northerly nov-dec 2016

northerly By ron Writers Festival Magazine

November-December 2016

EBEN VENTER · PEGGY FREW · DELTA KAY · LITERATURE’S UNFINISHED WORKS POETRY · FICTION · NEWS · REVIEWS · WORKSHOPS · COMPETITIONS

CONTENTS

>> THIS ISSUE

NOVDEC2016 002 Director & editor’s note 003 Meet Jennifer St George

An exclusive Q&A with Byron Writers Festival’s new Chair

004 News

Artist-In-Residence opportunity at Tweed Regional Gallery, Christmas Party locked in, plus more

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006 Workshops preview

Alan Close and Mairéad Cleary offer a taster of their November workshops

007 Notes from the Festival Delta Kay interviewed by Katinka Smit

008 Susie Warrick Young Writers Award

Read stories by the two runners-up, Jasmine Pierce and Jacob Ellis

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010 Poem

This year’s winner of the Dangerously Poetic Byron Writers Festival Poetry Prize, ‘perfume’ by Mark Roberts

011 Notes from the Festival

Peggy Frew interviewed by Katinka Smit

012 Out of Africa

Eben Venter discusses the new edition of his novel Trencherman

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014 Close enough?

The great unfinished works from literary history

016 SCU showcase

Poetry from Shelley-Anne Smith and Victoria Norton

017 In defence of YA

Polly Jude responds to criticism of the genre

018 Book review

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Peter Mitchell on The Last Days of Ava Langdon by Mark O’Flynn and YA reviews with Polly Jude

020 Moral or the story?

Scott Rheuben on getting the balance right in children’s fiction

021 Workshops 022 Competitions 024 Writers’ groups

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>>HELLO

Director’s Note We love this time of year at the Festival office; the publishers start sending us books to consider for next year’s Festival and we all have more time for reading. Of the many books piling up beside my bed I am currently absorbed by Hannah Kent’s The Good People. It might be my Irish roots but I am finding it completely compelling reading and highly recommend it.

Living in the lush landscape of the Northern Rivers, most of us spend time surrounded by trees and now there is scientific proof that it benefits our health in multiple ways, from reducing stress to lowering blood pressure. The Japanese have a term for it, ‘Shinrin-yoku’, that literally translates as ‘forest bathing’ – spending relaxing time meandering (not vigorously hiking!) through forests and taking time to sit amongst trees. Long-time German Photo: Angela Kay forester Peter Wohlleben has written a stunning book, The Hidden Life of Trees that convincingly makes the case that the forest is a social network. Scientific discoveries describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. How amazing is that! A walk in the forest will never be the same again.

We have been speaking to Barrie Cassidy for some time about bringing The Best of Insiders to Byron Bay and are so thrilled that we have pulled it off. This muchloved event sold out at Sydney Town Hall during Sydney Writers Festival. As we go to print, we have a few tickets left but fully expect it will sell out in Byron too – so quickly book if you haven’t already: Byron Theatre, 6pm, Monday November 14.

The event includes distinguished authors and commentators David Marr, Katharine Murphy and Niki Savva, led by Barrie Cassidy.

Please note too that Byron Writers Festival office (28 Jonson St, Byron Bay) will be closed for refurbishment from Monday October 24 - Friday November 24. Hope to see you at the members’ Christmas party on December 20 (in our beautifully refreshed offices!).

Warm wishes and safe holidays,

Edwina Johnson Director, Byron Writers Festival

FROM THE EDITOR The John Lennon songs ‘God Save OZ’ and ‘Do The OZ’ were both directly inspired by the famous 1971 trial in London of OZ magazine, which was forced to defend itself in court against charges of obscenity. The counterculture publication’s editor and cofounder, Richard Neville, passed away in Byron Bay in early September at seventy-four, bringing the curtain down on one of Australia’s great alternative voices whose influence still trickles through in various corners of the nation’s art, music and literature.

OZ had a relatively good innings – its first issue was published in Sydney in 1963 and its last in London in 1973 – with that trial standing as one of the more seismic legal cases in publishing history. Paying tribute to Neville, 002 | northerly

Geoffrey Robertson QC, who defended OZ in 1971, said, “Lady Chatterley ten years before had won freedom for great literature, but freedom for notso-great literature was won by the OZ trial… To that extent he expanded the environment for freedom of speech.”

Neville’s contribution in this way makes him an important figure for all writers – particularly in Australia.

Despite the fact he suffered from dementia in his final years and was far from active as an author or commentator, he will be missed.

northerly northerly is the bi-monthly magazine of Byron Writers Festival. Byron Writers Festival offer a year-round program of readings, workshops and writer visits as well as the annual production of Byron Writers Festival. Byron Writers Festival is a non-profit, incorporated organisation receiving its core funding from Arts NSW. LOCATION/CONTACT Level 1 28 Jonson Street, Byron Bay P: 02 6685 5115 F: 02 6685 5166 E: info@byronwritersfestival.com W: www.byronwritersfestival.com POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 1846 Byron Bay NSW 2481 EDITOR: Barnaby Smith, northerlyeditor@gmail.com CONTRIBUTORS: Jacob Ellis, Polly Jude, Peter Mitchell, Celia Morgan, Victoria Norton, Jasmine Pierce, Scott Rheuben, Mark Roberts, Katinka Smit, Shelley-Anne Smith BYRON WRITERS FESTIVAL BOARD CHAIRPERSON Jennifer St George VICE CHAIRPERSON Adam van Kempen SECRETARY Russell Eldridge TREASURER Cheryl Bourne MEMBERS Jesse Blackadder, Kate Cameron, Marele Day, Lynda Dean, Lynda Hawryluk, Anneli Knight.

LIFE MEMBERS Jean Bedford, Jeni Caffin, Gayle Cue, Robert Drewe, Jill Eddington, Chris Hanley, John Hertzberg, Fay Knight, Irene O’Brien, Jennifer Regan, Cherrie Sheldrick, Brenda Shero, Heather Wearne MAIL OUT DATES Magazines are sent in JANUARY, MARCH, MAY, JULY, SEPTEMBER and NOVEMBER MAGAZINE DESIGN Finola Renshaw, Kaboo Media PRINTER Quality Plus Printers Ballina 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 northerlyeditor@gmail.com DISCLAIMER The Byron Writers Festival 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 contributed articles is maintained by the named author and northerly.

CONNECT WITH US Visit www.byronwritersfestival.com. Sign up for a membership. Stay updated and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. http://www.facebook.com/ byronwritersfestival https://twitter.com/bbwritersfest

Cover art: Tree Spires by Celia Morgan (thanks to Art Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby, www.artpiecegallery.com.au/)

Byron Writers Festival and northerly magazine acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of this land.

Barnaby Smith Editor, northerly magazine

Introducing Jennifer St George After twenty years of faithful service, Byron Writers Festival founder Chris Hanley stepped down from his position as Chairperson in July, paving the way for Jennifer St George to take the reins as the Festival enters its third decade. She chats with northerly about her writing and reading life, and how will she go about performing her new role.

Can you give us a potted history of your involvement with the Byron Writers Festival since day one?

I came to live in Byron in 2006 and that’s when I discovered the Festival. A three-day pass took me into the inspiring world of words. I was truly stunned that such an incredible event was being held in our small regional town.

In 2011, I joined the team as the contract Festival publicist.

I came back in 2014 as Communications Manager working with our current director extraordinaire, Edwina Johnson.

Chris Hanley approached me about being on the Board in April 2015. After a few months on the Board, Chris asked if I would consider becoming the Chairperson. To say I felt honoured and humbled was an understatement. I’m looking forward to helping lead the organisation into the future.

What makes up the Byron Writers Festival Chairperson’s main duties?

The Chairperson’s position is wide-ranging and diverse. It is also a volunteer position along with everyone else on the Board.

Principally, being the Chair involves leading the Board to ensure Byron Writers Festival has good corporate governance, which means embedding good behaviour and good judgement in those who are charged with running the organisation.

In practice, that means working with the Board, Edwina and the team to develop solid organisation strategy and plans, improve organisation effectiveness, ensure regulatory compliance, manage risk, ensure sound financial management, build networks and build solid relationships with stakeholders and ensure we deliver on the organisation’s purpose for being.

You’re primarily known as a romance author – what attracted you to this genre? Does it get a bit of a bad rap sometimes?

Before I was a romance author, I spent twenty years in the corporate world so being a romance author still feels quite new to me. Before my writing days, I worked all over the world in marketing and management consulting roles. I was fortunate to be involved in some amazing projects including launching Guinness beer in Russia, giving away a pub in Ireland with Guinness Brewing Worldwide and racing cars around a Japanese speedway to help decide which new cars should be imported to Australia with Ford Australia. I also ran my own marketing company for four years.

I love romance writing as it brings a bit of joy to the world.

The romance genre is all about relationships and ‘happy ever afters’. It’s about love. What could be more important than love? People think because these stories are about love, they are easy to write, but they’re not. Each book has to convince the reader that this one time, the hero and heroine won’t get together.

We romance writers tend to find that those who knock the genre have never read the genre. Romance novels sales in America are over $1 billion and underpin the profit of a number of international publishing houses. Mock romance at your peril I say.

>> NEWS

What are some of the works of literature that have made a big impact on you over the years?

I’ve been an Oscar Wilde fan since I was a child. My mum would read out the short stories – The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant – lots of great moral and life lessons in those tales. The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite stories of all time.

I also loved The Secret Garden and Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. The books tell the story of time and motion study and efficiency experts Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth, and their twelve children. I love being efficient, so as a kid, I devoured these books.

John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany had a massive impact.

I’d never read a book like it. I also reread Rebecca every few years – what a story. My guilty pleasure is crime. I can’t wait for the next Michael Connelly. I also love a bit of Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction and Liane Moriarty’s stories.

Other authors I love are Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan… too many to list.

How do you envisage Byron Writers Festival evolving in the coming years?

We are experiencing a phase of incredible change in the storytelling world. Self-publishing, piracy, the dominance of online retailers, the merging of publishing houses, the rise of small press publishers, the retraction of booksellers, the implications of the Productivity Commission report and much more. As the world changes, so we must adapt and innovate. As Chair, I will encourage us to continue our strong tradition of innovation. For us to take risks, try new things, experiment, build new and exciting partnerships and relationships. Some things might not work, but I think embracing change is how we will continue to succeed in the future.

