Entries Tagged 'Awards' ↓

You’ve probably heard already: we’ve started on the production schedule for the next print edition of The Australian Writer’s Marketplace 2011/12.

But don’t worry, your copy of AWM 2009/10 is still good! The eleventh edition of AWM won’t be out until late next year. It just means that anyone who has a listing in AWMonline is receiving lots of gentle (for now) reminders to make sure all your details are up to date. Listees, just head over to www.AWMonline.com.au, log in with your Username (always an email address), and click on Password Reminder if you need it. Then go to My Details > Listings Management, click on "Edit" next to each listing, check your details and click SAVE (even if you don’t change any details).

Need help? Send in a contact form and we’ll get back to you asap.

As I help people to update their listings, I get to have lots of interesting conversations with agents, publishers, writing groups and organisations, competition organisers, magazines and journals, etc etc… The Australian writing and publishing industry has been holding its breath all year, awaiting the outcome of the dreaded review into restrictions on the parallel importation of books. A long exhale of relief resounded around our country last month, and the industry is bustling with plans for next year and beyond:

• The Aurealis Awards finalists for 2009 have been announced. Congratulations to all the fabulous Australian speculative fiction writers on the list, including Writing Racers Sean Williams, Peter M. Ball, and Angela Slatter. “Our Aussie authors are some of the best in the business,” says Ron Serdiuk, Awards Coordinator. “Many of the names on this list aren’t just prominent within the science fiction and fantasy genre. They include Scott Westerfeld and Andrew McGahan, authors who are critically acclaimed and enjoyed throughout Australia and the world."
• SPUNC member and independent publisher, Aduki Press, has a new owner. After four years building Aduki from a small newsletter publisher to one of Melbourne’s healthiest small publishers, Emily Clark has decided to move on to pastures new and sell the business. New owner, Chris Chinchilla, says he is "keen to take our books and ideas to many new fronts, especially how [Aduki] can fit into the rapidly evolving world of content publishing. However, have no fear, I am definitely intending to maintain our focus on community, environment, food, migration, politics, social justice and travel as well as our existing networks and communities."
• Books Alive, the Australian Government initiative administered nationwide by the Australia Council for the Arts, is calling for entries in a book cover design competition.The winning designer shall receive $2500, their winning cover design shall appear on approximately 200,000 copies of the free book, and the cover design shall also feature in a massive media and marketing campaign. Entries close at 5 pm, Friday, 5 February 2010. See last year’s winning cover here.
• Scarlet Stiletto Awards were announced while I was away. A big congrats to all the wonderful women crime writers involved!

There are so many resources to inspire, motivate and support the Australian writer – we are very fortunate. If you are feeling overwhelmed or under-appreciated, contact your writers centre and start getting (re)connected! And have a great week of writing, everyone.

Why is it that the more time passes between blogging, the harder it is to publish that new post? To paraphrase writing genius Aaron Sorkin, let’s overlook that I came late to the party, and celebrate the fact  that I turned up at all…

Time to catch up on recent events in the blogosphere:

They’ve started announcing the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week Awards. In particular, check out the nominations for Best Blog Tours – great leads for bloggers wishing to reach a broader audience.

And of course, you’ve all heard that Twitter has announced their new terms of service, summarised in their blog. They are eager to reassure people that, unlike Facebook, ownership of user content will remain with the user. You own your Tweets. But what rough beast slouches towards the Twitterverse? Targetted advertising, folks - it’s just over the horizon. Which is great, because I don’t know about you, but I’m sure sick of having to spend hours hunting down information about the latest miracle-celebrity-weightloss-facecream!

So have you tried the new Facebook Lite? It’s a clutter-busted version of Fb, with old school design to be easy on the download quota.

Like!

Mashable has a great short post on tips on writing for digital markets: take this quiz and let me know how your web content measures up!

• Know your objective: Do you adopt a different tone for articles, blog posts, tweets and status updates?
• Know your audience: Do you think about who will be reading your content, and target your information accordingly?
• Keep it short: Do you omit needless words?
• Make it scannable: Do you write in the F-shape, highlight your main points, and use comprehensible titles instead of in-jokes?

• Embrace constraints: Still feeling frustrated with only 140 characters, or do you enjoy the challenge of working within different physical and cultural constraints?

Give yourself a star for each yes answer. I’m about a three-star web writer. (Room for improvement is a good thing, right?)

