OOTA Newsletter September 30th, 2014
OOTA NEWS Only 18 more sleeps until our very important AGM! Writers: Send in your tally of achievements and credits for 2014 to be listed and later added to our blog. Send to our President Julie Watts @ julie.watts@iinet.net.au Writing the Wild Sunday 12 October, 1.00pm-4.00pm Part one 'Writing the Wild'
WRITING AT THE CENTRE Friday, 3rd October is Prose with Helen Hagemann @ the Fremantle Arts Centre: Our start will be directly after lunch in Room 3 1.00pm-3.00pm Class to read excerpts from A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. Writing Exercises and discussion will look at the inclusion of both past and present tenses in the novel, as well as in the short story.
In this author talk acclaimed Perth poet Nandi Chinna will present and discuss her new book, Swamp: walking the wetlands of the Swan Coastal Plain, published by Fremantle Press, which she created with the practice of poepatetics – writing using walking as a creative tool. Afternoon tea break
Part two 'Walking the Wild' Nandi will introduce participants to Poepatetics - writing made from walking, and will discuss historical and current links between creativity and walking. This workshop section will include a short sensory walk around the beautiful KSP gardens, practical writing exercises and discussion. Costs: $15 KSP-members, $20 non-members. Booking and payment in advance is essential. http://kspf.iinet.net.au/eventworkshops.php#nandi Asialink Arts Residencies Asialink Arts Residencies aim to support Australians undertaking an arts residency in Asia for research, exchange, collaboration and creativity, and are open to all Australian residents. Residency categories include arts management, writing, performing and visual arts. Successful residents are offered a grant between $6,000-$12,000 for 6-12 week residencies respectively. The next funding round closes at 5pm EST Monday 30 September; applications must be made online. For more information click here. Are You the Next Big Thing in Young Adult Writing? Hachette Australia wants your manuscript! Throughout October, they'll be accepting submissions of YA novels in all genres. They're after stories that keep them hooked, new worlds they can disappear into, and characters that can become their new friends. If that sounds like your manuscript, they can’t wait to read it! You'll need a completed manuscript, synopsis and bio, and your manuscript should not be on submission elsewhere. For details, click here. Opportunity: Anthology of poems about city capitals Details regarding the anthology are at http://www.abhayk.com/p/global-poetry-project.html THE HORROR Regime Books is publishing an anthology of short horror stories. More here
Well, our call out for your achievements really worked! CONGRATULATIONS TO: Josephine Clarke who has a great selection of her Pemberton poems in Uneven Floor. Very enjoyable! Sue Clennell who has a poem Zeus forthcoming in fourW, her poem Then & Now in Unusual Work, and another poem Chariot of Time forthcoming in Studio. Rose van Son has 2 poems accepted into ‘Prospect Four’ Almost Blind and Eleanor Dark’s Room. Jackson has been offered a place at Edith Cowan University to commence her PhD in Writing next year. Recently she published 22 poems on her website Proximity, proximitypoetry.com. She has a poem in Writ Poetry Review's inaugural issue, which will be published on 30 September at writreview.com.au. Well done, ladies!
ASA Emerging Writers' and Illustrators' Mentorships The Australian Society of Authors invites applications from unpublished writers and illustrators who have completed at least one draft of a workin-progress. Published authors and illustrators working in a new genre may also be eligible to apply. The 2014-2015 program will support 12 mentorships from any eligible genre, plus one additional mentorship – The Edel Wignell Mentorship – for a children’s writer. Successful applicants will receive a 25-hour mentorship with a mentor of their choice. A further five highly commended applicants will be awarded a two-hour consultation with a mentor of their choice, plus access to up to two ASA Professional Development courses (to the value of $370 – some exclusions apply). Applications open 1 October and close 31 October. Entry is free for ASA members. For details, click here. The Martha Richardson Memorial Poetry Prize The Martha Richardson Memorial Poetry Prize is calling for entries of original poetry of up to 40 lines, on an open theme. Entry fee: $20 per poem. Prize: $1,000. Entries close 15 October. Guidelines, here.