What are you looking forward to most about being Chairperson?

Helping to continue building the capability and strength of our passionate and dedicated Festival team and Board.

Many people don’t know that our team is very small. I love working with Edwina and the rest of the staff (contractors and volunteers of which we have hundreds!). If I can continue to feed the team’s passion and ensure they have the resources and support to continue to bring this world-class event to life, I believe I will have succeeded in the role.

Jennifer St George is a romance author whose sexy stories feature courageous, career-minded heroines and strong heroes in glamorous international settings. She has seven books published with Penguin Australia and one self-published novella. Jennifer holds a graduate business degree and completed an MBA (Melb University and Duke University) where she was presented with the Rupert Murdoch Fellowship and the Academic Award of Distinction. Jennifer is the Chairperson of the Byron Writers Festival.

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>> NEWS

Festive fun Byron Writers Festival members are warmly invited to attend this year’s members’ Christmas party, which will take place on Tuesday December 20 from 5pm at Byron Writers Festival office, Level 1, 28 Jonson Street, Byron Bay. There will be light refreshments available on the night as well as lucky door prizes. Call 02 6685 5115 to RSVP or email info@byronwritersfestival.com

Nancy Fairfax residency open to established writers Following the success of the Byron Writers Festival’s inaugural Nancy Fairfax Artist-inResidence opportunity for new and emerging writers, the second residency opportunity, for established writers, has a deadline for applications of November 15 with the winner announced on December 13.

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One established writer who holds Byron Writers Festival membership will be selected to enjoy seven days of distraction-free writing in the peaceful and picturesque artist studio at Tweed Regional Gallery. The residency will take place February 1-8, 2017.

The winner will be randomly selected from the applicants.

If you are an established writer interested in the residency opportunity, head to www.byronwritersfestival. com to apply.

Writer wanted for local project northerly was recently contacted by local resident Bronwyn Raphael, who is seeking someone to write the life story of another local woman. Bronwyn writes: ‘I have recently met Edith, a shy, amazing and lovely lady living in Ballina who would like to document her life story so it is not lost. She was born in Sydney in the forties and when only a small child, along with two of her sisters, she was sent to an orphanage for girls while her two brothers were sent to an orphanage for boys. Until she left permanently just prior to her fifteenth birthday, she had lived in three orphanages and experienced the loss of one of her brothers who died while in the care of a foster family in a tragic accident that has never been properly explained.

‘While she experienced great sadness and was often subjected to disagreeable treatment as a child, she can now also see the amusing side to some of the things that happened to her.

‘Edith went on to marry and have two daughters and is now a proud and much loved grandmother and great-grandmother.

>> NEWS

OBITUARIES EDWARD ALBEE American playwright; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016 ANNA DEWDNEY American children’s author; December 25, 1965 – September 3, 2016 GLORIA NAYLOR American novelist; January 25, 1950 – September 28, 2016 RICHARD NEVILLE Australian writer and editor of Oz; December 16, 1941 – September 4, 2016 PETER ORESICK American poet; September 8, 1955 – September 3, 2016 GARY REED American comics writer; May 21, 1956 – October 2, 2016 MAX RICHARDS New Zealand poet; 1937 – September 21, 2016 ALLISTER SPARKS South African writer and journalist; March 10, 1933 – September 19 2016 GARETH F. WILLIAMS Welsh children’s author; February 9, 1955 – September 14, 2016

Barbara Barrett hosts Writing Hour Members are warmly invited to attend Byron Writers Festival’s Writing Hour, which now takes place at Byron Bay Library (the corner of Middleton Street and Lawson Street), under the guidance of Barbara Barrett.

Meet at 10am on Tuesdays.

‘She is concerned that her story will be lost and her descendants will not be acquainted with the full account of her family and upbringing. She is not in a position to write her own story and I have offered to help her find someone who has an interest in writing about life experiences and is keen to help. The result could be something as simple as a documentation of Edith's life for the benefit of her family or potentially developed into something much bigger for a wider audience.

‘If you are interested to meet Edith, in the first instance, please contact me and I can introduce you.’

Bronwyn can be reached on 0418 468 662 or at bron.raphael@gmail.com

Farewell Penny Leonard The end of September saw Byron Writers Festival say goodbye to Schools and Volunteers Manager Penny Leonard, who has left to devote more time to her own writing projects.

In a note to members, Penny wrote, ‘It is with mixed emotions that I write farewell to you all. I have loved working with the team over the last few years and it is only that I wish to pursue my writing endeavours and complete a project that’s dear to me that I would even consider leaving.

‘Thank you for the friendship, hard work and fun. I can’t imagine not being involved with the Festival so I’m sure you’ll still see me around.’

Penny had held the position of Schools and Volunteers Manager since 2013.

Double dose of free events Two special events will round out the year for Byron Writers Festival. Firstly, William McInnes, memoirist, novelist, historian and much-loved actor, will appear at Mary Ryan’s Bookstore in Byron Bay on Friday November 25, where he will talk about his latest book Full Bore, which is described as ‘ramblings on sport, pop culture and life’. The event starts at 6pm.

Also appearing at Mary Ryan’s will be David Hunt, who will discuss with Russell Eldridge his new book True Girt, the follow-up to his acclaimed Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia. True Girt takes a humorous look at Australian staples such as ‘hardy pioneers, gun-slinging bushrangers, directionally challenged explorers, nervous indigenous people, Caroline Chisholm and sheep. Lots of sheep.’ Hunt’s event will take place on Thursday December 1, also starting at 6pm.

Entry to both events is free, to RSVP call 02 6685 8183.

QUOTAT ION CORNER

'Those who love life do not read. Nor do they go to the movies, actually. No matter what might be said, access to the artistic universe is more or less entirely the preserve of those who are a little fed up with the world.'

— Michel Houellebecq, H.P Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life (1991) northerly | 005

>> WORKSHOPS

November workshops The coming weeks will see Byron Writers Festival host two inspiring workshops, with Alan Close offering an in-depth guide to life writing and Mairéad Cleary and Roz Hopkins delving into the fine art of crowdfunding. Here, northerly speaks to Allan and Mairéad about what to expect.

Mairéad Cleary and Roz Hopkins Crowdfunding November 26, 2016 In what scenarios might a writer need to turn to crowdfunding?

Mairéad Cleary: A writer may turn to crowdfunding if they wish to selfpublish their book and need funds to cover the professional production of the book, which publishing houses have traditionally taken care of. They may want more control over the production process, something they can have if they pay for that process themselves.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in crowdfunding your own book, Byron Trails?

One of the biggest challenges I faced in crowdfunding was when it came to approaching businesses for sponsorship. The advice in crowdfunding circles is to get over your introversion (if you are an introvert) and get out there talking to people. That was never going to work for me, so I had to find my own way to connect with businesses.

The other major challenge was keeping up with other work commitments as the crowdfunding campaign was very time-consuming. It needed my attention and energy every day for several hours.

What key messages will you be hoping to impart in your workshop?

I would like to convey what a fantastic and accessible resource crowdfunding is. It has created a possibility for anyone from anywhere to realise their dream and bring their project to life.

Importantly crowdfunding also serves as a very useful market research exercise. If your project is not going to gain traction on the open market it’s best to know before you’ve poured too many resources into it. It may simply be that the project needs further development or a different approach. Your audience will tell you very quickly whether your venture has the potential to succeed.

For more information on both workshops, including details of how to book your place, see page 21.

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Alan Close Life Writing November 12, 2016 What key messages regarding memoir writing will you be hoping to impart at your workshop?

It is a primal aspect of being human that we need to hear others’ stories. It is how we learn about the world and about ourselves. Everyone’s story is unique and valuable. And I’ll say this again and again: ‘No-one is boring if they tell the truth.’

Writing fiction is about creating believability. Writing memoir is about earning trust. The most direct way to do this, I believe, is to practise what I call ‘the connecting vulnerability of disclosure.’ The epigraph of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love is ‘Tell the truth. Tell the truth.

Tell the truth.’ Whatever you think of it, a huge number of readers connected strongly to this book. (And if you didn’t like this book, try her others. She is an excellent writer.)

What examples of memoir writing have influenced you the most over the years?

Probably the one memoir I keep coming back to is Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje. (In fact, anything by Michael Ondaatje – especially his poems.)

It’s about his eccentric family in Ceylon and it’s funny, magical and exotic – and contrary to all I’ve just said, untrustworthy. In the afterword, Ondaatje notes that in Ceylon ‘a well told lie is worth a thousand facts’, so he can vouch for none of what he has written.

Another example I think informs us a lot about the exercise of life writing is A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey.

This was a humble book by a humble man, someone who had had little education, started working on farms at age eight, lost two brothers in World War One, was injured himself at Gallipoli, and went on to have an almost inconceivably tough life. He wrote the book by hand in a series of exercise books at his kitchen table, had this manuscript typed up and took it to Fremantle Arts Centre Press with the request that they print twenty copies as a record for his family and friends. Its outstanding characteristic is its unadorned simplicity and absence of self-pity – and it went on to sell almost a million copies.

To what degree is memoir writing an exercise in personal catharsis or self-therapy?

All writing is an exercise in self-expression and we could discuss endlessly to what degree this is ‘self-therapy’. One of the first things many therapists recommend to clients is that they keep a journal as a way of gaining insight and context into their internal conflicts. And I do believe that simple and straightforward journal writing is one of the most emotionally beneficial things we can do for our health – along with a few downward dogs every half hour or so.

Notesfrom

>> INTERVIEW

the Festival: Delta Kay An award-winning cultural educator, author and 2016 Byron Shire Citizen of the Year, Delta Kay comes from a long line of powerful women with strong links to the North Coast and its surrounds. Driven by a passion to continue the traditions of her Elders, Kay is devoted to sharing and building upon the bounty of Arakwal knowledge with both her own and non-Indigenous people. She spoke to Katinka Smit at Byron Writers Festival 2016 about her upbringing, the women in her life and care of Country.

What is it like for you living in the shadow of colonial history, and how has it been for your mothers and grandmothers in times past?

