in 1972 and the shop in 1975. This was before Woolies built and opened their store on top of where Consolidated Mining stored their highly concentrated mineral sands tailing piles (Zircon / Rutile) that had been mined since 1936 between Broken Head and Cape Byron. Their processing ended in 1977. Some of these collected piles that were found to be radioactive had been used as construction fill for the primary school and at several houses on Marvel Street. These sands had to be removed. There was a time in Australia when slight radiation of perishables was used to keep vegies fresh. So there could be an accurate rational claim of Woolies to having ‘fresh’ foods.

New ideas and new ways to do things have always been part of what Byron seems to conjure. In the six or seven years between 1967 and 1973 there were seminal changes and progressions in surfboad design originating in this area. But more important to me were the social and cultural movements and how they re-set the life templates and composed what I feel were milestones of change. And it was these events, occurrences and situations which I see have contributed to make Byron a special, stand alone and

original shire. Now this region is nationally, and internationally significant in its contribution to the belief in the power of intelligent optimism. The Gold Coast just to our north has also been a great contribution to our shire in that it is the perfect example of how we have not wanted to develop. In the 80s and 90s our various shire councils battled against ‘inappropriate development, ‘ a term which has caused much consternation to our citizenry. But all in all we have been relatively successful in fighting off the ‘Beast of Sameness’ or what I refer to as a ‘swallowing the pill of blind acceptance.’ And so now we are finding that our reputation as a place of new and creative ways and ideas seems to be a drawcard that fills the town past its capacity on a regular basis. People line up bumper to bumper out past Ozi Go to see what this not exactly identified ‘magnetism’ of Byron is about. Our problem now of course is how do we handle the overload of its overuse and abuse?

Some of my recollection of what I consider my milestones for Byron becoming a place of activism, original thinking and acting and cultural creativity are: 1971: Opposition to chainsawing the fig trees which shaded the length of Lawson Street between the old council offices (now Main

Beach Backpackers) to the Balcony restaurant. Council workers laugh at us.

Opening of Neverland clothing shop by Tricia Mathews and Nyarie Abby, significantly being the original retail of that era’s style clothing in Byron. Opening of the Whole Meal

by Earl and Maggie Cochrane where the French Bakery L’Ultime is now.

This was the first turn towards more healthy food into local diets.

1972: Gough Whitlam wins the federal election, pulls out of Vietnam and comes to the north coast for an ALP dinner. I walk down the street to take some photos and end up just he and I having a good chat. I had just immigrated from the USA where they had shot two Kennedys and Martin Luther King. I decided to become a citizen.

1973: Aquarius Festival Nimbin.

The Australian Union of Students paint the town in bright colours and hail a new era of consciousness into the region which includes Byron. The festival focused on Solar Energy, Music festivities, progressive architecture like the Buckminister Fuller Geodesic Dome construction.

Myself and David Guthrie launch the first alternative newspaper called the Byron Express to represent the views of the new settlers.

1983-1995: The battle to stop the

Federal Dam (would have flooded Coorabell valley out to Federal and provided water for a population the size of the Gold Coast). This decade of concerted effort was significant in that it changed the philosophy of Rous Country Council (now Rous Water) to the concept of ‘demand management.’

1985: The Tyagarah Airport proposed expansion. Was it for real?

Maybe. Could you imagine Virgin and Jetstar landing there daily?

1986: The Byron Shire Echo newspaper started by Nick Shand and David Lovejoy.

1994: The land and Environment Court declares the development consent for Club Med null and void.

2004: Railway Line from Casino to Murwillumbah is closed. The end of a romantic era and when kids from Casino and Lismore could come to the coast for the day and return in the evening for low cost.

2012: The successful representation of the community’s sentiments to the NSW Liquor, Gaming and Racing hearing that results in their decision that having a Woolworths’ Dan Murphy Liquor store in Jonson Street behind the cinema was not appropriate.

2012: An application to explore

for Coal Seam Gas is applied for in Byron Shire. The community is up in arms as never before about the ‘Fracking’ or ‘Unconventional gas extraction’ process.

2013: Our newest test as a community is now how to halt another symbol of big fish corporate horsepower KFC, who have taken out a lease saying they want to be part of the greater Byron community.

But a big part of then and now which has drawn a beautiful connection through the changes and history of this place is the persistent spirit of individualism and original thinking. This has made Byron extra special and valuable as a symbol that such can still exist in a world so ruled by its kowtowing to money and growth. These Byron resolves to principles have not just saved a rainforest from being wiped out or a big fish liquor monolith being called to have to respect for what the majority of this community feel. But even winning half of such battles adds positively to our hard earned reputation for a place which chooses not be the ‘same old’ inevitable overwhelmed society that chooses profit over environment.

In these ways Byron can still be a great contribution and influence on the attitude of our nation state.

Everyone counts. Please consider.

Photos from left to right: Gough Whitlam taking a stroll down main street; Nimbin Geodesic Dome; Aquarius Festival; The Arts Factory; Narie on Gandolf; Cannon in Railway Park 17 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

Well Versed: Laura Shore Laura Jan Shore’s Vision: Travel and Expand the Audience for Poetry

by Jane Camens

Not long after Byron shire’s “dangerously poetic” Laura Jan Shore committed an intention to the worldwide web, her vision for herself began to unfold.

‘In future, I plan to travel – reading poetry, writing and offering workshops wherever I go,’ Laura wrote on her website (www.laurajanshore.com).

Since typing those words, Laura has criss-crossed the Australian continent with her poetry and taken up invitations in North and Central America to read and teach. Some people would say that’s normal in Byron Bay where “Magic Happens”.

