Entries Tagged 'Upcoming Events' ↓
November 10th, 2009 — Industry News, Upcoming Events, Writers Groups
More reports are reaching us about "jobs" for authors being offered through Seek.com. This latest one headlines with the promise of "generous" royalties, and guarantees editorial services at cost price as well as the latest in e-marketing.
We do not know the company involved, and leave you to make your own investigations should you wish to follow it up. But as a general rule, remember that writing your book is a craft, but from then on it’s all business. When approaching any publishing service, ask lots of questions to understand what they offer, check each line item in the entire publishing/editing/marketing package to ensure you understand any fees payable, and make sure all the publisher’s information is transparent. Seek legal advice before signing any contract. Keep your dreams of publication alive in your heart, but make your financial decisions with your head…
In other news, Harlequin Press are forging a path among the big players in publishing, with the launch of their digital-only publishing house, Carina Press. Check out this Juno books post for more details.
Write On!
Come and get your write on with the Racers tonight, featuring Writers of the Future winner, Jason Fischer. Jason is based in Adelaide, South Australia. He attended Clarion South in 2007, was shortlisted in the 2009 Ditmar Awards for Best New Talent, and is a contributing member of the Daily Cabal project. He has stories in Dreaming Again, Apex, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Aurealis Magazine. Check out Jason’s blog – he has a way with puns and an eye for the obscure and funny!
Writing Race Special Guest Jason Fischer
Join us at 7.45pm (AEST) for an hour of power writing from 8-9pm…
If you haven’t read it yet, have a look regular Racer Dr Kim’s latest post, Don’t Be a Cry Baby, with a special lift-out section for motivating writers. Hilarious. And true.
Writers Groups FTW!
Are you a member of a Writers Group? You are? No way! AWMonline loves Writers Groups!!
We know how hard Writers Groups have been working all year, and especially in NaNoWriMo, so we want to show our support by extending you an exclusive offer. If your Writers Group signs up as an institutional member (which means all the members of your Writers Group can access AWMonline for one low fee), you will receive an extra month’s membership for free!
Contact admin@awmonline.com.au or phone 07 3839 1243 for more information. Hurry, this offer is only valid until Friday 20 November.
April 8th, 2009 — Craft of Writing, Upcoming Events
QWC and Riverbend Books have another Riverbend Poetry Series event coming up at Riverbend Bookshop, Brisbane, on Tuesday 28 April. Longreach poet, Helen Avery (Seduced by Sky) is joined by Rosanna Licari, Phillip Neilson (Without an Alibi) and Sophia Nugent-Siegal (Oracle).
Rosanna Licari is a Queensland Poet and Editor of Stylus Poetry Journal. Here is an interview Lisette did with Rosanna, over at The Empty Page:
TEP: Could you tell us about a poem which has touched you deeply and why?
RL: The collection that really opened me up to poetry was Robert Lowell’s Life Studies. I was in high school and had never read anything like that before. I knew nothing about literature, but I knew this was something special. One of the poems that particularly impressed was "Sailing Home from Rapallo." One of my maternal aunts had lived in Rapallo, so I made an initial connection with the title. The first stanza is stunning:
Your nurse could only speak Italian,
but after twenty minutes I could imagine your final week,
and tears ran down my cheeks….
Lowell is travelling with his mother’s coffin from the Gulf of Genoa, Italy back to America by ship:
The crazy yellow and azure sea-sleds
blasting like jack-hammers across
the spumante-bubbling wake of our liner,
recalled the clashing colors of my Ford.
Mother travelled first-class in the hold;
her Risorgimento black and gold casket
was like Napoleon’s at the Invalides….
His use of language, subject matter, and free verse was a revelation. This collection, I found out later, was a turning point in Lowell’s writing and for American Poetry in general. This confessional style influenced later poets and include Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
TEP: Could you tell us about a poem which you have written, with an explanation of the inspiration/time/place/people/meaning behind it?
RL: An Absence of Saints is the title of my current unpublished collection. The poem I’ve chosen “Uncle Pepi the mechanic, Italy 1945” is from the collection and was published in Quadrant, March 2009. It is about an incident which my mother recounted to me that occurred just before the end of WWII. It is about one of her older brothers, Giuseppe, who was in the Italian Navy. In 1943, the Italian government surrendered to the Allied forces but Italy was occupied by the Germans. He fled by motorcycle to his mother’s house to avoid capture and hid in the cellar whenever it was unsafe.
Uncle Pepi the mechanic, Italy 1945
The sound of twigs breaking along the path out the back alerts him that there’s
something wrong. This time the trap door in his mother’s cellar doesn’t help him,
he’s at his aunt’s chopping firewood. A German soldier takes him by each arm. They
drive him to IÄiÄi to work for them. In gestures more than talk, he tries to explain
that he’s not an electrician but it’s no good and one of them points his gun muzzle at the
aerial searchlight that won’t work. Pepi understands that he has to do a good job.
He begins fidgeting with the button on his shirt as he looks at a cow that grazes daily
along the roadside. He’s worried and consoles himself with the thought that at
least his sister and girlfriend will bring him lunch. He figures out how the contraption
works and after two failed attempts at getting a spare part from Fiume and
Trieste, where they send him in a jeep filled with young soldiers and machine guns, the
Germans try Torino then finally Berlin. With the spare part in place, Pepi asks for
oil and when he goes to get the bucket, it’s empty. In a sweat, he looks round and sees
the cow nearby licking its lips. The oil is smeared on her snout and ears. He
rushes to the captain, says moo moo and mimes the cow lapping. Three of the soldiers
wrestle the cow down and the captain takes a knife from his belt, and slits the
animal’s belly. It jolts as if electrocuted, blood and oil ooze onto the grass. The smell of
guts makes Pepi gag. The captain smiles and nods, then orders another bucket of
oil. Pepi gets back to work muttering a quick prayer to the Virgin Mary. Drawing breath,
he flicks the switch and the light beam appears.
