News

1,000 facebook fans!

Crack out the champagne ... we've cracked the 1,000 'likes' mark on our facebook page! Thanks to all our members, friends and supporters, old and new, who've come along for the ride. Facebook and social networking is a big part of what we do now, so why not give our page a visit if you haven't already and while you're there 'like' us. Let's see if we can get 2,000 fans by the end of 2012.

Kibble and Dobbie Awards Shortlist Announced

The awards recognise outstanding female literary achievement in two categories: the Kibble Literary Award for the work of an established Australian female writer and the Dobbie Literary Award for the first published work of an Australian female writer. They award $30,000 and $5,000 respectively.

The Awards shortlist are as follows:

Kibble Literary Award: 

• Gail Jones – Five Bells
• Gillian Mears – Foal's Bread
• Charlotte Wood – Animal People

Dobbie Literary Award:

• Amy T Matthews – End of the Night Girl
• Favel Parrett – Past the Shallows
• Leah Swann – Bearings

Congratulations to Centre Board Member Amy T Matthews on being shortlisted for the Dobbie Literary Award.

Further detail on the awards and a synopses of the shortlisted works can be found here.

Vale Leo Damant

SA Writers' Centre staff and members are saddened to learn of the passing of Leo Damant, playwright and author and long-term member of the SA Writers' Centre and of South Australian Writers' Theatre. Early in his writing career Leo wrote comedy for TV shows like Melbourne and Adelaide Tonight shows, and scripts for children's TV. Leo went on to publish numerous short stories and four novels. Many of his plays were also produced.

Leo will be missed by the writing community.

National Young Writers' Month is Back.

NYWM is a month of online and offline activities held in June each year. The aim is for young writers around Australia to set and complete their individual writing goals, as well as get involved in a national community of their peers. To kick start NYWM this year, they're seeking contributors for their first ever travelling story. They're looking for 30 young writers aged under 25 from 30 different towns around Australia to contribute 100 words each to a collaborative story, to be published in the September issue of Voiceworks. For entry details, including submission guidelines, check out the story starter by writer, bookseller, and Express Media Award Winner Chris Currie right here. For more information on NYWM, head to their website. Submissions close May 21.

Salisbury Writers’ Festival 2012

It's back – bigger and better than ever before! Salisbury Writers' Festival 2012 offers a smorgasbord of local and national talent – some with international reputations. With a number of genres represented, you certainly don't want to miss out on this year's Festival, coordinated by the City of Salisbury and the SA Writers' Centre. Held over ten days, from 24 August to 2 September 2012, an opening presentation and awards evening will kick-start the jam-packed program of events and workshops.

The Festival 2012 offers writing enthusiasts and book lovers the opportunity to interact in a variety of workshops aimed at developing your writing skills and giving you the chance to meet and learn from some of the best writers in the business! So, make sure you keep watching this space and the City of Salisbury's website for further information closer to the Festival.

And, don't forget that the 2012 Salisbury Writers' Festival 'Writing Competition' is now open. If you've been getting the creative juices flowing, why not submit one of your pieces for consideration? Entry forms can be downloaded here.  There's also the 'Write Now' 2012 competition for high school students living, studying, working or volunteering in the City of Salisbury area – plus, there's the 2012 Haiga Visual Art Exhibition and Competition: for information about haiga click here and for entry forms here.

The full round-up of this year's Festival program is coming soon...

The Stella Prize for Women's Writing

The Stella Prize will be an annual literary prize for Australian women's writing. It will raise the profile of women's writing, and will reward one writer with a $50,000 prize. The shortlisted and winning books will be widely publicised and marketed in order to bring readers to the work of Australian women writers. In short, the Stella Prize will celebrate and recognise Australian women's writing, encourage a future generation of women writers, and significantly increase the readership for books by women. For more details, please contact the Stella Prize at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Romance Writers of Australia Annual Conference

Registrations are open for the Romance Writers of Australia Annual Conference. This is the most professional, industry-focussed writing conference in the country and is relevant to all commercial
fiction writers. There will be agents and editors from New York and Australia taking pitches (you don't have to pitch romance - you can pitch literary fiction and your manuscript may be requested). Here's a few of the people taking pitches this year:

 

 

 

 

• Monique Patterson (St Martin's Press)
• Belinda Byrne & Sarah Fairhall (Penguin Australia)
• Anna Valdinger (HarperCollins Australia)
• Bernadette Foley (Hachette Australia)
• Joel Noaum (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Helen Breitwieser (Agent, Cornerstone)
• Alexandra Adsett (Agent, Adsett)
• Clare Forster (Agent, Curtis Brown Australia)

It's a great opportunity if you have a completed manuscript.