But Laura had been living in the Byron shire for nearly sixteen years before any ‘real’ magic happened with respect to travel and her poetry.

She arrived in the district from the United States in 1996, already a published author with poetry published in journals in the USA and a young adult novel called The Sacred Moon Tree (Bradbury Press, NY, 1986) nominated for the Washington Irving Children’s Book Award.

By the time she’d settled in the Byron hinterland she realised that poetry was her greatest literary love. Seeking a community of writers who spoke her language – poetry – she began the poetry group, Dangerously Poetic.

Dangerously Poetic (www.dangerouslypoetic.com) still holds monthly writing circles that are open to all. With the help of the NWRC, it evolved into a community press which now has 10 titles on its list.

Breathworks, Laura’s first collection of poems, was Dangerously Poetic’s first publishing venture. It was launched at the first 2002 Byron Writers Festival by the late great poet Dorothy Porter and, later, by Ron Pretty at the 2002 Sydney Poetry Festival.

There was a gap of nine years between that first collection and Water over Stone, Laura’s second collection of poetry which this time was published by Interactive Press, one of the leading poetry imprints in Australia.

Her collection won IP Picks Best Poetry

18 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

2011 and led her to update her website bio stating her future intention to travel with her work.

She took to the road first for launches in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra of Water over Stone. She also accepted invitations to read at the Brett Whitely Studio in Sydney and, further afield, in the United States at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Centre in New York.

In August last year she was granted a four-week writing residency in Western Australia at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre, the oldest writers’ centre of its kind in Australia.

The KSP Writers’ Centre, located in the Perth hills, was the former home of Pritchard, a leading Australian writer. The people who run the centre provide space for readings and workshops for local writers, as well as a writer-in-residence cabin, separate from the main house, but within the grounds. As Laura has been teaching poetry to community groups for 30 years, she was invited to meet with all the writers who gathered there and to run workshops during her stay.

‘My main job was to write,’ she stressed.

During the residence she pulled together her third collection, A Canticle of Crows. A canticle is a hymn, and the songs of birds are referenced in the poems.

‘The crow shows up in my paintings and my dreams,’ said Laura. ‘There’s something metaphysical about them.’

She also discovered in Perth where her fourth collection will come from.

‘It’s embryonic, but I know where I’m going,’ she said.

‘It made me realise how valuable it can be to have a dedicated writing space.’

Laura said this on the Saturday be-

fore she took up another residency, this time at Varuna, The Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. She was selected for the residence at that famous crucible for Australian writers on the strength of her manuscript for A Canticle of Crows.

In addition to her recent Australian gigs, Laura also last year travelled to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico to deliver the keynote talk on ‘Poetry as Soul Medicine’ at a Women in Spirituality Expo, an invitation that came from winning a poetry competition run by an online magazine, Sibella.

On her return to Australia in December she learned she’d also won the Martha Richardson Poetry Prize of $1,000 for her poem, ‘The Interrupt’.

She travelled to Ballarat for the presentation and read there.

‘It’s been a fulfilling time connecting with poets and poetry beyond the Bay,’ she said.

She is keen to expand the audience for poetry in the Byron Shire.

‘My vision for Dangerously Poetic is to raise poetry consciousness, maybe for people who don’t know they like poetry or who have forgotten they liked it,’ she said.

For more information about Dangerously Poetic, see www.dangerouslypoetic.com.

Hot topics on agenda at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival

By Amanda Cooke Northern Rivers residents don’t have to wait until the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival in August to get their writers festival fix with the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival set to take place from 22 – 24 March in Bellingen, Dorrigo and Coffs Harbour.

This year’s Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival will continue to challenge and encourage debate in the relaxed and casual atmosphere that it is known for, with sessions on a range of crucial topics including a panel discussion on mining and nuclear energy and George Negus in conversation with David Marr exploring Political Leadership. Another highlight of this year’s festival will be a celebration of women writers and writing in Australia.

“Our celebration of women writers and writing is timely given the fierce debate regarding the underrepresentation of women writers in literary awards,” Annette Marfording, the festival’s Program Manager said.

“We are very pleased to have Sophie Cunningham, Chair of the Australia Council’s Literature Board as a festival guest and she will host a special session celebrating the Stella Prize, the newly created prize for women writers.”

Other festival guests include awardwinning authors Drusilla Modjeska, Patti Miller, Emily Ballou, Melissa Lucashenko, Carrie Tiffany and Cate Kennedy along with new writers Romy Ash, Jessie Cole,

Jeanine Leane and Mette Jakobsen. For the crime lovers, there’ll be Gabrielle Lord and Katherine Howell and from Byron Bay, Maggie Groff.

In compiling the remainder of this year’s program, Ms Marfording said that in addition to drawing attention to the gender imbalances in literary culture, there were a number of other critical issues that also needed debate.

“The 2013 program will offer something for everyone interested in reading and ideas with panels and forums covering topics such as the decline of political standards, mining, nuclear energy and native title”, Ms Marfording said.