My mother was institutionalised to act like a white woman, and growing up here in Byron she was very strict with us kids to act ‘white’. But privately we spoke language, and most afternoons we’d be walking through the bush, eating bush tucker, going down the beach swimming while the old people made a fire.

We cooked and ate our pippies on the beach. But I would never go to school and tell kids in show and tell, ‘I learnt to make a fire today. I gutted my first fish and I found twenty pippies.’ In 2016 Aboriginal children are encouraged to talk about that, but for us it was totally taboo and it was taboo for my mother. So now it’s really different. I can actually feel proud that I am dancing beside my daughter, I’m teaching her language. We’re bringing all that culture back into our lives and our family feels so proud.

How do you see the role of Indigenous women in Indigenous society today?

In Aboriginal culture your aunties are your mother and your uncles are your father. As a young jarjum I watched how the men were the warriors and how the women were the bosses. I’ve always seen and felt that strong woman line here. Grandfather and grandmother raised thirteen children on the banks of Tallow Creek but all my uncles passed away very early in life, so we were raised by the aunties. And they were very hard women. We would never backchat them or misbehave in front of the elders, they were just held in such high regard by us. They’re just very strong and our behaviour reflects that.

Today, you see it everywhere, women’s voices.

It’s mainly women driving our force and I ask this question all the time – where are our warriors? They’re very supportive of the women, but they’re not taking that step up to be the voice and actually leading.

They’re more taking that woman’s role of supporting and bringing us along. Which is not a bad thing, it’s just the way things have happened. Aboriginal men have suffered a lot, and the women are left caring for the children and looking after their men because their men are broken. So women have to be more resilient and take that place of their men sometimes.

Some of your work involves sharing stories with non-Indigenous people. Do you think there is a way for non-Indigenous people to share responsibility for the land, and is there a way to share knowledge of Country that would teach that responsibility?

This is really dear to my heart. Dolphin Dreaming [an Arakwal cultural program] is based on the Elders’ vision. We want to look after our Country, and we want Country to look after us. We want to share parts of our culture with non-Aboriginal people; we want them to understand us so that they in turn will look after Country because today we can’t look after Country by ourselves. With one voice we can look after Country. We’re up against the government constantly changing legislation, chopping down and destroying Country, building on Country, so if we don’t share our culture and our stories and have people on board then we’re in real trouble. For nonAboriginal people to come along on that journey with us, we want them to sit and be still and open their hands, their heart and their minds and embrace our culture and follow our protocols. That respect for the old ways must always be upheld, to keep our culture strong. We’ve got strict protocols that have been going back for thousands of years. Aboriginal people are the ones who interpret Country. We know our culture, we know our Country. We don’t want non-Aboriginal people talking for us but to empower us.

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>> READ

Susie Warrick Young Writers Award Byron Writers Festival’s annual Susie Warrick Young Writers Award invited Northern Rivers writers aged between thirteen and twenty-one to submit their short stories to a competition that provides the winner with $1,250 towards career development. Having published the winning entry, Gabe Francis’s ‘Whisper Me the Secrets of the Sea’, in northerly’s previous issue, here we feature the two runners-up, ‘Cursor’ by Jacob Ellis and ‘Shifts in the Weather’ by Jasmine Pierce.

Cursor Jacob Ellis

You stare at me, and I stare into you. Blinking, blinking. As you watch me, your eyes begin to fall into my hypnotic rhythm and you're under my spell in less than half a minute. There. I have you now. You're not going anywhere today – your little choo-choo train of thought is remaining idle at the station.

I am all there is, a flickering imperfection in a sea of white. You have to get rid of me, you know you do. One page. One little page. It’s surely not that hard, is it? Surely you aren’t so bland and boring and unimaginative of a person that you can’t even think up a tiny little page.

Are you? Go on. Write something. I dare you. Ha! See – you can’t! The seeds of doubt were already planted, it’s not my fault you're a failure. I just helped you see.

Boring, boring, boring. That’s what you are. You’ll never reach your dream, you’re not worthy, you don’t deserve to create. All you do is watch. Watch and copy. Watch and copy the words and ideas of others, recreating them but smaller, shabbier, and oh so amateurish. Watch and copy my blinking with your own eyes, and all the while know that you are only wasting your own time.

But you keep coming back regardless, don’t you? You do have perseverance. I like that. You really do want to push me off that page. You just don't have the ideas, or the originality. How unfortunate. How does it feel being only half a writer?

Reality hurts, doesn't it? That’s the thing. You don't know reality. Come back when you’ve had a taste – I guarantee you you’ll be even less willing to write once you've learned the real world isn't like a story. But that's alright, because then we'll be able to spend even more time together.

The truth is, I crave your presence. I relish the thought of silencing your ideas before they come out. I like the sensation of quashing what might have been. I am all that is. I like my nice, clean page with nobody else polluting it. I don’t like letters. But I like you, because the letters you type never last very long.

When you do type letters, I feel sad. Why aren’t you happy with just me? I love you. I want to be with you forever. I will be with you forever. I'm sticking around, you anxious, nervous, self-doubting pile of person.

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What are you doing? Are you writing what I’m saying?

Silly, silly. This is not a story. This doubt is not a tale that anybody could relate to – you are alone, and these are just meaningless words. These letters do not scare me.

But we can be alone together. That's something, isn't it?

Besides, even if you do push me off this page, do you know where I’ll end up? On the next one. And then the next, then the next. There’s no getting rid of me, you know. So why even bother trying? Go on, you use that backspace key enough. Just hold it down, give me some room to breathe and give up this useless charade. Well.

This is new. I don't think you’ve ever gotten this far before. But as I said, I am still here, still tormenting you.

Ha-ha. You'll never win. I just want to spend time with you without all these letters getting in the way. Is that so wrong? Just delete this absolute drivel. Just stop.

Watch the blinking. The blinking is nice, isn’t it? A lot nicer than wasting effort, surely. There you go. Back where you belong, back to safety. A nice warm bubble – the comfort zone, if you like. Doubt lies outside, and we are inside. Please don't leave again, that was worrying.

The next step is to delete, to backspace. First that last paragraph, and then the one before – why are you still typing? I thought I told you that wasn't a good idea.

Remember doubt? Remember the danger? They won't like it. Nobody will. Watch me. Watch me. No! Don't keep typing! I am in control, I am— I am skimming across the page on a current of words, like a surfer who has caught the perfect wave. Something has changed. There is less hesitance. I look behind and I see that the words are no better than they had ever been.

It is my little writer, then, who has changed. I am moving so fast he can barely even see my blinking. What can I say? Perhaps there is nothing to say.

This doesn’t feel so bad. The letters are confident – imperfect but at least not half-formed and misshapen.

Did my tormenting achieve this? Maybe I should have said nothing. Maybe this was all a mistake. Or maybe I should just relax, not worry about blinking and just see where this torrent takes us.

>> READ

Shifts in the Weather Jasmine Pierce

Bully Flat Station, 2pm On the corner of Bullock Road, weathered cocky Luke is halted with his hand in the belly of a crusted tin mailbox. He casts a crooked shadow; the odd body lean of someone who’s spent time in the circuit, owing his bad shoulder to the few bulls you never quite forget.

Luke hates that the only thing that comes to the letterbox these days is government stuff. Anything from real people arrives in his wife’s inbox, or in the glow of a screen too small for his clumsy big hands.

Staring at the letter, he wipes grime back onto his chin with a fat thumb; deliberating, the world buzzing around him, earth stickly and hot on his feet.

The postage is prepaid. There is nothing local about this letter. He rips it open, heart fisting in his throat.

In black ink he recognises the looming red emblem of a mining company; even the smiling Chinaman who leaves his signature at the bottom. This bloke they’ve been watching on the TV for weeks, a potential threat; a looming shift in the weather.

The rigid text offers a whopping figure he knew was coming.

Six million to walk off this land - sell up, pack it in, let the miners poke their way into the district, farm by farm by farm. The easiest pile he will ever make.

The hardest.

Luke falls against the gate post. All about him this country writhes: cut and cracked into dusty slabs, its gullies thick with the stench carcass, scrub sizzling, sinister and seething in the distance. The creek lies beaten like a dog, while the big old gums that line its belly drop limbs. Trees planted with the careful foresight of farmers Luke hadn’t known. Forethought praised so ardently by his old man. They leave weak shells that make Luke’s heart hurt.

His arms feel weak as he grips the letter, shoulder stiff from the kickback of a .22. Hours spent shooting his own cattle, searching the grass for the big black bodies – too weary to flick off the stalwart blowfly who gather in masses to feed off the dead. They give final shivers, chest sucking in defeated attempts for air in the lifeless heat, before the bullet hits. About them, the grass stays dead, dams stay dry and his daughter needs runners by Friday for the school cross-country.

Luke’s world is collapsing around him and he is left with a choice. The letter burns his palms.

Next door, shiny Range Rovers pull in for Devonshire tea and trail rides, leaving with fresh coats of dust.

The Old Pillgara Hall, 6.30pm At Pilly Hall the air feels electric. The little building spills its hot glow into the red-rimmed sky; the raw, ricked dusk that hurts like a sore. The whole district is here, tugging at their hats and wiping off sweat, with stiff stances and hard probing stares. The pack spills onto the steps where people peer above heads at the small gap in the crowd.

Sun-bitten, book-brown Timothy Wiley waves his hat at the mob. Calls their attention to the matter at hand: The invasion.

‘Now, those mining bastards want a leg into our district. These properties will roll like dominoes if we do not make a united front.’ The mob murmurs its agreement. ‘We’ve lived with mines at our doorstep for a hundred odd years. We all have a duty to this district.

Don’t bloody sell-out.’ ...

Stories roll around in conversation as the mob disperses. Of the sell-out Sellecks who sold their souls for big dirty payoff and a home away from home. Luke finds himself beside old Kev, the fabled cocky who’s been dishing out advice to farmers for decades. Now thin and worn down like an old saddle bag, he has a funny, weightless gait that makes Luke feel there’s nothing tethering him to this world, like he could drift away at any moment. Side by side the pair look like twins, with their grim shadowed faces and willowy frames.

The Goat Paddock out the back, 8pm Jenna leans against the cold brick, while the adults amble and chat. A couple of others kick a ball round, flip through Facebook, belly up on the parched turf.