2012 Annual General Meeting

A gentle reminder to members that our 28th AGM is coming up next week – Tuesday, 15 May. We'd love your involvement, so please join us in the Seminar Room at the SA Writers' Centre, 2nd floor, 187 Rundle Street, Adelaide for a 7.30pm start. Members are also welcome to join staff and Board members earlier for dinner at 6pm in Cafe Brunelli.

A Rare Opportunity ...

We are delighted to have the rare pleasure of hosting Davide Cali's only Australian writers' workshop. Davide, one of Europe's most innovative and acclaimed writers, with over 40 illustrated children's books to his credit, is presented in conjunction with the Children's Book Council of Australia and Wilkins Farrago.

He will present a unique afternoon of inspiration and hands-on exercises suitable for both aspiring and established children's authors. His workshop is themed around four 'writing engines' aimed at helping you construct their stories and tackle the difficult issues in children's literature. Just turn up with some paper and pencils and learn from a master of the craft. The workshop will be constructed around the following engines:

• Things I Love – How can we write stories that are not really like stories? Is it possible to write books that are just a collection of something? Sure it is – and you can do it.
• I Guess We Have a Problem – Children's books often focus on a little (or even great) problem to solve. We'll work on some children-related problems.
• Mum, What's Love Like? – Children often ask hard questions about love, life and death. And books can help provide the answers.
• A Bear with a Sword – A few words about 'engaged' writing. How can children's books tell stories about adult themes like war?

BOOK EARLY, PLACES LIMITED.
MEMBERS $66, NON-MEMBERS $88

One of Europe's top children's authors, acclaimed writer Davide Cali doesn't quite fit the usual mould. Born in Switzerland and raised in Italy, his thirst for storytelling eventually led him to writing children's books. His awards include France's prestigious Baobab Prize for I Can't Wait, illustrated by Serge Bloch. Over the past 10 years he has gone on to create more than 40 illustrated books, including The Enemy, What is this thing called love? and The Bear with a Sword. His books have been translated into 25 languages worldwide. His recent 10 Little Insects was selected by a panel as one of the best graphic novels of the year at the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. Fluent in French, Italian and English, Davide travels extensively around Europe giving talks and workshops at schools and book fairs. He is delighted by this opportunity to do the same in Australia.

Vale Stephen Lawrence

Staff at the SA Writers' Centre were saddened to hear of the passing of Stephen Lawrence. Stephen was a member of the Centre since 1995, a respected poet and fearless reviewer. He published three collections of poetry: Her Mother's Arms, Beasts Labial and How Not To Kill Government Leaders; as well as numerous single poems and reviews. He will be greatly missed.

Advertiser Young Writers Award

The following Young Writers Award is now open. The Advertiser Young Writer's Award is to encourage creative writing on any subject. The choice of topic is entirely free. Entrants may submit one poem and/or piece of prose that should not exceed 1000 words. The Young Writers Award is open to all students from junior primary to high school. There are six groups:

     • Group 1 - Reception and Year 1
     • Group 2 - Years 2 and 3
     • Group 3 - Years 4, 5 and 6
     • Group 4 - Years 7 and 8
     • Group 5 - Years 9 and 10
     • Group 6 - Years 11 and 12

This award is only open to students in South Australia. The Awards close 31 May 2012. For further Information go to their website, guidelines go here. The following links will take you to guidelines and application forms.