Program highlights include: •Historical Events through the Lens of Fiction and Non-fiction with Bill Gammage, Drusilla Modjeska and Belinda Castles. Chair: Venero Armanno; •Political Leadership: Personality or Policy? George Negus in conversation with David Marr; •The Biggest Estate on Earth Bill Gammage talks to John Bennett about writing history and his multi-award winning book on how Aborigines made the Australian landscape; •Dangerous Activities: Mining and Nuclear Energy with Paul Cleary, author of Mine-field, The Men Who Came Out of the Ground and Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future, Sharyn Munro, author of Rich Land, Wasteland – how coal is killing Australia, and former diplomat, Richard Broinowski

Chair: George Negus; •How to get nonfiction published in literary journals with Jessie Cole, Mette Jakobsen and Romy Ash. Chair: Sophie Cunningham; •Anglo-Saxon Writers’ Portraits of Aboriginal People with Melissa Lucashenko in conversation with Jeanine Leane; •The art of writing non-fiction with David Marr and Drusilla Modjeska Contributing chair: Stephanie Dowrick; and •Native Title in Fiction and Non-fiction with Melissa Lucashenko and Patti Miller Chair: Annette Marfording To purchase day and weekend passes, and for full program details, go to www.bellingenwritersfestival.com.au

WRITER’S JOURNEY creative adventures

Writer’s Journey offers annual writing sojourns in extraordinary places: • Fiji Writers - March • Desert Writers - June • Backstage Bali - July

• Mekong Meditations - November • Burmese Temple Tour - December • Moroccan Caravan - January 2013 Writer’s Journey is committed to supporting writers in all genres.

For further details, go to www.writersjourney.com.au or call 0415 921 303

Subscr ibe today and re ceiv your FR e EE suppor t packa ge

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Kids’ page Hi and welcome to the northerly kids’ page. I write books for children and teens and I love speaking to other authors and illustrators about their process and space. In this issue of northerly Gus Gordon shares his creative space.

By Tristan Bancks Gus is much-loved in the children’s book industry for his generosity, good humour, talent with both pen and paintbrush and his extraordinary moves on the dancefloor. He is the authorillustrator of the wonderful picture books Wendy, about a flying stunt chicken, and his latest, Herman and Rosie, set in New York.

Where did you write your latest book?

How important to you is the space that you write in?

I do pretty much all of my writing in my studio but I think about the writing everywhere - the supermarket, cafés, in the surf, dancing (I’m kidding - it’s really hard to think about anything while you’re dancing). But it’s the shower that works best for me. Especially when I have a problem that needs to be resolved. It must be the flowing water, I don’t know, but for whatever reason I think very clearly and visually in the shower. Most of my book ideas have come from there. It’s weird, I’m sure there must be something sciencey to it.

I think a good working space is invaluable. I have a good imagination but if you are not comfortable and in the right head space then it’s so much harder to tap into that place – wherever that is. Poland, I think. Anyway, I need a mental run-up to get on a roll so the less distractions the better. Especially since I am rather prone to distraction.

Thankfully my studio has good light,

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space and most importantly it is my place – my room, and everyone respects that (sort of ). Some days nothing happens in there but as long as I have a place to stare blankly, I’m happy.

surprising amount of standing, thinking and just looking at that board.

Do you transform your space in any way for each book? Do you ‘get into character’ at all?

I do a bunch of research so I can get a good feel for the time, place or character/s I am illustrating or writing about. My corkboards are forever changing according to what I am working on at the time. I pin up photos, sketches and things that I find inspiring in some way (like a photo of a beer or some cheese). It’s important for me to be constantly reminded about my character’s environment or about the way I intend to handle the visual or graphic elements of the story. The more stuff the better.

Do you keep regular writing hours?

What are they? If not, when do you write?

For the most part I keep fairly regular hours unless I’m chasing a deadline or working on multiple projects. It’s better for everyone that way. Nights are normally good for me until about 10pm when I always seem to hit a wall and my brain ceases to function on any creative level at all. It’s at this time of night when I begin to write off everything I’ve done that day. I’ve learnt it’s best to lay down tools before this happens. I have been trying very hard not to work weekends this year and, until lately, I’ve been mostly successful. Having said that, I have been working away madly on my new book, Herman and Rosie, so I can see some weekends merging into weekdays before it’s all done.

How has the place that you write evolved or changed since you first began writing and illustrating?

Since I started writing I have added another corkboard to the wall that I use solely for laying out the story. It’s good to have an area where you can step back and see the story unfolding, not just visually but structurally, in front of your eyes. You need that kind of space with picture books to see if it’s all flowing or if there are any weaknesses in the story arc. Or if it’s crap. I do a

Do you have a morning ritual? Roald Dahl was said to sharpen pencils.

What settles your mind for writing?

I’m not really a ritual guy - other than coffee and then more coffee. I am usually down in my studio around 8.30am. I read a few blogs – books and music stuff – then slowly get going around 10ish. I pick some music to set the tone of the day and then I’m away.

Afternoons are normally the most productive and I’m always sharpening bloody pencils.

From the reading chair Trust me, I’m a reader Editor Laurel Cohn looks at why and how to evoke readers’ trust.

Although it is something that can be done lying on a pillow with minimum physical effort, reading is not a passive activity. The books we tend to find most satisfying are the ones that we ‘get into’ in some way – they intrigue us, astonish us, beguile us. And, I would add, they evoke readers’ trust by allowing them imaginative space to enter the story. I have referred to this idea in my column previously, but a query from a writer about what that actually means has prompted me to tease this out more.

Stories are delivered to us through many different media – visual arts, music, film, writing, theatre, games.

There are a myriad of styles within each medium, but at their best, they all rely on an active engagement by the viewer, listener, reader, player. And they do that by providing space. Think of a Matisse drawing – three or four simple lines can suggest a whole face.

We don’t need to see all the features to recognise what it is. Think of the way a film moves from one scene to the next in less than a second, a simple cut taking us to a different place and time.

We’re able to follow the story line by filling in the gaps ourselves. And what about a child’s dot-to-dot puzzle? We know what the picture is going to be without taking pen to paper; our life experience enables us to recognise the shape straight away. It’s the same when it comes to writing; good writers trust a reader’s ability to join the dots, to navigate the scene changes and fill in the gaps.