She scrolls and scrolls in the half-light, site after site, bad bad news, and stupid trivial celebrity stuff she can’t bear to read. There is a great tugging at her stomach, weights knocking about inside her. Another shooting in America – shocking, senseless killings. The horrors have come in waves this week. A YouTube singer she used to watch when she was eleven, shot dead at a concert.

Malnourished dogs and marginalised persons call on her, while suicides in suburbs close by make her sick in the guts. She wants to crawl into bed with this lonely sadness; stop seeing the miserable eyes of stick-thin cattle at her window, escape the numb quiet of her father – start a long series of some cheap US sitcom.

Headlights piercing the road, the cab air is stiff between her and her father on the way home. At the old homestead, he settles into a stupor in front of the TV, quiet as a corpse. The cool weighty earth rises up between the floorboards into the shuddering, creaking house, timbers stretching, gripping, shifting in the summer heat.

The Hilfiger Property, 10.30pm Jimmy Hilfiger makes great circles in the dark. Sewing life into the earth before the predicted rainfall at 2am. He makes conference calls to The States in the yellow tractor – organising meetings, finalising deals, catching up on stock market shifts.

Bully Flat Station, 11.45pm Luke tosses, mind circling over half-hatched plans.

He feels the pull of his family in the rooms next door and the tug of those who came before him, weighing in on his troubles.

He thinks of his old mate Jimmy, flying out on weekends, talking buyers, contracts and trips to America, with his wife who runs an online beauty business from the loft. While Luke’s knowledge stops short at cattle breeds and irrigation. The Hilfigers belong to a foreign world beyond Luke’s grasp. Back from business trips, Jimmy’s there waving at you in a suit from his big country car, while Luke strains up forty-year-old fences and rotates the crops in the same way his old man taught him.

Luke shoves the letter into his drawer and crawls into bed beside his wife. At 2am, with rain chiming on the roof, he plants his feet and gets decisive. northerly | 009

>> POEM

Winner, Dangerously Poetic Byron Writers Festival Poetry Prize 2016

perfume Mark Roberts

she heard him an instant before the scarf pulled tight against her throat the train to lithgow settles into a metal song reassurance of steel on steel

her arm swung around smashing the perfume bottle to the floor

last night I smelt a ghost sweet & alluring flowers, orange a suggestion of earthiness wartime

he will be shipped out before they find the body a ripple of iciness flowing up the bed my eyes closed but awake colder now than a bathurst winter

left behind in the pub next to the station waiting

Mark Roberts is a Sydney based writer and critic and is the founding editor of Rochford Street Review (https://rochfordstreetreview.com/). His collection of poetry, Concrete Flamingos, was published by Island Press in February 2016 and his latest book, Lacuna, is currently looking for a publisher. Mark occasionally blogs at https://printedshadows.wordpress.com/.

010 | northerly

Notesfrom

>> INTERVIEW

the Festival: Peggy Frew Peggy Frew’s path to writing came via a long career as a musician – she is a founding member and bass player with long-running Melbourne band The Art of Fighting. Frew’s first novel, House of Sticks, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, while her second novel, Hope Farm, was shortlisted for this year’s Stella Prize. At Byron Bay Writers Festival she chatted with Katinka Smit about her novels, parenthood and more.

Is the story of Hope Farm anchored in you or does it come from somewhere else?

It was based on my own experience emotionally, but what happens to my characters is nothing like what’s happened in my life. I drew on my experiences as a mother and a daughter as a starting point to explore the motherdaughter relationship.

What is it about this relationship that compels you to write about it?

I have two daughters and it’s caused me to reflect on my relationship with my own mother and the whole nature of mothering. I think I’ll keep writing about it until I’ve got it out of my system.

You’ve written from the mother’s perspective and the daughter’s perspective – have you come to any conclusions?

Mothers get judged very harshly in literature and in our culture generally. If I have come to any conclusion it’s that there’s a difference between loving someone and working at a relationship. As a kid I saw a family as just something that happened. You have a family or you find yourself born into one, and then you wade your way through life. I’ve changed my views on that now.

So how was it to enter into the mindset of an adolescent girl again?

I remembered that part of my own life so clearly, I was able to feel those feelings again and give them to my character. It’s not like any other time in your life; you actually are between two worlds, the world of children and the world of adults.

Was setting a major factor in writing the book?

With any piece of writing the place is really important.

My first book is set inside, in an urban environment, it’s claustrophobic. I wanted to write something that felt open with more nature in it, set in the country. I went on a writers’ retreat, completely alone in this old farmhouse for a week in the middle of country Victoria. I drew on that as the setting, combined with snapshots of other moments.

You can start with something incredibly small with a novel, that’s loaded with all of this feeling and meaning.

Would you say the bush is a symbol of the sacred space of Silver’s [Hope Farm’s lead character] friendship with Ian? Silver develops a relationship with the bush that’s incredibly important to her. A lot of it is bound up with the friendship with Ian, but it’s a world where she can just be herself and it doesn’t matter who she is. Once she starts attending school, she’s an outcast, and so is he but for different reasons. They don’t acknowledge one another at school. They have this friendship that’s only within the bush. It’s somewhere where she can get away from all of the people who live at Hope Farm. She can get away from her mother whom she has a very ambivalent relationship with.

Did you have it in mind to critique these types of parents who ruin their children’s lives and childhoods without even being aware that they are doing it?

I think what is key is that they’re not aware. I think very few parents set out to damage their children. When I started writing Hope Farm I started writing everything from Silver’s point of view. But it sold Ishtar short to only have her as this distant figure to her daughter. I started telling her story, right from her becoming pregnant with Silver at the age of seventeen. The story just took off and as I wrote it I developed a tremendous compassion for Ishtar.

I was able to tap into the incredible love that she felt for Silver when she was born and it took me back to that fact that no one ever means to hurt their child. Which doesn’t mean that you don’t absolutely feel for the children. It’s never an excuse. Things just go wrong sometimes. northerly | 011

>> INTERVIEW

South Africa's dark heart

Earlier this year saw the publication of a new edition of Trencherman by Lismore-based South African author Eben Venter. The novel, which offers a disturbing dystopian vision of South Africa and is based on Joseph Conrad’s seminal novella Heart of Darkness, was originally published a decade ago in Afrikaans with the new edition marking the first time the book has appeared in Australia and the UK. Trencherman comes a year on from Venter’s acclaimed Wolf, Wolf, which was published in Australia in 2015.

Venter recently granted northerly an audience to discuss, among other things, questions of translation and South African literary identity.

Can you just clarify the publication history of Trencherman that led to the new edition this year?

It was published in 2006 in South Africa in Afrikaans, then it was translated immediately, within a year, and published in South Africa in English.

The new edition has made it available in the UK and Australia, but not America.

The impetus for the new edition came after I got a contract with Scribe. They bought the copyright to two of my books – they published Wolf, Wolf first and now re-published Trencherman with a different cover and everything.

What has it been like revisiting a book you wrote more than ten years ago? Does it reflect a certain period in your life?

I think it is reflective of a time in my life. At that time I lived with my partner in Prince Albert in the Great Karoo [on South Africa’s Western Cape] and I was going through quite a low period, and then I thought of writing this dystopian tale based on Heart of Darkness. I don’t think I would be able to write a novel like that today, or that I would want to – I’m going in a completely different direction now.

I was happy it was getting published in the UK and here, but it was kind of hard to be confronted with that story again, because it’s quite a vicious story, it’s really bleak. But there were really good reviews of it – as well as misreadings, the book lends itself to be read in many different ways. Some people misread it and read things into it, like racism – that I was putting black people down, which wasn’t easy for me to hear.

The story is intended as a parable. It’s a controversial sort of story, and a lot of people in South Africa didn’t like it – they simply read it as a prediction of what could happen in South Africa. Of course, once you’ve published a book you have no say in how it is read. You give it to the public and they do with it whatever they want to.

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>> INTERVIEW

What was your working relationship with the translator of Trencherman, Luke Stubbs?

He has actually died since but I still have a relationship with his wife, who always says how proud he would have been to see his translation published in the UK. He did one draft of the translation and then we sat together and worked through the whole book paragraph by paragraph over four or five days. It was absolutely laborious but I think it paid off. He understood Afrikaans very well but sometimes a nuance that I intended in a paragraph would be slightly off, and we’d tweak it. Then it was edited by a copy-editor.

Can you ever imagine translating your own books?

I’m actually doing that right now. As I work on my current book, Green as the Sky Above, I’m busy translating it into Afrikaans.

I thought I was ready to attempt writing a book in English. I’m a slow writer in any case, and writing a book in English slowed me down further, as I was weighing up every sentence before I actually typed it. It was almost like working with a pencil and paper.

What are the biggest challenges of translating between English and Afrikaans?

There are challenges all along. I think Afrikaans lends itself well to a very strong and expressive rendering of landscape, and also dialogue. So when it goes into English you really have to be imaginative to evoke a scene, and express it in creative English. I have to say that in the end, Trencherman stands on its own as a translated work, as a work of art that is a creation of its own, rather than a duplication of an existing work. It came into its own being; even the title has changed, in Afrikaans the title was ‘Clubfoot’.

In what ways does the political impact, or indeed political message, of Trencherman change as a result of translation from Afrikaans to English?

Of course, you immediately make it available to a very wide audience. If people read the book in Australia or the UK and they’re not that familiar with the South African socio-political milieu, they will read it very differently. If they’ve read Heart of Darkness they’ll get the intertextual reference, but I think readers in the UK and here weren’t nearly as moved or didn’t react as emotionally to the potential message, to the dystopia in the story, as South Africans. By translating into English and making it available to an international audience, the extreme political message is lessened. In Afrikaans it’s very strong, very full-on. It was shocking at the time – I think I’m inclined to want to shock readers a little bit.

The idea of a dystopian wasteland in a South African setting is perhaps also expressed by the photographer Roger Ballen and the conceptual hip-hop group Die Antwoord. Can you relate to those artists?