And completely off the topic, whose September would be complete without sparing a smile for the pint-sized funkster phenomenon… so much talent it’s kinda disturbing!

I’ll leave you with a quote from NaNoWriMo guru Chris Baty, who attended a live forum at AWMonline this morning:

Once I discovered that there was a reasonably unhorrible book lurking in there all that time, I started wondering what ELSE was inside me. It’s funny what tackling an overly ambitious creative project can do to help people realize their potential.

Happy writing, folks, and I’ll see you real soon (no, I mean it!)…

Crime fiction writers and readers in Australia have a lot to thank the Scarlet Stiletto Awards for – they have launched many of our favourite authors. In 1991, convenor Carmel Shute set up Sisters in Crime, the organisation respnsible for finding and promoting so much new talent in Australian women’s crime fiction. I caught up with Carmel to chat about the history of this vibrant group, the latest Scarlet Stiletto Awards, and the new anthology of award winners, The First Cut.

MV: This is the 16th Scarlet Stiletto Awards – can you tell us how they started?

Back in 1994, Sisters in Crime wanted to unearth new female criminal writing talent and decided a short story competition was the best way to do that. Like many of our best ideas, it took shape over a boozy dinner. We were keen to keep the award within the tradition of the Golden and Silver Daggers presented by the Crime Writers’ Association in the UK so decided to call it the Scarlet Stiletto Award – a play on stiletto the weapon and stiletto the shoe with a suitably tartish touch! As well as receiving $750 in cash from HarperCollins, the overall winner is also presented with a trophy – a scarlet stiletto shoe with a steel stiletto heel plunging into a perspex mount.

MV: What big names in crime writing have been launched after winning a SS Award? 
 
A number of winners of the various categories in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards have gone on to have novels published – Tara Moss, Cate Kennedy, Angela Savage, Josephine Pennicott, Alex Palmer, Liz Filleul, Margaret Bevege, Patricia Bernard, Bronwen Blake, Jo McGahey and Cheryl Jorgensen – though in the case of Cate Kennedy, who won the first two Scarlet Stiletto Awards, it wasn’t in the crime field.

 Lisa Burnett with Scarlet Stiletto winner, Tara Moss

MV: What’s new about SS Awards this year?
 
This year that the prize-money has been boosted to a total of $4200 by two new sponsored awards: The Olvar Wood Late Starters Award for writers 50 or over, consisting of a $650 Weekend Package at Olvar Wood Writers’ Retreat in Palmwoods on the Sunshine Coast and ScriptWorks Great Film Idea Award ($200). Download an entry form from the Sisters in Crime website http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/
 
MV: Can people read Scarlet Stiletto winners’ stories anywhere?
 
The first 13 years’ winning stories can be found in Scarlet Stiletto: The First Cut (Mira, 2007), now available for $30 (postage paid) from Sisters in Crime, GPO Box 5319, Melbourne 3001.
 
MV: What do you think makes for a winning submission in the short story competition?
 
Good writing! The stories that most often fail to meet the mark are ones where men (mostly husbands) get killed off for no particularly compelling reason. Sisters, if you desire to get rid of your husband, you don’t have to plunge your sewing scissors into his jugular. There is always the divorce court.
 
MV: You have been putting energy and effort into SinCOz and SS for years. When and how did you become involved in SinCOz and SS? What motivates you?

Women’s crime fiction exploded in the eighties and early nineties. Every time my female friends and I got together. It seemed that our conversation invariably turned to the latest ripper read. Many of the books originated in the United States where Sara Paretsky had formed Sisters in Crime at the 1986 Bouchercon crime convention to fight for a better deal for women crime writers.

In 1991, I produced a 45-minute documentary entitled “Sisters in Crime” for Radio National’s Coming Out Show. Based on interviews with US writers Paretsky, Sue Grafton and others, it explored the phenomenon of feminist crime writing and offered a free bibliography. The response was enormous (for Radio National anyway) and a group of us in met in my lounge room in St Kilda to plot. Right away, we decided our organisation would involve readers, not just writers, and offer a forum for discussion and debate. Sisters in Crime Australia launched itself (with a debate!) at the Feminist Book Fortnight in Melbourne in September 1991.  I’ve never had such fun – and the debates are our regular events in Melbourne continue to expand my knowledge (and enjoyment) of crime fiction. I just love crime fiction and the terrific organisation we’ve created.

MV: What are you most interested in at the moment in Australian women’s crime writing – trends/opportunities /industry developments? 