Carclew Youth Arts Scholarships

The Carclew Youth Arts Scholarships exist to provide a 'one off' allocation, of a significant amount of money, to young artists who are demonstrating outstanding talent and potential as future leaders in their art-form or practice. Applicants are to be aged 26 years or under at the closing date. Scholarships are currently offered to young writers practicing in the following fields:

• Creative Writing - $12,500 (original creative writing: Novels, Scripts, Poetry, Prose, Rhyme, Stories, Plays, Film Scripts etc)
• BHP Billiton Scholarship for Film and New Media - $12,500 (Film-Producing /Directing, Script Writing and Development, Documentaries, Cinematography, Animation, Trans-media Production, Biotechnology + Arts, Virtual World and Gaming, Video Art, Research into new technologies for Screen and Media work etc)

There are two public information sessions held in the Carclew Ballroom from 5:30 – 6:30 on Wednesday, 2 May or Thursday, 10 May 2012. Applications for activity occuring in 2012 are now open and close 5pm 13 July 2012. RSVPs are essential. Please phone Carclew on 8267 5111.

Gold Coast Writers Festival

Are you an author, publisher, printer or illustrator? Or simply someone who loves books? The Festival is looking for workshop presenters, speakers, panel participants and sponsors, so if you fall into any of these categories, please contact either Julie at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Kathy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

As promised, the Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers is all 'go' again, but with a new and exciting twist. They have now expanded their scope to include all authors and publishers, although indie authors and publishers will remain a major focus.

The new name of the festival is the Gold Coast Writers Festival and it will take place at Robina on Friday, 26 and Saturday, 27 October, followed by a Literary Luncheon on Sunday, 28 October.

 

Are You a Young, Emerging Writer?

Vanessa Jones will be joining the SA Writers' Centre team for three months as our part time Project Officer and will be working on our exciting Emerging Writers Program.

During her time as one of the six Writers' Centre Young Ambassadors last year she affirmed her passion for identifying and promoting the opportunities for people who are in the early stages of their writing career. Her previous roles include a project coordinator for SA Great and as a copywriter and publicist in a marketing firm, a social media marketing coordinator and she is also a freelance copywriter in her own right.

Vanessa writes poetry, short stories, a fair whack of copywriting, a social commentary blog (with lots of swear words in it) and is perpetually working on 'The Novel'. Please feel free to flip Vanessa an email or phone or drop into the Centre and introduce yourself to her. More details about the Emerging Writers Program will be coming soon.

Fiction Submissions: Southern Write

Now that  we've gone quarterly with Southern Write
we are taking fiction submissions for the first time since
the magazine's inception. If you have a short story
between 500-750 words and would like to contribute
please take a look at our guidelines. The deadline for
our June issue is coming up fast – 30 April – so dust
off those stories and get them in to us.

ABR Patrons’ Fellowship

The ABR Patrons' Fellowship for a major article with a film/television/media focus is worth $5,000. ABR are seeking a substantial article on film, television, or media – either a profile of a major media/cultural figure or a discursive essay with media/cultural themes. Any Australian writer with a significant publication record (books, creative writing, essays or journalism) is eligible to apply. Full guidelines are attached here and are also available on their website. Applications close 31 May 2012.

Entries open for $15,000 Kathleen Mitchell Award

The Trust Company has called for entries for the 2012 Kathleen Mitchell Award for talented young writers and announced a substantial increase in the prize money awarded to the 2012 winner from $10 000 to $15 000. The biennial Award presents $15,000 to a young Australian author aged 29 years or less at the time of their book's first publication.

The Trust Company will announce the winner in early June as the entry judged to be of the highest literary merit. More information on applying for the 2012 Kathleen Mitchell Award can be found on The Trust Company website.

Book Sales via Credit Card

This may be of interest to members who self-publish or to authors who can sell copies of their books directly to the public. PayPal are now offering an affordable way to accept credit card sales. As this is a new product the SA Writers' Centre has no experience of its usage, so we recommend that you read the 'terms and conditions' thoroughly. Go here for details.

Making the Most of School Visits

If you're a children's or young adult author you may well be asked to visit schools and talk about yourself and your latest book. It can be a daunting prospect if you're a first-timer. Children's author Sophie Masson has written an interesting piece on the subject at Writer Unboxed. 

Major Literary Award Axed!

Recently elected Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has axed one of Australia's major literary awards. The new coalition goverment has scrapped the state-funded literary awards in order to save $245,000. Among others, the Queensland Writers Centre  have roundly criticised Mr Newman for defunding the Premier's Literary Awards for aspiring and established authors. To view what will probably become an onslaught of criticism you can go to these links: Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.