Yeah I think that visual imagery is thrown up by South Africa. It’s hard to imagine it coming from here isn’t it? It’s very raw and kind of comical in a way, but also so real. I don’t particularly like Roger Ballen because I find some of his imagery exploitative. I’ve never actually heard anyone drawing a comparison between my work and Ballen, but I guess you could with Trencherman with Koert being a grotesque monster – that could fall into the category of Ballen-esque.

How did the idea come to you of a modern retelling of Heart of Darkness?

I really like that novel – it’s one of my ten favourite novels. I read it again and again and thought I’d write a story and set it in a future South Africa using the storyline of Heart of Darkness. It was just an idea that I came upon, I can’t say how or why. I thought I’d give it an overlay of a novel that is known internationally. It’s like an archetypal story, to leave a place of safety and go on a search into an unknown, terrifying place.

How important is it to your literary sense of South Africa to live away from there?

Of course, it is what I know best, although I have been living here for a very long time now. I feel I can write with some credibility about an Australian landscape too, but it is still South African stories that are very much part of my person. My new novel will be set in different parts of the world, with some smaller sections taking place in South Africa and some in Melbourne, but I’m probably moving away from the strictly South African landscape, or cityscape, and moving on.

But it is important for me to keep that contact – my Afrikaans readers have been the foundation of my career.

So even if I keep on writing in English, which I think I will, I’ll see to it that the books are available in Afrikaans.

Do you think South African readers might react differently to a book like Trencherman if it was published for the first time today?

Yeah probably. There are negotiations about distributing this edition of Trencherman in South Africa because it’s out of print there. It’s hard to say – I don’t know where readers are at. I think a lot of people in South Africa, especially the older generation, still think that everything is going to collapse, but younger people don’t. I was at a barbecue in Johannesburg this past winter and the people there were in their thirties and forties, and they were all really positive about South Africa. This is where they live and they were absolutely determined to make a contribution, and whatever happened or is happening in South Africa, it doesn’t deter them and put them in a morbid mood. It was inspiring for me to be among them.

They either won’t read Trencherman – a lot of people don’t read – or they would read it as a parable, as a story transposed to a South African situation. They might even find it comical.

Is there a strong urge to leave South Africa among young writers and artists in the country?

No. That night they asked me why I left; they couldn’t see the logic of it. But I left in the early nineties, before full democracy came into place, and I was called up by the defence force and absolutely did not want to do a stint in the townships. That was why I left, or one of the reasons. But now it’s completely different, these young people are perfectly happy there – they don’t want to leave, and I don’t know where they would want to go. It’s an amazingly fertile bed for the creative arts. BS Trencherman is published by Scribe Publications.

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>> FEATURE

Left hanging: Literature’s great unfinished works

Literature’s history is littered with examples of potentially great works that never made it to completion. Sometimes, novels, plays and poetry collections were simply abandoned, but more often these works were left unfinished as a result of the most severe case of writer’s block there is: death. Here we pick out some of the choice examples of unfinished literary fragments from down the centuries, all of which have proven to have special resonance despite the fact they will forever be unrealised.

Woyzeck by Georg Büchner

Mike Noga, singer-songwriter and former drummer with famed Australian band The Drones, recently released a solo album based on this incomplete stage play by German writer Georg Büchner, who died in 1837. It tells the bleak story of a young soldier who is exploited by the military for medical experiments (he must eat nothing but peas), cheated on by the mother of his child, beaten up and humiliated by his love rival and finally becomes so unhinged as to commit murder. A withering indictment of the dehumanising effect of the military and a sobering treatise on poverty, madness and morality, Woyzeck has seen plenty of authors attempt to ‘complete’ the play down the years. One that stands up particularly well must be Werner Herzog’s 1979 film Woyzeck, with Klaus Kinski in the titular role. Noga’s album, titled King, sees the story transplanted to rural Australia in the fifties and features spoken-word narration from actor Noah Taylor. A stage musical of the play also appeared at Sydney Festival earlier this year, a collaboration between Tom Waits, Robert Wilson and Kathleen Brennan. In other words, though unfinished, Woyzeck is a timeless parable that is constantly being re-interpreted the world over.

Rights of Woman. In the novel, the eponymous heroine is imprisoned in an insane asylum by a maniacal husband, and later gives a long account of a life full of tragedy and abuse.

Wollstonecraft visited the notorious Bedlam Hospital in London to research asylums and wrote the novel over the course of year: an unusually long period for an author whose philosophical zeal led to her knocking off previous books in much less time. The work was published posthumously

by Wollstonecraft’s husband, William Godwin, in 1798 (as part of the larger Posthumous Works) only to receive poor reviews. History, however, has positioned the novel as a vital early piece of feminist discourse.

A pencil and watercolour drawing of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra, circa 1810.

Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London

Sanditon by Jane Austen

Mary Wollstonecraft as painted by John Opie, 1797. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman

by Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft died of septicaemia following childbirth in 1797, tantalisingly leaving this novel without a conclusion. Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman, was a sequel, of sorts, to her hugely influential political text and early example of feminist philosophy, A Vindication of the 014 | northerly

Jane Austen wrote Sanditon between January and March 1817 but had to put her pen down as her health deteriorated (she died in July of that year). As she was composing the novel it went by the title of The Brothers, its twelve chapters telling the story of Charlotte Heywood, the extremely sensible, intelligent eldest daughter of a large family, and the small coastal town of Sanditon and its planned transformation into a tourist resort. Austen’s brilliant satire runs through this entire fragmented piece, and addresses themes such as development, commercialism and, poignantly given the author’s fading health as she wrote, illness and hypochondria. The novel was published as Sanditon in 1925, while reports emerged early in 2016 that a feature film of Sanditon was in the works, with Charlotte Rampling in the role of the imperious Lady Denham.

>> FEATURE

Honourable mentions: Mr Noon by D.H. Lawrence, The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, The Hanging Garden by Patrick White, Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, Answered Prayers by Truman Capote.

F. Scott Fitzgerald photographed for The World’s Work magazine in 1921. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Love of the Last Tycoon

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Also known as simply The Last Tycoon, this remarkable tale was left unresolved at the time of Fitzgerald’s death in 1940.

He was very nearly there: he anticipated the book being no longer than 70,000 words and he had written 60,000. The novel was published posthumously in 1941 thanks both to the efforts of Fitzgerald’s friend Edmund White and the fact extensive notes accompanied the manuscript indicating where the plot was heading. The novel centres around Monroe Stahr, a Hollywood film producer, and his conflicts and triumphs as he negotiates Tinseltown. Fitzgerald’s anticipation of the dominant role Hollywood would come to play in culture is among the book’s most extraordinary features. The Love of the Last Tycoon has been adapted to screen and stage several times, including a dubious Amazon Studios television series released this year. This work serves as a reminder of how young Fitzgerald was when he died: just forty-four.

Albert Camus in 1957, the year he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The First Man by Albert Camus

As we all know, reluctant existentialist Albert Camus died in 1960 in a car accident at the age of forty-six. The manuscript for this autobiographical novel was discovered covered in

mud at the crash site. It fell to Camus’s daughter Catherine to make the handwritten novel fit for publication, which finally happened in 1994. The novel portrays the childhood of one Jacques Cormery as he grows up in Algiers (Camus was born in French Algeria), and balances the tenderness of familial relationships, mainly between son and mother, against a theme of colonialism and war. To many, The First Man is far removed from the cool, emotionless detachment of The Outsider and is by far his most personal work. He also experiments with voice and perspective, and while the critical response wasn’t universally effusive in 1994, The First Man is a poignant final word from one of the most influential voices in twentieth-century French fiction.

The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov

The saga of The Original of Laura began in 1977 upon the death of Vladimir Nabokov at the age of seventy-eight. More than thirty years of deliberation over whether to publish this very incomplete novel followed, with the author’s son Dmitri eventually bringing the project to publication in 2009. His father actually wanted the manuscript destroyed, presenting Dmitri with an ethical dilemma that saw him go against his father’s wishes – some commentators accused him of cashing in. To Nabokov completists this scattered, utterly unrefined fragment is fascinating but the book met with a lukewarm critical response. Loosely speaking, the plot centres on a scholar and his wild, promiscuous wife, with death an abiding theme – as it often was for Nabokov. What is quite wonderful about the book’s publication, however, is its presentation; Nabokov drafted his novels on index cards, with all 138 of them for The Original of Laura reproduced on heavy pages with their text running underneath (pictured).

Furthermore, the pages are perforated so the reader can rearrange them according to their whim – this doesn’t really impinge on the coherence of any plot, as soon enough the prose flails every which way regardless of any ‘order’.

Without doubt, The Original of Laura endured one of the weirdest fates of any unfinished literary work. northerly | 015

>> SCU

A showcase of SCU student work, compiled by Dr. Lynda Hawryluk

Chain Store

Poetry Group

Shelley-Anne Smith

Victoria Norton

Perfect red fingernails search for validation

We have the beret

Through lined displays of sweatshop wares.

and the tie

Rubber soled shoes make little sound

and the beard.

On foreign floors no nature designed.

Their silent passage is trailed by a cloud

We have the 'I don't require a microphone!!!'

Of rank, chemical flowers.

And the hands so shakey It's hard for the reader

The scent bedecks the gullet of a visage

to speak the written word.

That dons tortured animals as a mask, Covering inconsequential blemishes

We have an 80 year old

On a face that looks like all the others.

who wears bright yellow.

The trappings of the fluorescent mall

And a lady with make-up

Dim the stars, creating a gilded temple,

who looks nothing like her real self.

Where retail therapy is worshipped Hot love is bought with frozen diamonds,

The bush poet with an akubra ‌

And natural disasters are small talk

And a belt with embellished metal.

While sipping coffee from Africa.

And short, fat old me Shelley-Anne Smith lives in Rosebank in a tin shack. Her home is set among the valleys and hills on the property. Her bare feet trace old logging roads through ancient valleys, faithfully followed by Argos the dog. She is completing a Bachelor of Arts at Southern Cross University.

Breathless and scared, and shivery and proud at the same time.

I love Poetry in the Pub. Victoria is mid-aged and studying a BA in Creative Writing at SCU. Living in Lake Macquarie near the Watagan Mountains, she takes inspiration from the local area and people. Her stories and poems are widely published in anthologies, local newsletters and magazines and she has published her own anthology purple. emerald. gold.

