Over the past few months I’ve begun regularly supplying columns for the Ballarat Independent.
The Ballarat Independent provides an alternative news source to the Courier, which is the local daily newspaper. My columns will range across a variety to topics.
You can view my articles here.
I’m signing up for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012.
I’m not too concerned about the challenge, because I love Australian Women Writers. I love that there is an undercurrent of fantastic work that sometimes you need to hunt hard for. I found this when I wrote my thesis on early Australian author Rosa Praed in 2005.
What I don’t love is that you still often need to hunt for contemporary writers. Count the reviews of books written by Australian women the next time you read the book review pages in any major publication. In fact, just this last weekend the weekend Age covered this very topic. I don’t need to restate the facts, if you’re reading this you’ve probably already seen the debate over the last 12 months within Australian publishing.
Instead I’m going to focus on the positives. I’m looking forward to reviewing more female Aussie content this year. I’m excited about Paddy O’Reilly’s next novel coming out in March. I’ll probably start with a review of the great novel by Jill Blee that I’ve just finished, and I’m in the process of reading Dulcie Deamer’s biography – that will give me a great start.
So I’m signing up as a “Franklin-Fantastic” – read 10 books and review at least 4. I’m also a “devoted eclectic”, planning to write about as many genres as I can find.
2011 was a big year for Ballarat Writers Incorporated and I learned a lot being part of such a fantastic committee.
One of the most exciting achievements for the year was the re-introduction of the workshops. Presenters included Sheila Hollingworth, editors Allison Arnold and Alice Barker, authors Cath Crowley and Jill Blee and poet Nathan Curnow. The success of the workshops means that these will run again for 2012. I will post the details when they are out.
The standard event through the year has been the reading and open mic nights. We have hosted poet Marian Spires, author Lisa Lang, YA authors Tim Pegler, Leanne Hall and Nicholas Brasch and Illustrator and author Sally Rippin.
The two major yearly events hosted by Ballarat Writers Inc are Pure Poetry and the Ballarat Writer’s and Illustrator’s festival. Set in the beauty of the Ballarat Art Gallery Pure Poetry mixes classical music with poetry with both the words and music written or composed within the last 12 months and all Australian. Commissioning new Australian works is an absolute honour for the committee. The event is the brainchild of Chair, Bronwyn Blaiklock, who is not only a brilliant pianist, but also a poet.
This year’s Ballarat Writers and Illustrators festival continued the YA and Children’s theme, fast becoming the niche event for writers and illustrators within the industry. Commencing with a dinner YA author Maureen McCarthy was the keynote speaker who also kicked off the next days sessions. In total 26 authors, illustrators and publishers spoke to an audience from across Victoria.
To wrap up the year the Southern Cross Literary Competition was won by Kate O’Donnell. Personally I enjoyed assisting with this comp, and getting the chance to see the inside workings of a large scale literary competition.
Ballarat Writers is always open to new members. Please visit our website for further information www.ballaratwriters.com.