We all recognise and predict emotional states, signals and signs, consequences and behaviours (perhaps to varying degrees!). We are doing it all the time.

Writers need to keep this mind. As Louise Doughty says in her book A Novel in a Year, ‘Trust your reader to guess at what your characters really mean in exactly the same way that we all have to guess at what people really mean in our daily lives.’ Carmel Bird,

in Dear Writer, teases this out further: ‘Perhaps you thought that you, as the writer, were the one who had to do all the imagining, and that the reader was to get every detail of the picture from your words. The reader of fiction [and, I would add, narrative non-fiction] takes pleasure in doing some of the work, and will more readily believe you and trust you if there is work to do.’

That idea of trust is, I would argue, fundamental to the relationship between writer and reader. And it goes both ways. Just as you, the writer, need to trust the reader, you are also asking the reader to trust you. As Michael Ondaatje puts it: ‘The first line of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time, but there is order here, very faint, very human.’ As a reader, I will trust you, the writer, if you show me that you understand my ability to join the dots and if you recognise that I can think for myself.

too much, the reader may be unable to make sense of the story and lose faith that you are going to deliver, but in my experience the work for aspiring writers usually lies in trusting that the reader can join the dots. Trust me, I’m a professional reader!

LAUREL COHN is an editor and mentor passionate about communication and the power of narrative to engage, inspire and challenge. Since the late 1980s she has been helping writers develop their stories and prepare their work for print and, more recently, online publication. www.laurelcohn.com.au

The key to evoking a reader’s trust and engaging them in your story lies in those spaces between the dots, those jump cuts, those absent lines in a drawing. The writer and editor William Zinsser’s theory is that ‘writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it.’ But it’s not just about trimming and tightening text, it’s about an awareness of the potential that the spaces create. Back to Carmel Bird: ‘Strangely enough, the strength of fiction seems to lie as much in what is left out as in what is included; as much in the spaces between the words as in the words.’ The writer Brian Kiteley puts it this way: with the discipline to create space comes the opportunity to let the absent material ‘poke the story in the side so readers get a greater sense of the story below the story, below the surface narrative.’ It’s that type of space we enter when we ‘get into’ a story.

So creating space and developing trust are linked. Of course, if you leave out

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WORKSHOP

WORKSHOPS

Getting Out of Your Own Way

Writing in the Mythic Realms

with Jon Bauer

with Jane Meredith

When: Saturday 16 March, 10am - 4pm Where: NRWC Office, 1 - 28 Jonson St, Byron Bay Cost: $75 members/ $95 non-members

When: Saturday 23 March, 10am - 4pm Where: SCU Room, Byron Community Centre Cost: $75 members/ $95 non-members

Writing is challenging, but many courses that seek to support writers don’t tackle the one thing that really holds your writing back – you. This unique one-day workshop helps you come to terms with your own writing process and better understand the subtle but powerful obstacles you put in your own way. As part of a supportive group, you’ll develop strategies you’ll need if you are to start, draft, finish, and publish a piece of exceptional writing.

Through techniques that draw you closer to the experience of what it is like for you to write, you can begin to choose how you want to go on writing, how better to approach the time you give yourself to write, but also how to work with the finite amount of self control we all have.

The course will also delve into how best to edit and redraft, and some subtle tricks and downfalls to better manipulate your reader.

Overall, this is a course designed to support you as a writer, to grow your confidence, and your willingness to be with the struggle that’s unavoidable if you are creating something that has never existed before. By the end of the workshop you will have gone a long way towards dismantling the unsupportive environment that most writers create in their own heads.

Myths are a potent and lively source of inspiration for a writer; whether you are a novelist, playwright, poet, picture book or YA writer.

Writers who have successfully written with myth include Kim Falconer (fantasy); Peter O’Connor (psychology); Judy Grahn (poetry); the Greek playwrights; Anita Diamant with The Red Tent and many, many others.

Myths can form a rich background tapestry for your story, a delicate underpinning for a poem or an entry into investigating character and unpicking the myth itself. Imagine stepping into a Greek story of labyrinths; a biblical story of floods or serpents; Mesopotamian, Indian, Celtic and Norse stories… they live in our imagination and are endlessly retold, with each telling revealing a new layer.

How do you discover something fresh within a story that’s already known? How can a mythic character inspire you, or a myth guide your structure? How can such ancient stories come alive in the present?

Writing in the Mythic Realms will dive deeply into several myths, laying them out and then literally walking into the stories. We will inhabit their characters, speak their words with our own mouths and choose their actions afresh; rediscovering and rewriting the mythic.

We will experiment with different writing voices, learn what questions to ask and how to listen to and feel the myth. Exercises will include different styles and approaches including first person narrative, collaborative writing, multiple viewpoints, and translating the mythic into modern.

JON BAUER is a novelist, short story writer, and the author of Rocks in the Belly, which has been published in eight countries and garnered critical and commercial success, including a longlisting for the Miles Franklin and a shortlisting for the world’s richest literary prize, the Dublin IMPAC. His stories and journalism are published both here and abroad.

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JANE MEREDITH is an author and ritualist. Her books are: Journey to the Dark Goddess: How to Return to Your Soul and Aphrodite’s Magic: Celebrate and Heal Your Sexuality. Her third book will be published in July. Jane presents workshops and talks in Australia and the UK on myth, ritual and the Goddess. She lives in Sydney, has been a longterm resident of Byron Shire and eventually will return to her house in the hills. She keeps a website and blog at: www.janemeredith.com

WORKSHOPS Where is the Love?