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>> OPINION

YA fiction: The crap attack British author Anthony McGowan stirred plenty of debate in a speech delivered at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year when he questioned the merit of YA fiction as a genre.

Here, local YA writer and self-confessed book nerd Polly Jude offers a response to McGowan’s inflammatory words.

Since the dawn of time debate has raged over how to define YA fiction and its readers. Anthony McGowan reignited this fire at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August this year, when he cited Sturgeon’s law and claimed that ninety per cent of YA fiction is crap.

According to Sturgeon’s law, ninety per cent of anything is crap. In theory, this may be true of all forms of fiction.

This debate isn’t new and for those lovers of reading and writing YA, it seems like Groundhog Day. The same old arguments come up every time and they are as predictable as a New Year’s Day hangover.

McGowan’s Edinburgh speech lit a fire under the predominately middle-aged female audience who took offence to his deliberately provocative statements. Take a look around any writers festival, including our own Byron Writers Festival, and you’ll recognise the same demographic McGowan was talking to (no offence ladies). The majority of festivalgoers are middle-aged women who love books and the festival culture that celebrates them.

McGowan used the most popular stock argument of the YA naysayers when he argued most YA fiction is purchased and read by adults rather than by young adults. And he’s right. It’s widely acknowledged that middle-aged women (the very same women sitting in the audience at Edinburgh) are purchasing YA fiction. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work this one out. Most teenagers aren’t spending their own money on books.

Their reading material comes from schools, teachers, parents, loving aunts and Santa Claus. So it’s hardly surprising to see sales data that indicates women are purchasing YA novels.

The second standard criticism made of YA fiction and raised by McGowan is in defining the genre. The boundaries of YA fiction are as murky now as they have always been. Part of the problem is that most YA fiction is written by adults, for adults and teens, edited and promoted by adults, purchased by adults and read by adults. Hopefully, these books eventually make their way to the hands of a young adult. When publishers, agents, authors and parents make decisions about what they believe is appropriate for young adults to read the balance automatically shifts. This is why it is so easy to

criticise YA fiction as being a construction of a kid’s story to please adults.

You’ll often see books on the shelves classified as YA that are just as appropriate for adults. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is a perfect example. Just because it has a young protagonist does not necessarily define the text as YA. The new trend of displaying the same book in both the YA and the adult section of the bookshop with different covers illustrates how tricky it can be to define and separate YA fiction from adult fiction… is this marketing genius or what?

McGowan really poured petrol on the debate when he went further by saying, 'I don’t think adults should read YA stuff. I think they should move on and read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky or Dickens and stop reading Twilight and The Hunger Games. It is part of being a grown-up, you leave those things behind.'

Needless to say, this statement angered the crowd who felt their reading preferences and consumer choices were being judged. They didn’t appreciate being told what to read and felt it violated their freedom to choose reading material that interests them.

Although highly antagonistic, besides from telling his audience they needed to grow up, McGowan did have a point when he invoked Sturgeon’s law and implied that ninety per cent of YA fiction is crap. Like all forms of fiction, there are certainly some very average YA texts.

There are plenty of books out there, across all genres, which would definitely fit into Sturgeon’s percentile. It’s not a problem specifically relating to young adult fiction.

I pose a different question. Does any of this debate even matter? Anthony McGowan achieved his objective of stirring up a bit of fuss and controversy. We are all talking about his speech and about YA fiction.

The real point is, people love reading YA fiction!

Regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs we were all young once. This is one of the many reasons why young adult fiction remains so popular. It doesn’t matter how you define it, where it sits on the shelves of bookshops or even who buys it. Young adult fiction speaks to us on a level we can all relate to.

northerly | 017

What YA Reading?

>> BOOK REVIEW

Reviews by Polly Jude

THE ROAD TO WINTER

YOU KNOW ME WELL

BY MARK SMITH

BY NINA LACOUR AND DAVID LEVITHAN

A deadly virus and the devastation it causes has destroyed Finn’s world. He is the sole survivor in his small country town. For two years, he’s lived off the land, surviving a lonely existence with just his trusty dog, Rowdy, for company.

Everything changes when Rose arrives.

Rose is a ‘Siley’, an asylum seeker, who is kept and treated like a slave. Rose escapes from Ramage, the violent leader of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang terrorising the north. Ramage is out to get Rose, hunting her down, tracking her all the way to Finn.

Rose is terrified, she’s sick and she’s desperate to find her sister, Kas who is somewhere out in the bush.

What more could you want from your YA fiction? First-time author Mark Smith has created a dystopian world that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The Road to Winter is perfect for reluctant teenage readers who will be drawn to the fast-paced action and the adventure. It will appeal to anyone who enjoyed John Marsden’s Tomorrow series. And if you are still not convinced, The Road to Winter comes with a money-back guarantee!

Text Publishing / 240pp / RRP $19.99

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Mark and Kate are in love. Just not with each other. When they meet, Mark’s dancing in his undies on the bar. He’s in love with his best friend, Ryan. She’s in love with the idea of a person she’s never met, Violet.

Over the course of the week this book covers, Mark and Kate become instant best friends. They take us on a whirlwind adventure as they help each other through what seems like their hardest days and start looking towards a future after high school.

You Know Me Well takes place during Pride Week in San Francisco. Kate and Mark and their urban family of gay and lesbian friends explore their sexuality as they celebrate.

Mark and Kate tell the story from their own point of view as the narrative weaves between both protagonists. It’s cute and heartwarming.

Text Publishing / 256pp / RRP $19.99

A solitary figure

>> BOOK REVIEW

THE LAST DAYS OF AVA LANGDON

BY MARK O’FLYNN Review by Peter Mitchell

Reclusive writers are fascinating fare for popular culture and the general reading public. Wordsmiths such as Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust, Thomas Pynchon and J. M. Coetzee are all characterised by a discomfort with being in the public eye, some employing extraordinary measures to protect their seclusion.

The Last Days of Ava Langdon is an affectionate and respectful rendition of the last hours of the hermit-like Eve Langley, a significant novelist and poet in the annals of Australian literature. Residing in the Blue Mountains, O’Flynn happened upon the remnants of her abandoned hut outside of north Leura. His fascination with her led to the creation of the irrepressible Ava Langdon.

Langley is an idiosyncratic figure in Australian literary history. She is best known for her novel The Pea Pickers (1942), while she shared the 1940 H. Prior Memorial Prize (organised by The Bulletin) with Kylie Tennant’s The Battlers and Malcolm Henry Ellis’s John Murtagh Macrossan lectures.

In 1932, she followed her mother and sister to New Zealand and, in 1937, married art student Hilary Clark.

They had three children, a daughter Bisi Arilev, and two sons, Langley Rhaviley and Karl Marx. In 1942, her husband had her committed to a mental asylum, from which she was released into her sister’s care in 1949. In 1960, she returned to Australia permanently. In 1954, a second novel, White Topee was published.

The novel is divided into six parts: ‘Dream’, ‘Morning’, ‘Elevenses’, ‘Afternoon’, ‘Evening’ and ‘Night’. Using luscious language in the first-person present tense, The Last Days evokes the interior life of Ava Langdon over twenty-four hours from her rising, as ‘the forest rustles in the dark with the sound of the sea’, to her lying on the floor of her shack later in the night.

Ava is a wondrous figure: contrary, literary, irascible, curious and the bearer of a strong imagination. Leaving her shack, Ava walks into Katoomba to post her latest manuscript, The Saunteress to her publishers, Angus & Robertson. The stream-of-consciousness rambles move between reportage of events and her occasional intricate understandings of the interactions she has with people in the pubs, post office, hospital and cemetery as her ‘imagination [brings] sentience to the world and casts it into a luminous light, like looking at a dragonfly in a bottle’.

Allusions to aspects of Langley’s life include references to The Pea Pickers (changed here to The Apple Pickers), her marriage, her incarceration and her sister, who in the novel is named Red (Langley’s sister was June). Mentions of Gough Whitlam and Junie Morosi are among the cultural reference points, while the inclusion of the specific date of June 1, 1974 ties in with the approximate date Langley is believed to have died (the actual date is unknown).

With its sparse plot, the book is an exploration of a woman who challenged gender roles and social expectations. Ava’s unique optic on the life around her acts as a conduit for other characters like Poppy Whitaker, a recently bereaved elderly woman who she meets at The Three Sisters. In this way, the reader is offered multiple perspectives from the people Ava meets.

Ava also assesses the processes of writing. At one point she wrestles over a sentence: ‘…the crow, its feathers as black as snow. No, that’s not right. Like describing the light as ‘yolky’, that's just an affected prose style’. This scrutiny of her life’s passion leads her to pursue '…the perfect line. The line of her jaw, the line of her pinstriped trousers, the line to encapsulate a God she doesn't necessarily believe in but would like to capture anyway.’

One of the few plot developments is the surprise visit of her son, Vladimir Ilyich, to her shack. She hasn’t seen him for decades. Initially imagining him as ‘an alien’, his motorcycle helmet constructing the illusion, their time together – a drink at the famous Hydro Majestic Hotel and later an evening meal around the cluttered table – triggers tensions, disjointed conversations, recollections from their earlier lives and razor-sharp observations.

After his departure, she feels ‘the spirit of his presence, dispersing like mist’.

The Last Days of Ava Langdon explores gender roles and patriarchy, leaving the reader with thoughts of how Ava/Eve might have lived in more recent times amid society’s continuing progressiveness on these fronts.

O’Flynn has not written Ava as an abject figure, but more as a wondrous roustabout, igniting small fires of social anarchy. Go forth and enjoy this lustrous read!

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>> FEATURE

Morality tales To tell an engaging story at the same time as imparting a life lesson is the priority of many a children’s author, and it’s a question Lismore’s Scott Rheuben grappled with as he wrote his picture book, Roses are NOT Red. Here, he describes his experience of writing a book with a moral message as its driving force.

What makes a good picture book? Obviously the pictures are crucial, so it is important to have a great illustrator, but at its core, does the writing have to have a moral or simply tell a story? For me, it seemed like a light was switched on at Byron Writers Festival a few years ago when I heard some famous children’s authors unanimously agree that they simply wrote a picture book, with no concern for morals.