Sisters in Crime’s overriding mission to get women crime writers published  and debated. With the Productivity Commission report hanging over the Australian publishing industry like an executioner’s axe, we’re naturally very nervous at the moment. It’s taken a lot of effort to persuade Australian publishers to ‘risk’ taking on Australian women crime writers. We’d hate to see them just opt for the latest hot crime book from overseas.
 
MV: SinCOz is an amazing, vibrant resource for crime writers. Can you tell us how regional SinCOz members (or aspiring members) can connect with their local group, or with other activities? E.g. Are there plans to start recording or podcasting SinCOz Melbourne activities?

Sisters in Crime has chapters in Melbourne (where most members live and most events happen), Perth, Brisbane and Sydney where the organisation is called Partners in Crime. We’d welcome some new members to help revitalise the Brisbane chapter. We’re planning a brand new interactive website later this year. We already record events (to use as a basis for article in Stiletto magazine) but will think about podcasting. The latest Stiletto – all 88 pages of it – is just out. To join, download a form from the existing Sisters in Crime website http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/

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Join us at AWMonline tonight for the regular Writing Race, 7:45pm for an 8pm start. Enjoy an hour of dedicated writing in the company of your AWMonline Writing Race buddies.

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The Scarlet Stiletto Awards for crime fiction are now open, so polish your best crime short story for a chance to become part of Australian women’s crime fic history! Also, the Davitt Award: Books in Contention are listed here. Will Katherine Howell take out two in a row with her second book The Darkest Hour? Will hugely successful Kate Morton pip her at the post for The Forgotten Garden? Will Australian crime legend Kerry Greenwood get the nod for Phyrne Fisher mystery #17? Will Chloe Hooper continue her winning run and take out the True Crime Davitt for her depth and precision in The Tall Man? With 41 titles from a range of publishers big and small, the Davitts represent the best of the best in Australian women’s crime writing. Join SinCOz to have your vote.

UDPATE: The Scarlet Stiletto Awards application form will be available soon at the SinCOz website. Meanwhile, this is it here.

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A new writing prize:

‘Telstra, in conjunction with the Telecommunications Journal of Australia (TJA) and the Hon Bill Shorten MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, launched the Telstra-TJA Christopher Newell Prize for Telecommunications and Disability. This new prize of $20 000 will be awarded for the best original paper offered for publication by TJA that demonstrates the tangible benefits that an innovative use of telecommunications technology can deliver in assisting individuals with disabilities.’

See here for more details.

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A mythical opportunity for stamp collectors and lovers of geeky art, fantasy, mythology, ‘n’stuff. Fairies or dragons? I can’t decide!

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The Brisbane Writers Festival Committee has announced their former Youth Coordinator Jane O’Hara as the new Artistic Director. We’re excited because she knows how the festival works, and she has vision for regional Queensland … hurrah!

And here’s Friday’s links for your clicking pleasure:

• Writing Raw literary sharing website
• Eureka Street writers Awards
• Victoria has voted: Top Five summer read

Writing Race: Special Guest next week is emerging speculative fiction author, Angela Slatter, Aurealis Award nominee and Clarion South graduate. Writing race word count update: 14,816. Join us Tuesdays 8-9pm at AWMonline [you need to be a subscriber - subs start at $19.95].

Have a great weekend of writing, folks!

There are a few writing courses available online, but not many of them are free. Small wonder the free taster of new QWC Online Writing Workshops filled up fast. A few places are still available for anyone interested in Year of the Novel Online with Kim Wilkins, or Introduction to Creative Writing with Kate Eltham. It will be interesting to see how these online courses are picked up by aspiring writers living nationally and internationally over the year. Apparently, the free taster will regularly available in coming months – stay tuned.

Things that blow my mind: Did you know that Charles Darwin ‘establish[ed] an evolutionary sense of time that allowed science-fictional ideas to flourish’?! To mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of the Species, Tangled Bank Press is producing an online anthology of speculative fiction, artwork, and poetry. Create your beasties and let them run free through The Tangled Bank!

The Miles franklin Award has released their longlist for this year. Expect the shortlist announcement on 16 April, and the winner to be announced on 18 June 2009.

For residents of Western Australia, Maj Monologues have released their theme for the year: Suburban Mayhem. WA playwrights have until 24 April to submit their 8-15 minute piece.

And in Adelaide tomorrow night, poetry-lovers can get along to the Friendly Streets Poets Inc New Poets Launch at the SA Writers Centre. 