Putting the romance into your writing with Dianne Blacklock When: Saturday 13 April, 10am - 4pm Where: SCU Room, Byron Community Centre Cost: $75 members/ $95 non-members Even experienced writers squirm at the idea of writing a love scene – and not in a good way. But what self-respecting novel doesn’t have a love story woven somewhere into the narrative?

This workshop is suitable for both beginner and more experienced writers of all genres – anyone who lacks confidence exploring and developing the more romantic elements of their stories: love, sex, the whole catastrophe.

Elements to be explored will include: • what to do after boy meets girl • creating conflict and tension • character, character, and character • keeping the URST* alive for 100,000 words or more writing a love scene; writing a sex scene • the blokes’ perspective • and how to leave them wanting more

WORKSHOPS How to Keep the Pages Turning: writing commercial fiction with Dianne Blacklock When: Sunday 14 April, 10am - 4pm Where: SCU Room, Byron Community Centre Cost: $75 members/ $95 non-members Dianne Blacklock’s first manuscript was picked up off the slush pile, but never published. The publisher urged her to keep writing, invited her to send in whatever she wrote in future, but didn’t want to publish that manuscript. Dianne was confused. The publisher explained, ‘Even when I knew I didn’t want to publish it, I couldn’t stop turning the pages.’

So Dianne went away and kept writing. She worked out how to keep the pages turning - and has since had eight novels published.

In this workshop, Dianne will explore the ingredients for writing successful, commercial fiction: developing a process you can call your own; how not to let the writing get in the way of a good story; character vs plot; dynamic openings and page turners; talking the talk – writing dialogue that speaks to your readers; and common pitfalls to avoid..

(*UnResolved Sexual Tension) DIANNE BLACKLOCK is the author of eight novels of contemporary women’s fiction exploring a broad range of life experiences. www.dianneblacklock.com

DIANNE BLACKLOCK is the bestselling author of Call Waiting, Wife for Hire, Almost Perfect, False Advertising, Crossing Paths, Three’s a Crowd, The Right Time, and The Secret Ingredient. www.dianneblacklock.com

Applications for the Residential Mentorship Program are now open.

Spend five days from the 13 – 17 May honing your work with acclaimed author, Marele Day. Application forms at: www.nrwc.org.au Closing date: 28 March Enquiries to Lisa Walker (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) on 6685 5115 or lisa@nrwc.org.au See former NRWC Mentorship participants Jesse Blackadder, Lisa Walker, Jessie Cole, Susanna Freymark and Sarah Armstrong in conversation at the Byron Bay Library. Monday 4th March, 5.30 pm.

Bookings on 6685 8540.

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Opportunities LENDING RIGHTS TITLE CLAIMS Lending Rights would like to advise that new claimants are now able to lodge registrations and submit their first title claim online.

Australian creators and publishers are invited to submit title claims for the 2013–14 Public Lending Right and Educational Lending Right programs.

The Public and Educational Lending Right programs make payments to creators and publishers in recognition that income is lost through the free multiple use of their books in public and educational lending libraries.

The quickest way to make a claim is through Lending Rights online or for more information visit www.arts.gov.au/literature/ lending_rights All claims must be lodged by 31 March 2013 narratorAUSTRALIA narratorAUSTRALIA is now open for short story and poetry submissions to be collated into narratorAUSTRALIA Volume 2. Writers looking for an outlet for their work should consider narratorAUSTRALIA as a marketing opportunity for more established writers (we encourage writers to add a short bio or details of their blog, website, etc), and as a testing ground for emerging writers. For more information, please visit the daily blog site.

GO CAMPING Go Camping Australia Magazine is looking for talented freelance feature writers with a love of camping, adventure and the great outdoors as regular contributors.

The magazine covers people, places and experiences around Australia that would interest anyone with a love of tent and camper trailer camping holidays. Go Camping is published bi-monthly from Brisbane and is distributed nationally. Enquiries to andrea@ vinkpub.com OVERLAND LITERARY MAGAZINE Overland Literary Magazine - CAL Connections is an eight-part initiative dedicated to increasing the diversity of voices in Australian literary publishing. Each stage draws attention to a specific community or background under-represented in mainstream publishing, and culminates in a special feature essay in the print journal.

The selected essayist works closely with a dedicated editor/mentor over a couple of months to develop and polish their article.

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The project is generously supported by CAL’s Cultural Fund, and the essayist featured in the journal will be paid $1500. The next phase of the project will focus on emerging refugee writers. Further details about the project, including information on how to apply and dates can be found on the Overland website.

BLEACH FESTIVAL POETRY SLAM IRACoffee, Gold Coast Highway, Tugun Bleach* Festival Presents A meeting of spoken word maestros, hip hop freestylers, haiku writers, performance poets and all genres in between.

From seasoned to novice poets, all are welcome to get involved. Participants are given two minutes and a microphone to rip up the stage with fresh verses and tight rhymes to inspire the hearts of Tugun’s lovers of words.

For more visit: http://bleachfestival.com.au/events/read/ sandpanthers-slam/ BELLINGEN READERS AND WRITERS FESTIVAL As part of the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, the Dorrigo Writers Group is Organising a reading of works. We invite Writers of all ages and levels of experience, published or unpublished, to share their works and to celebrate the art of writing. We warmly invite you to share in the fun and excitement and seize this great opportunity to present your work to a wider audience in some of Bellingen’s great cafes.