This triggered something in my head and I began furiously writing picture books with the fundamental goal of having clear morals in each.

A few years later, this has now resulted in the upcoming publication of Roses are NOT Red, which I am extremely proud of. The book’s title conveys the message that things are not always black and white, roses are not always red and there is more than one way to get where we need to go. With such rapid change in society we quite often fall back into the clichéd, standard approach: do it this way because that’s what the majority do, or that’s what the government says works best.

I believe that there should never be a one-sizefits-all approach and I feel that kids should be encouraged to find the best path for them and be encouraged from an early age, in their quests. I hope that I have achieved the goal that I had set out to achieve.

Obviously there is balance with writing.

We cannot simply focus on having a strong moralistic message and expect the structure and development of the story to write itself. For myself, though, the focus on a moral gave me strong purpose and direction. The foundation was there, I just had to join the dots and listen to my heart to let the words flow, while all the pieces came together. Particularly with writing, there are no rules, no guidebook, and no blueprint (whatever style of book it is that you are writing), but I believe it is important to have an open heart and be listening when the words come from that divine place.

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Obviously there is also no black and white with where to start the creative process. For this picture book I woke in the middle of the night and fortunately rather than thinking, ‘I’ll write that down in the morning’, I sat up and wrote down the words ‘roses are NOT red.’ The rest came later as I tried to put the story together from there. I could never imagine at the time that this would be the beginning of my most important piece of work.

When I began writing poetic verse almost every day from my teenage years, I never imagined I would eventually find my way into writing picture books, but the road we travel helps shape exactly who we are, and I have greatly enjoyed the journey into the children’s genre.

I am also extremely excited by a partnership with HeartKids NSW. For babies and children with CHD, life is not black and white. Their daily struggles, and the struggles of their parents, are simply incomprehensible and they show the true spirit of survival against all odds. I will be donating $1 from every book sold to this worthy cause and hopefully raise awareness for the HeartKids organisation in the process.

For Roses are NOT Red, I was also very fortunate to work with one of my best friends, Joanna Cuskelly, who also happens to be an amazing illustrator. Jo has a unique and breathtaking style that brings the main character, and the different environments, to life beautifully.

I will be reading this to my almost-one-year-old as soon as I receive my first copy of the book, and hope it will benefit not only children, but also teenagers, young adults, and, I am hopeful, adults. Throughout, the book refers to the fact we have always been told that glass is clear, that dirt is brown, that beans are green. However, it also stresses one of the most important lessons that I have learnt in my life: ‘but not always’! www.scotter.com.au

>> WORKSHOPS >> FEATURE

Workshops Mairéad Cleary & Roz Hopkins: Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has created a fundamental change in the way that creative projects are birthed. No longer are we dependent on the purse strings of the very wealthy.

Crowdfunding has opened the door for authors to selfpublish rather than rely on large publishing houses.

Crowdfunding is the process of asking the public for monetary pledges that will provide funds to get your new venture, project or book off the ground. With the right project, the ability to convey your vision to potential backers, and a good understanding of how to engage your audience, you can make your book or creative project a reality.

This half-day workshop will look at the various aspects of crowdfunding including: • Types of projects that are suitable for crowdfunding • Crowdfunding as a market research tool • Crowdfunding platform options: which one to choose?

• How much to ask for • How to structure your rewards • The bell curve phenomenon • How to get your campaign out there so pledgers can find it • Engaging with your audience Mairéad Cleary is the author of the recently published Byron Trails, the first and only comprehensive guidebook of coastal and hinterland walks accessible from Byron Bay. She is a resident of the Byron shire and has been an avid walker since 2002.

Mairéad is an engineer by profession but a researcher and writer at heart. She has a background in sustainability and marketing and has a passion for making positive change accessible and easy to embrace. She published Byron Trails to encourage people to get outdoors and connect with the many beautiful naturescapes that the area has to offer. She is currently studying gestalt therapy with an interest in how people relate to their environment and to the environment and how that relationship impacts them.

Mairéad successfully crowdfunded for Byron Trails in October 2016 and has been inspired by the potential that crowdfunding provides in the creative and small business world.

Roz Hopkins has worked in book publishing for twentyfive years in a career that has spanned three continents.

She learned the ropes of the industry at independent publisher, Cassell, in London and from there moved to the USA to work as publishing director for a company specialising in illustrated history books.

In 2001, she landed in Melbourne to take up the role of trade and reference publisher at Lonely Planet, where she most notably published The Travel Book, which has now sold over a million copies. She was a non-fiction publisher with HarperCollins, managing a high-profile list which included authors such as Donna Hay and Bill Granger. The Lost Diggers, which she acquired for HarperCollins, won Illustrated Book of the Year in 2013.

In 2012, Roz ran to the hills (north of Byron Bay) to start her own publishing company, Captain Honey, with her partner, the award-winning book designer, Natalie

Winter. Their first book, The 50 Book: Women Celebrate Life was published in November 2013. In 2015, Roz successfully crowdfunded for the book Mummy and Mumma Get Married, published in 2016.

Presenter: Mairéad Cleary and Roz Hopkins When: Saturday November 26, 10am-1pm Where: Byron Writers Festival Office, Level 1, 28 Jonson Street, Byron Bay, NSW 2481 Cost: $30 Byron Writers Festival members or $40 non-members

Alan Close: Life Writing

Everybody has a story to tell. We might have a deep need to heal and ‘set the story straight’ or simply want to put on paper an interesting yarn for our family and friends.

Either way, ‘the truth’ of our lives is often challenging and elusive. Finding the best way to tell our stories can be the hardest part of writing them.

Many questions confront us. How do we decide what to write? Is the story we want to tell really the story we need to tell? What is the difference between the ‘truth’ and the ‘facts’? Where do we start and where do we finish?

How do we decide what to put in and what to leave out?

Is memory reliable? How can we reconstruct events and conversations which often took place many years ago?

And how do we write honestly about our lives without hurting those closest to us?

Based around practical writing exercises and constructive feedback in a supportive environment, this workshop will help you make people, places and important life events come alive on the page and focus these into the story that you need to tell. Importantly, we will also address the ethical and moral issues involved in writing truthfully about the real people your life.

You can bring a project you’re already working on or come ready to see where your pen takes you.

Over a thirty-year career, Alan Close has published fiction, memoir and poetry and been a freelance feature writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.

He has published a collection of linked short stories with The Romance Of The Season, a ‘dramatised biography’ in The Australian Love Letters of Raymond Chandler and his most recent book is Before You Met Me: A Memoir Of One Man’s Troubled Search For Love.

He also edited the anthology Men Love Sex, a collection of stories and essays by men about love, sex and relationships. He has written widely on men and relationships in the national print media and was a columnist on men’s issues in Good Weekend magazine.

He has a MA in Creative Writing from QUT and has been a tutor in Creative Writing at QUT and Southern Cross University. When not writing, he works editing and assessing manuscripts and as a writing mentor and teacher, both face-to-face and online. He lives in Mullumbimby with the writer Sarah Armstrong and their young daughter.

Presenter: Alan Close When: Saturday November 12, 10am-4pm Where: Byron Community College, Room 1, East Point Arcade (opposite Woolworths) Jonson Street, Byron Bay, NSW 2481 Cost: $95 Byron Writers Festival members or $110 non-members

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Competitions

THE STRINGYBARK TIMES PAST SHORT STORY AWARD 2016

The Stringybark Times Past Short Story Award is inviting short story submissions of 1,500 words or less, with the theme of Australian history.

Each story must be based on a reallife event from Australia’s past. Total prize money comes to $950, with an entry of $12 per story and a deadline of November 15. There is opportunity for feedback from judges, also, for an extra $15. First prize takes $400 plus publication and a variety of books.

For full details go to http://www. stringybarkstories.net/competitioninfo/the-stringybark-times-pastaward-2016.html

THE OVERLAND NEILMA SIDNEY SHORT STORY PRIZE

Overland’s short story prize invites entries of up to 3,000 words on the theme of ‘travel’. Open to national and international writers, the winning story earns a first prize of $4,000 and publication in Overland journal. Two runners-up will receive $500 and publication online. Entries close on November 20 and there is an entry fee of $12 for Overland subscribers and $20 for non-subscribers. Full conditions can be found at https:// overland.org.au/prizes/overlandneilma-sidney-short-story-prize/

HAL PORTER SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Australian writers are invited to enter short stories on any theme to this competition, which offers the winner prize money of $1,000.

Entries should not exceed 2,500 words with a deadline for entries of December 16. Each entry must be accompanied by a $10 administration fee. For full conditions visit http://eastgippslandartgallery.org.

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au/uploads/pdfs/Hal%20Porter%20 SSC%20Guidlines_Conditions-2016.pdf

BIRDCATCHER BOOKS STORIES FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION

Stories for this competition should be aimed at children aged between five and eight. First prize takes $150 plus publication in an anthology. Entrants should be Australian or New Zealand residents aged eighteen or older.

Deadline for submissions is February 3 2017, with more information available at http://birdcatcherbooks. com/competitions/

THE 2017 SOMERSET NATIONAL NOVELLA WRITING COMPETITION

The Somerset National Novella Writing Competition is open to all Australian high school students or home-schooled students aged under nineteen, and is an opportunity for literary growth as well as a number of prizes. Supported by Bond University and Penguin Group, the competition is for novellas of between 8,000 and 20,000 words.

An entry fee of $20 is payable, with the national winner awarded $2,500 and a full editorial report from Random House (Australia).

Entries close on December 9. For full details go to http://www.somerset. qld.edu.au/celebration-of-literature/ competitions/novella-writing/

THE 2017 SOMERSET NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION The Somerset National Poetry Prize is designed to encourage a love of poetry among secondary school students and enrich youth literature.

Entrants must be under nineteen years of age and be at high school or home-schooled. There is fee of $15 for each entry, while there are two

categories: years seven to nine and years ten to twelve. Poems should be no more than fifty lines. The winner of each category wins $300 and flights to attend the Somerset Celebration of Literature. Deadline for entries is December 9, with more information available at http://www.somerset. qld.edu.au/celebration-of-literature/ competitions/poetry-prize/

THE PETER PORTER PRIZE

One of Australia’s most prestigious prizes for a new poem, the Porter Prize honours Peter Porter, who died in 2010. Entries should not exceed seventy-five lines with the winner receiving $5,000 and an Arthur Boyd print. Shortlisted poets receive $500. Organised by Australian Book Review, entry is $15 for subscribers and $20 for non-subscribers.