AWMonline Writing Race Word count to date: 7925. Celebrity Guest Writer Racer next Tuesday: Belinda Jeffrey.

     Back to school today, and I write this with a heart torn between joy and grief at the thought of my youngest starting Grade 1…

So, to mark the occasion for younger writers, and for those of us who juggle writing with parenting (and working, and everything else), let’s look at what’s happening for young writers and readers.

At the Aurealia Awards on Saturday night, convenor Ron Serdiuk gave a wonderful speech, during which he praised the teachers of his former primary school who made a big fuss over the Children’s Book Council Awards each year, imbuing the nominees and winners with such a fascinating aura that it helped to foster in him a lifelong love of books and reading. Upon hearing Ron, I made a quiet resolution to support my local teacher-librarian to do the same. I’ll go to CBCA’s website and find out how. Connecting young people into the broader community of writers and readers is such an exciting and rewarding challenge.

Currently, the ACT Writers Centre is running the wonderful Scribble Festival again, including children’s book manuscript consultations, a poetry slam, and a zine fair with panel sessions. Sounds v cool.

Other stuff to check out: Voiceworks magazine welcomes submissions from uder-25s. YAMP is a great opportunity for young writers to access training, advice, and funding. QWC runs Young Writers’ Boot Camps in June and September this year.

Any events for young writers coming up in your hometown? You are welcome to spruik them here!

     … Speculative fiction!

Everyone is gearing up for the Aurealis Awards tomorrow night. I caught a sneak peak of the program yesterday, and it is lush. If you can’t make it down to Judy in person, get your live updates at the Aurealis Awards website, or just listen for the tweets. And best of luck to all the writers nominated – what an incredible range of talent represented at the AA this year.

Speaking of talented speculative fiction writers, a bunch of them are in Brisbane for Clarion South, as well as reading about town. Yes, it’s shaping up as a good Australia Day weekend for fans of the genre.

Lastly, more lists of novels everyone must read, but this time no one needs to glance guiltily at the high-brow section while pining for their genre faves. The Guardian’s ‘1000 novels everyone must read’ includes a fantastic (literally) selection of spec fic titles. From gothic romance to eco-thriller, from 1532 AD to the recent noughties, this comprehensive three-part list offers insight into how spec fic writers use science and fantasy to produce texts that play a crucial role in interpreting and challenging our world.

     The CBCA has been criticised by Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, former Manager of the Centre for Youth Literature with the State Library of Victoria, for issues ranging from amateurism to award categories.
The structure of the CBCA is shared around the Australian states, but that doesn’t necessarily undermine their professionalism – some (à la Shirky) would argue the benefits of a decentralised, distributed network.
While some of the criticisms seem nitpicky, others have a direct impact on emerging Australian authors: just ask those of our members who write wonderful children’s stories that are published overseas, but not in Australia – as imports they cannot be considered for a CBCA Award.
American literature for children has recently come under fire for being too dark and complex for kids. A similar issue was raised in Australia when the CBCA Picture Book of the Year, Matt Ottley’s picture book Requiem for a Beast (aimed at the teen market), was placed among titles for early readers at libraries. It generated pots of publicity, and caused a few parents consternation, but ultimately allowed for the recognition of excellence in a genre (illustrated YA books) that would be difficult to fit into any other awards competition.
If Australia is to continue the efforts of the CBCA to foster reader development, then we must accept a broader understanding of the range of content required to meet the needs and interests of all our younger readers, from beginner to YA.
I’m putting it out there to our children’s authors – has the CBCA helped you? What are the issues you face as a writer? What categories of books do we need to recognise for young readers?

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt recently announced plans to ‘temporarily [stop] acquiring manuscripts’. Apparently they want to do things ‘smarter’ and that it is not ‘an indicator of the end of literature’. The Vice President of Communications, Josef Blumenfeld, has said it is ‘not a permanent change’.

This might scare a few people, but I think it’s a good thing. If they want to act like Willy Wonka and shut down for a while, regroup, reorganise and have a think about where publishing is going and come back bigger and better than ever (minus the ompa lompa’s) then that will only be beneficial to the authors on their list and might even get other publishers thinking about how to do things ‘smarter’.

In other news, Rachel Johnson has won the Bad Sex in Fiction contest with her novel, Shire Hell. John Updike was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award for Bad Sex in Fiction for being nominated four times during his career. You can read an excerpt of his 2005 nominated novel, Villages, here.