Date: Saturday 23rd of March Vintage Cafe 10.30 - 11.30 Cafe Bean 2.30 - 4.00 Cafe No 5 12.00 - 2.00 For further information and to register your reading, please contact: Iris Curteis: 6657 5274 or email an_lomall@ bigpond.com Carol Deane: deane.carol@gmail.com Dee Beech: deebeech@gmail.com CASTAWAYS POETRY PRIZE The City of Rockingham is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2013 Castaways Poetry Prize, with $400 in prizes. The 2012 Castaways Poetry prize attracted more than 150 entries from across Australia, as well as the US and Canada, making the Castaways Poetry Prize a truly international competition.

To enter:

Competitions Visit the Castaways Web Gallery at http:// www.rockingham.wa.gov.au/Leisureand-recreation/Art-and-craft/Castaways/ Castaways-Gallery-Original.aspx and view the images of entries from the 2012 Castaways exhibition. All entered poems must be inspired by, drawn upon, or using the theme of, images in the Castaways Web gallery. For further information contact Lee Battersby, Community Development Officer (Culture & Arts) on 9528 0386 or lee. battersby@rockingham.wa.gov.au Closing date: 22 March PETER COWAN Peter Cowan 600 Short Story Competition Open to short stories of any genre up to 600 words. First prize $200. Entry fee: $10 each, $20 for three entries, or $30 for five entries.

For more information, visit their website. http://www.pcwc.org.au Closing date: 29 March FAW QUEENSLAND FAW Queensland Short Story Competition Open to short stories of any genre up to 2000 words. First prize $200. $5 entry fee. For more information, http://www.fawq.net Closing date: 31 March STRINGYBARK The Stringybark Erotic Short Fiction Award 2013 Stringybark Stories is delighted to announce its second Erotic Short Fiction Award. The first competition was such a great success and revealed so much new sexy erotic writing that we decided it is time to do another. The last competition culminated in two paperbacks of award-winning writing and we hope that this competition will do also. You have 1800 words to produce a short story that will delight the judges.

International entries welcome. There is a total value of over $770 worth of prizes in cash and books available. Stories must be sent via email.

Details at: http://www.stringybarkstories.net Closing date: 31 March FAW TASMANIA FAW Tasmania Nairda Lyne Award Short story up to 1,000 words suitable for children 8-12 years. Entry fee $5 per story. Prize $100. http://fawtas.org.au/competitions/ Closing date: 31 March 2013

Competitions

MELBOURNE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY The Melbourne Shakespeare Society announces a new Sonnet Competition.

Send your finest sonnets to the Melbourne Shakespeare Society, 18 Churchill St, Mont Albert, VIC 3127. Each one should be on a separate sheet of paper, accompanied by a sheet containing title or first line, your name and address, phone number and/or email address. Please also send two 60c stamps per poem entry fee. Refer home.vicnet.net. au/~bard/ First prize $250; Second prize, $100. A chapbook of winners and the best of the rest will be published mid-2013.

Closing date: 1 April THE TEXT PRIZE Text is searching for talented writers of young adult and children’s books. Every year the Text prize attracts hundreds of great manuscripts from across Australia and NZ. One lucky winner receives a Text Publishing contract worth $10,000. Why not apply yourself, and send us that novel you’ve been meaning to finish?

Submissions open: 4 March 2013 The Text Prize is open to published and unpublished Australian and New Zealand writers of all ages.

For more information go to: http://textpublishing.com.au/about-text/ the-text-prize Closing date: 3 April (extended to accommodate Easter break) THE JOYCE PARKES WOMEN’S PRIZE The Joyce Parkes Women’s Prize.

The Australian Irish Heritage Association.

Open to all Australian women. Topic: In Defence of Women. 1,000 to 2,000 words - prose, fact or fiction. Entry fee $10. First prize $500. For details, visit website: www. irishheritage.net Closing date: 30 April CHARLOTTE DUNCAN AWARD Charlotte Duncan Award for children’s writing. Celapene Press invites entries for the Charlotte Duncan Award for a short story for young readers aged 9-12 years. This award has been established in the memory of Charlotte Duncan to raise funds for the neo-natal unit at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. Entry fee: $9.90 per story. 1st prize $75, 2nd prize - $50, 3rd prize - $25. Winning and commended entries will be published on the Celapene Press website. For entry form

Competitions

and guidelines: www.celapenepress.com. au or send SSAE to 2 Bonview Crt, Knoxfield, Vic, 3180.

Closing date: 30 April BRISTOL SHORT STORY PRIZE Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4000 words (there is no minimum). The entry fee is £8 per story. The closing date for entries is April 30th 2013.

Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstone’s gift card Judging panel: Ali Reynolds (literary consultant, former Random House editor), Bidisha (writer, broadcaster, critic), Anna Britten (author and journalist), Chris Wakling (novelist, creative writing tutor) Full details and rules at the website.

Closing date: 30 April QANTAS WORD AWARD Qantas SOYA Written Word Award - All styles welcome. Short stories. Essays. Poetry. Prose.

Journalism. Spoken word. Lyrics. Playwriting.

Fiction. Fact. Novel excerpts. Scripts. The Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards offers writers aged 30 and under the chance to accelerate their creative careers with a ticket to anywhere in 2013 – $5000 in Qantas flights to see you jet away to where inspiration and opportunity dictate. You’ll also be offered a professional mentorship with author and Director of the Melbourne Writers Festival Lisa Dempster, and did we mention $5000 cash?! For all the details go to: http://www.soya.com.au/competition/ written-word-2013/ Closing date: 3 May MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE Get your poems ready! The not-for-profit Montreal International Poetry Prize is offering $20,000 for one original, unpublished poem of no longer than 40 lines written in any English dialect. Online entries only. Entry fees vary. Please see montrealprize.com for details.