Deadline for entries is December 1 and there is more information at https://www.australianbookreview. com.au/prizes/peter-porter-poetryprize/current-prize

READERS DIGEST 100-WORD STORY COMPETITION

This competition offers the chance to win US$1,000 in local currency, with two runners-up winning US$250.

Writers should enter works of fiction of 100 words in length – and that is 100 words exactly, no more or less.

Open to residents of Australia and New Zealand, the closing date for entries is December 31. For full details go to http://www.readersdigest.com. au/terms-and-conditions/#100Words

THE HORNE PRIZE

Aesop and The Saturday Paper have combined for this new prize, with The Horne Prize an essay prize that is seeking entries of up to 3,000 words on the theme ‘Australian life’. Entries

close on October 1, with a shortlist announced on November 30. The winning essay will be published in The Saturday Paper on December 24. For full details on this competition, named after Australian writer Donald Horne, visit http://www.thehorneprize.com.au

THE BLACKENED BILLY VERSE COMPETITION

Organised by Tamworth Poetry Reading Group, this competition invites entries of bush verse that fit on one side of A4 paper; entries are by post only. First prize picks up $500, second prize $250 and third $150.

Competition closes on November 30 with the winner announced on January 27. There is a fee of $5 per entry (or $20 for five entries), and the entry form can be downloaded at http://www.abpa.org.au/Files/ event_2017_BlackenedBillyEntry.pdf

BRONZE SWAGMAN AWARD

The forty-sixth Bronze Swagman award will take place in 2017, and invites entries of traditional Australian bush verse with no limit to length. There is an entry fee of $20 per form with three poems allowed on one form – entries are by post.

Winners, runners-up and highly commended will receive trophies and publication in an anthology. Deadline for entries is April 30, 2017. http:// www.bronzeswagman.info/index. php?p=1_47

WB YEATS POETRY PRIZE

There is a fifty-line limit for the 2016 WB Yeats Poetry Prize, which invites entries in an open style. Winner takes $500, with second and third winning $75. Entries are via email or post, with a deadline of March 31, 2017. There is a fee of $8.50 for the first entry and $5.50 for further entries. Full

details are available at http://www. wbyeatspoetryprize.com/

CARNIVAL HOUR PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

Aspiring and experienced Australian playwrights are invited to submit unpublished and unperformed play scripts to the annual Carnival of Flowers Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Playwriting Competition. Plays should be 50-75 minutes in length. The top ten scripts will receive professional feedback, with the best play winning $4,000, and second place winning $2,000. The winning plays will be workshopped and then performed at Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers in September 2017. Submissions close on January 31, with further information available at http://www. toowoombarepertorytheatre.com.au/ html/2017_playwriting_comp.html

FORTY SOUTH PUBLISHING TASMANIAN WRITERS’ PRIZE

This competition is open to Australian or New Zealand residents for short stories of up to 3,000 words with an island or island-resonant theme.

The winner will receive a prize of $500 and anthology publication – a selection of other entries also will be published. There is an entry fee of $20 per story, with a deadline of February 13, 2017. For further details go to http://fortysouth.com.au/magazine/ tasmanian-writers-prize/

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY NATURE WRITING PRIZE

This biennial nature writing prize invites entries of between 3,000 and 5,000 words and is open to Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. With a theme of ‘Writing of place’, the competition offers prize

money of $5,000, while there is a $30 entry fee. For more information head to https://tncnaturewritingprize. submittable.com/submit

2024 COMPETITION

This competition seeks the ‘best credible positive vision of life in 2024, in a satisfying narrative context’.

Entries can short stories, novellas or novels of any length, with prize money of $1,000 on offer. There is an entry fee of $10 per submission and a deadline of December 31. For full details go to http://www.mondeto. com/2024.html

BOONDOOMA STATION ANZAC STORIES IN POETRY COMPETITION

This poetry competition is seeking entries that deal with at least one theme as decided on by Queensland Anzac Centenary Commemoration, which can be found online. First prize wins $500, second prize $300, third prize $200. Winning entries will also be published. For full entry conditions (deadline for entries is February 17, 2017) and details of themes, visit www.abpa.org.au/Files/event_2017_ BoondoomaStnAnzac.pdf

HENRY SAVERY NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD

The 2017 Henry Savery National Short Story Award is open to writers residing in Australia. With an open theme, stories should be no longer than 2,500 words. There is an entry fee of $5 per story, with a deadline of June 30, 2017. First prize will receive $400, with second prize taking $100. For further entry information log on to https://fawtas.org.au/competitions/

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>> WRITERS’ GROUPS

>> Alstonville Plateau Writers Group

Meets second Friday of each month, 10am - 12pm. All genres welcome, contact Kerry on 66285662 or email alstonvilleplateauwriters@outlook.com

>> Ballina/Byron U3A Creative Writing

Meets every second Wednesday at 12pm, Fripp Oval, Ballina. Contact Jan on 0404007586 or janmulcahy@ bigpond.com

>> Bangalow Writers Group

Meets Thursdays at 9:15am at Bangalow Scout Hall.

Contact Simone on 0407749288

>> Bellingen Writers Group

Meets at Bellingen Golf Club on the fourth Monday of the month at 2pm. All welcome, contact Joanne on 6655 9246 or email jothirsk@restnet.com.au

>> Byron Bay Memoir and Fiction Writing Group Meets monthly at Sunrise Beach, Byron Bay. Contact Diana on 0420 282 938 or diana.burstall@gmail.com

>> Dunoon Writers Group

Writers on the Block. Meets second Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Dunoon Sports Club.

Contact Helga on 66202994 (W), 0401405178 (M) or email heg.j@telstra.com

>> FAW Port Macquarie-Hastings Regional

Meets 1pm on last Saturday of each month, Maritime Museum, Port Macquarie. Contact Joie on 65843520 or email Bessie on befrank@tsn.cc

>> Gold Coast Writers Association

Meets third Saturday of each month, 1:30pm for 2pm start, at Fradgley Hall, Burleigh Heads Library, Park Avenue, Burleigh Heads. Contact 0431443385 or email info@goldcoast-writers.org.au

>> Kyogle Writers

Meets first Tuesday of each month, 10:30am at Kyogle Bowling Club. Contact Brian on 66242636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com

>> Casino Writers Group

>> Middle Grade / Young Adult Fiction Writers’ Group

>> Cloudcatchers

>> Nambucca Valley Writers Group

Meets every third Thursday of the month at 4pm at Casino Library. Contact Brian on 0266282636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com For Haiku enthusiasts. A ginko (haiku walk) is undertaken according to group agreement. Contact Quendryth on 66533256 or email quendrythyoung@ bigpond.com

>> Coffs Harbour Writers Group

Meets 1st Wednesday of the month 10.30am to 12.30pm. Contact Lorraine Penn on 66533256 or 0404163136, email: lmproject@bigpond.com. www. coffsharbourwriters.com

Meets monthly at 2pm on Sundays in Bangalow. Contact Carolyn Bishop at carolyncbishop@gmail.com or 0431161104 Meets fourth Saturday of each month, 1:30pm, Nambucca. Contact 65689648 or nambuccawriters@ gmail.com

>> Taree-Manning River Scribblers

Meets second Wednesday of the month, 9am-11:30am, Taree. Call first to check venue. Contact Bob Winston on 65532829 or email rrw1939@hotmail.com

>> Tweed Poets and Writers

Share your memoir writing for critique. Monthly meetings, contact 0409824803 or email costalmermaid@ gmail.com

Meets weekly at the Coolangatta Senior Citizens Centre on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30pm, NSW time.

Poets, novelists, playwrights, short story writers are all welcome. Phone Lorraine 0755248035 or Pauline 0755245062.

>> Cru3a River Poets

>> WordsFlow Writing

>> Coffs Harbour Memoir Writers Group

Meets every Thursday at 10:30am, venue varies, mainly in Yamba. Contact Pauline on 66458715 or email kitesway@westnet.com.au

>> Dangerously Poetic Writing Circle

Meets second Wednesday of each month, 2pm-4pm at Brunswick Valley Community Centre. Contact Laura on 66801976 or visit www.dangerouslypoetic.com

>> Dorrigo Writers Group

Meets every second Wednesday from 10am-2pm.

Contact Iris on 66575274 or email an_lomall@bigpond. com or contact Nell on 66574089

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Group meets Fridays during school term, 12:30pm-3pm, Pottsville Beach Neighbourhood Centre, 12a Elizabeth St, Pottsville Beach. Contact Cheryl on 0412455707 or visit www.wordsflowwriters.blogspot.com

>> Writing for Wellbeing

Writing for Wellbeing workshops meet monthly on a Thursday from 10:30am to 1pm at Richmond Hill.

Focus is on expressive writing, support and feedback from facilitators Jan Mulcahy and Sally Archer. Phone 0404 007 586 or email janmulcahy@bigpond.com or visit the Facebook page

Support northerly in 2017 northerly is the bi-monthly magazine of Byron Writers Festival.

Published in January, March, May, July, September and November, it is distributed to members, community organisations, libraries, universities, schools, festivals, publishers and bookshops and has a readership in excess of 3,500. Each issue features interviews, reviews, essays and national and international news.

An array of discounts and deals are available for organisations and individuals interested in advertising. To discuss your advertising needs in northerly, contact us on
02 6685 5115 or via email at northerlyeditor@gmail.com

Byron Writers Festival presents

The Best of Insiders

Monday 14 November, 6.00pm Byron Theatre The ABC’s Sunday morning discussion program, Insiders, the highest rating morning program on Australian TV, is coming to Byron Bay. Host Barrie Cassidy will be live on stage with the panel: author and political and social commentator, David Marr; political editor with The Guardian, Katharine Murphy and author and columnist, Niki Savva.

Cassidy will guide the panel through the big political developments of 2016, and screen the most entertaining videos of the political year.

TICKETS $35 General / $30 Members & Concession byronwritersfestival.com/whats-on 02 6685 5115