Rosanna Licari
March 24th, 2009 — Digital Publishing, Upcoming Events, Writing Races
From authoring and editing, to distribution and consumption, new technologies are changing all aspects of publishing. So what is the future of the book? Bob Stein, Founder and Co-Director of the Institute for the Future of the Book, and Founder of The Voyager Company will be in Brisbane for a lively discussion on the digital revolution as part of Wordpool: The Future of the Book. He’ll be joined by QWC CEO Kate Eltham, full of ideas from her recent participation in the O’Reilly: Tools of Change for Publishing conference in New York. Bob’s work directly investigates the evolution of intellectual discourse as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens. With the advance of the Amazon Kindle and similar digital readers being introduced into the market, the reality of the way we consume reading materials will evolve as rapidly as the way we now consume music via MP3. Where and when: this Friday 6.30pm, State Library Qld, bookings $20 through QWC’s online shop.
Link rot ate my faves, oh no! Still on e-readers, Sebastian Mary looks at the physical history of the tree-book, and the feral attention economy of the interwebz. Seriously, this article will reconfigure your conceptual framework for digital publishing, so that the iPod analogy suddenly works: "… a device for collating and archiving good, important, digital short writing? I want one!"
And remember folks, the weekly Writing Race is on tonight at AWMonline Forums, 8-9pm AEST. Why don’t you try planning a scene in advance so you can jump in and get writing with us tonight? Or just pop in and check us out – there’s a lot of productive writing being done there, plus some great discussions about different aspects of the craft. All forms of writing and editing welcome – whatever your project, you will produce more in a Writing Race! [You need to be a subscriber to access the forums section of the site: AWMonline subscriptions start at $19.95.]
March 18th, 2009 — Books and Publishing, Upcoming Events, Writing Races
Call for proposals for the 2009 This Is Not Art, the Festival which showcases emerging art and new media, are now open. Of particular interest to writers are the National Young Writers Festival and Critical Animals (including students, academics, and quasi-intellectuals…).
Kat Meyers’s new media book review brigade includes links to Review Blogs and all good things bookish, including stuff as varied as a critique of the muted Korean edition of Twilight and the new Book Roast Pitch Party thread for aspiring authors.
And while we’re talking about new books … two beautiful new titles by Kate Middleton and Adam Aitken are available in Giramondo’s award-winning poetry series.
What’s in the water in Melbourne. you guys?? There’s yet another fabulous Melbourne-based indie literary magazine: stop drop and roll will launch Issue One Crash Course, on Friday 20 March at Yah Yah’s, 99 Smith Street, Fitzroy, from 8.30pm. Best promotional tagline ever: ‘A compact sucker-punch of new writing and art from Australia and overseas’. It includes a range of short fiction, poetry, and essays. Available online from their funky website.
Writing Race word count update: 11,705. As one new racer put it: "I will probably use most of what I wrote last night so the exercise paid off big time for me. I am going to try to make it a regular event on Tuesday evenings. You are all great motivators." A big thank you to Belinda Jeffrey, who was an inspiring guest racer. Belinda’s book Brown Skin Blue is due to be launched in June.
March 12th, 2009 — Awards, Upcoming Events, Writing Resources
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.
March 3rd, 2009 — AWM Forums, Competitions and grants, Upcoming Events, Writers
To help you achieve your writing goals for 2009, AWMonline is offering subscribers the opportunity to join in a regular, live, online writing race.
Our celebrity guest KIM WILKINS will be joining us for our first AWMonline writing race, tonight at 8pm AEST for one hour.
Subscribers can log in tonight at 7.45pm AEST and go to "forums" under "writing resources". Let us know you’re online, check for the correct starting time, and then get writing!
At 9pm AEST, it’s pens (keyboards) down… Let us know your word count for the night, and how you feel about your progress. You’ll be amazed at how motivated you are when racing alongside your online writing buddies!
So AWmonline subscribers, start planning for a night of productive writing. If you want to join us and become an online writing racer, it’s easy to subscribe at www.awmonline.com.au – subscriptions start at $19.95.
January 27th, 2009 — Awards, Festivals, Upcoming Events
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!
January 23rd, 2009 — Awards, Upcoming Events, Writers
… 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.
November 25th, 2008 — Business In The Industry, Marketing, Upcoming Events
The YES program (Young Entrepreneurs Success) is a business mentoring program that was designed to support innovation in business. It specifically targets the creative industries, ie film, television, design from all genres, art, digital mediums, dance, performance and more. They will be running a course in Brisbane on 10 December for any interested parties.
October 30th, 2007 — Books and Publishing, Upcoming Events
Announced last week is the news that British award-winning author Ian McEwan has been secured by the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts to headline their 2008 Writers’ Week.
McEwan leads an army of international authors including Patrick McGrath, Peter Godwin and Paul Auster who will take part in the highly respected literary festival, now in its 48th year, between 2nd and 7th March 2008. Australian writers will also be represented in abundance with ex-pat authors Germaine Greer and Peter Carey returning home for the occasion to join the likes of Nick Earls, Gideon Haigh and David Malouf.
For the full line up and to book tickets, go to Adelaide Festival.