Selection & Judging: As editors of the Global Poetry Anthology, 10 poets from across the globe sort through submissions blindly (without seeing author names) and select poems for the collection. The prize judge

then reads a blind copy of the manuscript of the anthology and selects the $20,000 poem.

The 2013 Prize Judge is Don Paterson.

History of the Competition: The Montreal Prize launched its first poetry competition in March 2011 and awarded $50,000 to Australian poet Mark Tredinnick. The 2011 Global Poetry Anthology is a solid collection that garnered positive reviews. It includes unknown voices alongside celebrated poets from around the world. Internationally acclaimed American artist Eric Fischl responded to one poem in the anthology with a watercolour painting.

To find out more about the competition and more about who the 2013 editors are, please visit montrealprize.com.

Closing date: 15 May THE ABR ELIZABETH JOLLEY PRIZE The 2013 Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize – one of Australia’s most lucrative prizes for an original short story – is now open. The 2013 Jolley Prize is worth $5000 (first prize), with supplementary prizes of $2000 and $1000. It will be judged

by Tony Birch, Maria Takolander and Terri-ann White. Entries close 31 May https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/ prizes/elizabeth-jolley-story-prize SOME LIKE IT HOT Steam eReads “Some Like It Hot” Romantic Fiction Competition Open to romance fiction of 50,000+ words.

First prize $1,500. No entry fee.

For guidelines and further details, visit their website. http://steamereads.com.au/ competition/ Closing date: 31 May THE COWLEY LITERARY AWARD This short story competition comprises two sections - fiction and non-fiction. Open theme; max 4,000 words. Entry fee $20 per story; First prize $4,000; runner up $1,000.

Entries open Jan 1-June 30. Each month judges will select 2 finalists from each category, resulting in 12 stories per category, 24 finalists in all. Entries not selected in the month received will remain eligible in subsequent months. For details, visit: http:// www.australianartsales.com.au/cowleyaward Closing date: 30 June

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WRITERS’ GROUPS

Ballina/Byron U3A Creative Writing Contact ph. Jan 0404 007 586. Meets at 12.00pm every second Wednesday, Fripp Oval Ballina.

Bangalow Writers Group Contact Simone Hogan on 6629 1838 (email Simone; coolingsolutions@westnet.com.au) or James Hudson on 6628 5061. Meets 9.45am- 12.00pm, first Thursday of the month, Scout Hall, Bangalow.

Bellingen Writers Group Contact David Breaden (president) on 02 6699 3888 or email davidmb@wirefree.net.au Meets at Bellingen Golf Club on the fourth Monday of the month at 2.00pm. All welcome Baywrite Theatre Inc. Contact Udo Moerig on 02 6680 9698 or go to www. baywrite.com. Reading and comment on new scripts 1st Saturday each month.

Workshopping of selected scripts 4th Tuesday each month.

Casino Writers Group Contact Brian Costin 02 6624 2636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com, meets 3rd Thursday of the month 4pm at the Casino Library Cloudcatchers Contact Quendryth Young on 02 6628 3753 or email quendrythyoung@bigpond.com. For haiku enthusiasts, a ginko (haiku walk) is undertaken according to group agreement.

Coffs Harbour Writers Group Contact Lorraine Mouafi on 02 6653 3256 or email lmprojec@tpg.com.au. Meets 1st and 3rd Thursday of month, 10.00am– 12.00noon.

Cru3a River Poets Contact Pauline Powell 02 6645 8715.

Meets every Thursday at 10.30am, venue varies, mainly in Yamba. Email kitesway@westnet.com.au.

Dangerously Poetic writing circle. Meets second Thursday of every month 12.30- 2.30pm, at the Brunswick Heads RSL Hall, Fawcett St. Contact Laura – 6680 1967 or visit www.dangerouslypoetic.com Dorrigo Writers Group Contact Iris Curteis on 6657 5274, email an_lomall@bigpond.com or Nell Hunter on 6657 4089.

Meet every second Wednesday from 12.00pm - 4.00 pm Dunoon Writers Group Writers on the Block Contact Helga on 02 6620 2994 (w) or email: /heg.j@telstra.com/. Meets 2nd Tuesday of month, 6.30pm–8pm, at the Dunoon Sports Club.

Federal Writers Group Contact Vicki Peterson on 02 6684 0093 or email ganden1@gmail.com. Meets 3rd Saturday of month in Federal.

FAW Port Macquarie–Hastings Regional Contact Bill Turner (President) on 02 6584 5342 or email wjturner@aapt.net.au. Meets 1pm on last Saturday of month, Historic Museum, Clarence Street, Port Macquarie.

Gold Coast Writers Association Contact 0431 443 385 or email info@goldcoastwriters.org.au. Meets 3rd Saturday of month, 1.30pm for a 2.00pm start, at Fradgley Hall, Burleigh Heads Library, Park Avenue, Burleigh Heads, Qld. Kempsey Writers Group Contact Carma Eckersley on 02 6562 5227. Meets 1st Sunday of month at the Railway Hotel.

Kyogle Writers Group Contact Brian Costin 02 6624 2636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com, meets 1st Tuesday of the month 10:30am at the Kyogle Bowling Club.

Lower Clarence Arts & Crafts Ferry Park Writers Group Contact Di Wood on 02 6645 8969 or email diwood43@bigpond.com. Meets 1st Thursday of month,10.00am–12.00pm.