Writing to the Wire Anthology New work which, through intelligent engagement with the issues, deepens the discourse on asylum seekers so as to advance the cause of human rights in Australia, can be sent to the Writing to the Wire anthology editors: please email Word + PDF copies to dan_disney@hotmail.com and mailto:kitkelen@umac.mo up until 31 December 2014. Work first published in the last twelve months can be accepted. CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 30- The Golden Shovel Anthology: Details via email 30 – Gold Coast Writers Festival Adult Writing Competition 30 – Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize: Details 30 – Didactyl: Details @ http://didactyl.org/submit/ OCTOBER 01 – Prolitzer Prize : Further details here 03 – Glen Phillips Poetry Prize: Details here 04 – Perth Poetry Club: Details 10 - The City of Rockingham Short Fiction Awards: Details 10 – Trove –Poetry & Fiction: Details here. 18- Margaret River Short Story Competition. Details here. 30 – Varuna Publisher Introduction Program 2015, click here 31 - Odyssey House Victoria 4th Annual Short Story: here 31 - The Best of Times short story competition #18. Details. NOVEMBER, 30 - Five Islands Press Ron Pretty Poetry Prize: Details 30 – 2014/15 Fish Short Story Prize. See Alumni. DECEMBER 15 – Tom Collins Poetry Prize: www.fawwa.org 19- Somerset National Poetry Prize: details Somerset 24 – Nature Writing Prize 2014 : Website 31- 2014 Aurealis Awards Calling for Entries: Details here. 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Open for Entry Submit your short story via the online application form between 15 September and 15 November 2014. Books for Review at Plumwood Mountain Journal Review published in their journal Check out this Melbourne site
POEM OF THE WEEK 2 Pelicans My friend was at the A & E, he wasn’t feeling good I was at the barbecue, just like he said I should. The phone call from the hospital shocks me with fear and fright – ‘You better come to ICU, he might not make it through the night.’ I stand silent at his bedside, he looks so dead already, I try comforting his children as their lives become unsteady. ‘Please don’t go away,’ I whisper. ‘Don’t leave us behind.’ I pray then to my Ancestors, I ask them for a sign. We sit all night like statues, on each side of his bed, The thought of losing him is really fucking with my head! The nursing staff fuss round with looks of deep regret. But I was waiting for a sign that he won’t leave us yet. The morning light creeps slowly across red desert sand His eyelids flicker open and he fumbles for my hand. ‘Hello,’ he whispers, ‘how are you?’ and then falls back to sleep My eyes stare at the monitors, the bips, the dots, the beeps. ‘He’s out of danger,’ the doctor says, ‘you should get some rest.’ And as I walked along Gap Road I look out to the west 2 pelicans fly overhead, floating on the breeze, ‘It’s the sign,’ I cry and thank the Spirits watching over me. I return to the hospital, he is much stronger now And the nursing staff all smiling as they too wonder how? I share the story of the sign, the pelicans in the sky We hold each other’s hands and smiles are in our eyes. I drive out to Amoonguna to tell family he is right I sit down with his Aunty, round the campfire, in the night I ask her to explain the pelicans and the meaning of the sign She laughs and whispers, ‘Arrangkwe just 2 pelicans in the sky!’
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by Ali Cobby Eckermann
Ali Cobby Eckermann first started writing and publishing poems from an early age, but it was not until her mid-thirties that she began to write and publish regularly. She entered the Bachelor College of Indigenous Tertiary Education in Alice Springs in 2001 to study creative writing, which resulted in various performances and publications coinciding with a period of great change in her life as she reconnected to her Aboriginal heritage. ootawriters@gmail.com http://ootawriters.blogspot.com.au https://www.facebook.com/groups/435245393226549/