Memoir Writing Group Contact Diana Burstall on 02 6685 5387 or email diana. burstall@gmail.com. Meets every month at Sunrise Beach, Byron Bay. Mullum Writing Group Contact Lisa MacKenzie on 02 6684 4387 ah or email llatmac28@gmail.com. Meets fortnightly on Tuesdays, 7.30pm.

Nambucca Valley Writers Group Contact 02 6568 9648, or email nvwg@live. com.au. Meets 4th Saturday of month, 1.30pm, Nambucca.

Poets and Writers on the Tweed Meet weekly in the Tweed Heads Library, Tuesdays 1.30pm to 3.00pm. Poets, novelists, playwrights, short story writers all welcome. Fun group meets for discussion, support and constructive criticism.

Free membership. Phone Lorraine 07 55909395 or Ken 02 66742898.

Taree–Manning River Scribblers Contact Bob Winston on 02 6553 2829 or email rrw1939@hotmail.com. Meets 2nd Wednesday of month, 9.00am– 11.30am in Taree. Call first to check venue.

WordsFlow Writing Group Contact Rosemary Nissen-Wade 02 6676 0874, Pam Moore 02 6676 1417. Meets Fridays in school term, 1.00pm–3.30 pm, Pottsville Beach Neighbourhood Centre, 12a Elizabeth St, Pottsville Beach. Visit http:// wordsflowwriters.blogspot.com/

26 - northerly magazine | march - april 2013

NORTHERN RIVERS WRITERS’ CENTRE 2013 MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNTS BOOK WAREHOUSE 107-109 Keen Street Lismore 02 6621 4204 BOOK WAREHOUSE Shop 41 Lismore Square Lismore 02 6622 2688 BOOK WAREHOUSE 26 Harbour Drive Coffs Harbour 02 6651 9077 BOOK WAREHOUSE Shop 6 Ballina Fair Ballina 02 6686 0917 BOOK WAREHOUSE 70 Prince Street Grafton 02 6642 6355 BOOK WAREHOUSE Settlement City Port Macquarie 02 6584 9788 BOOK WAREHOUSE Yamba Fair, Treelands Drive Yamba 02 6646 8662 BYRON BAY LONGBOARDS 1/89 Jonson Street Byron Bay 02 6685 5244 CLIX COMPUTER CENTRE 3/3 Marvel Street Byron Bay 02 6680 9166 COLLINS BOOK SELLERS Unit 3. 9 Lawson Street Byron Bay 02 6685 7820 CO-OP BOOKSHOP Southern Cross University Lismore 02 6621 4484 CO-OP BOOKSHOP Coffs Harbour Education Campus, Hogbin Drive Coffs Harbour 02 6659 3225 DOLPHIN OFFICE CHOICE www.officechoice.com.au Cnr Fletcher & Marvel Streets Byron Bay 02 6685 7097 DRAGONWICK PUBLISHING www.dragonwick.com 02 6624 1933 EARTH CAR RENTALS 18 Fletcher Street Byron Bay 02 6685 7472 EBOOKS NEED EDITORS www.ebooksneededitors.com 15% discount to NRWC members Call 02 6689 5897 for further details HUMBLE PIES Pacific Highway Billinudgel 02 6680 1082 KEEN STREET COMMUNICATIONS www.keenstreet.com.au 50 Bulmers Rd Hogarth Range 02 6664 7361 MARY RYAN’S BOOKSTORE Shop 5, 21 -25 Fletcher Street Byron Bay 02 6685 8183 NORPA www.norpa.org.au PO Box 225 Lismore 02 6621 5600 PAGES BOOKSHOP Park Beach Plaza Coffs Harbour 02 6652 2588 THE BOOKSHOP MULLUMBIMBY 39 Burringbar Street Mullumbimby 02 6684 1413 THERE’S ALWAYS MORE HAIRDRESSING Shop 5, 14 Middleton Byron Bay 02 6680 7922

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE...

AT PETS FOR LIFE ANIMAL SHELTER, BILLINUDGEL Volunteers needed to help out at our Cat Shelter above the Vets in Billinudgel where we rescue, care for and rehome abandoned waifs, rejected strays, lost causes and those without a voice of their own.

If you love Nature and would like to donate some hours of your time to protecting it locally please mention this ad to your CentreLink contact as Volunteer work may gain you credits, a reference STRUT YOUR STUFF AT or people network in your search for employment.

Or contact us direct on 0403 533 589 or http://petsforlifeanimalshelter.org for information.

NEWBORN BABIES ABANDONED IN BOX ON JONSON ST. Don’t breed distress...

Desex your cats and dogs

NRWC Membership 2013 All memberships are valid 12 months from the date of payment Organisation Name (if applicable) First name Phone

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Email Address Postal Address

Please indicate: male female age range: 7-16 17-30 31-45 46-64 65+

I identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander I am from a non-English speaking background I do not want my details passed onto other arts organisations I am interested in volunteering at: Writers’ Centre Byron Bay Writers’ Festival

Early Bird Membership Rate

$60.00

INDIVIDUAL

$50.00 CONCESSION (Govt Pension cards only) CRN #

$40.00 STUDENT (Proof must be shown) Student #

$120.00 ORGANISATION

$90.00

FAMILY (2 adults and up to 3 children under 18yo) names____________________________________________

NEW ECO OPTION - Enjoy all the usual NRWC member benefits, but opt to receive your copy of northerly electronically (rather than a print copy) and help care for the planet.

Tick this box for the ECO OPTION and we’ll take a further $10 off your Early Bird Membership Rate

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Please send with your payment to: Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre, PO Box 1846 Byron Bay NSW 2481 or call us on 02 6685 5115 or apply and pay online at www.nrwc.org.au

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