Category / Ballarat Writers’ Inc

by Melissa Watts

Writing Projects

It’s taken me a while to write about some of the writing projects I’ve been working on but I’ve had some great chances to get some of my work published recently.

Earlier this year I wrote a short story to the theme of  ‘The Book as a Material Artefact’ for the journal Ex Parenthasis. 

I was lucky enough to have my story Tashkent’s Koran published along side work by E A Gleeson, Amy Tsilemanis, Jade Standing and Nathan Curnow.

 

In the next few months I will have a poem and short story published in the PWE Anthology from the University of Ballarat. More on that as it happens.

 

I’ve also just found out that I’ve been selected to participate in a fantastic writing initiative between Ballarat Writers Inc and the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Here’s a little about it:

The event is called ‘Artists Inspire Artistry: Reflections on Botanical Art’, and it is part of the Art Gallery’s ‘Capturing Flora’ exhibition, which opens on 25 September. The event aims to celebrate the beauty and rich diversity of Australian flora and its expression by botanical artists from the early explorers to the present day. It will present a collection of new poems and written works recited by their authors in front of the artwork of their inspiration as part of a ‘roving’ recital around the exhibition. We are scheduled to give not one, but TWO recitals of the new works – on 9 and 13 November.

So my novel is being neglected a bit, but I’m enjoying the new inspiration!

by Melissa Watts

It’s that time of year again and I am busy trying to promote the 2012 Ballarat Writers and Illustrators Festival.

With a swag of Australian children’s and young adult (CYA) writers, illustrators and publishers attending the weekend of Sept 1-2, it’s bound to be a success. This year the even runs over 2 days with a literary evening on the Saturday night.

We also have a new location –  Ballarat’s iconic Mechanics Institute, where Mark Twain once spoke.

Our panellists will be discussing issues vital to emerging and aspiring writers and illustrators, with a focus on how the industry is adapting to new technologies and where to find new audiences. Writers, illustrators, editors and publishers will participate in panels addressing new media challenges, new opportunities for fiction and non-fiction, creating characters and adapting illustration in the digital age. A major feature of the festival is the ‘first page’ competition. Attendees have the opportunity to have their work critiqued by a panel of publishers in the festival’s final session.

The program for the day can be found here.

The panellists for the day can be found here.

It’s really not that far from Melbourne so if you are free come up!

 

 

 

by Melissa Watts

Cops and Robbers – Writing Crime

I’m busy publicising Ballarat Writers next fantastic workshop and thought some of you may be interested –

August 11 – Cops and Robbers; writing the perfect crime scene with Jarad Henry

Saturday August 11  10am – 4pm
Member – $75 / Non Member – $100
Click here to book

Ever wanted to write a crime novel or short story? Chances are you’ll have at least one detective wandering your pages.  But how do you get the procedure right? What about dialogue? Do we call them perps or crooks? You don’t want an Aussie detective to sound like a character off the set of Law and Order, do you?  And what about the crime scene? Who strings up the plastic tape, who calls in homicide and the coroner?

In this interactive workshop you’ll learn to the ins and outs of real life police drama, as well as how to walk, talk and investigate like an Aussie detective.  Most importantly, you’ll learn how to apply this to your characters, giving your stories the essential ingredient of every great crime writer; verisimilitude.

Jarad Henry has worked in the criminal justice system for more than twelve years. He has a degree in criminology and regularly speaks about crime trends at conferences and seminars. Jarad’s debut crime novel, Head Shot, was short listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, and for the Ned Kelly Awards Best First Crime Novel.

His second novel Blood Sunset won the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Jim Hamilton Award, and was short listed for the Vogel Award. It was also runner up for the reader’s choice award in the 2009 Summer Read. Pink Tide is the third in the McCauley trilogy and will be out in mid 2012.

by Melissa Watts

Ballarat Writers and Illustrators Festival

 I’m pleased to report that this weekend was a great success for the Ballarat Writers’ and Illustrators’ festival for 2011. This year’s theme was ‘words and pictures’ with a focus on Children and Young Adult authors and illustrators. A dinner on the Friday night kicked off the festival in fine form. Dominic Brine from ABC Ballarat was the MC for the night with Maureen McCarthy  as the keynote speaker.  I was lucky enough to be on a table with authors Ebony McKenna, Nicholas Brasch, editor Catherine McCredie from Penguin Books and illustrator Dave Hackett. The mood of the room was inspiring as a range of professionals within the industry shared a few drinks, a fantastic 3 course meal, and countless stories.

It was hard to leave for the night, but my job the following morning was to kick off the festival by interviewing our keynote author Maureen McCarthy. This was intimidating; it was my first public interview, besides the work I do with Voice FM. I read Maureen’s novels when I was in high school and in the lead up to the festival I refreshed my memory by reading Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude get a life, Rose by Any Other Name and Careful What you Wish For. Her novels are great and there were plenty of questions that I could have asked, but I wanted to make sure that the audience got a lot out of it, whether they were novelists, illustrators or picture book authors. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed doing it.

By the end of the day my head was spinning with all the fantastic panels. There were 26 panellists and each panel was loaded full of tips, tricks and advice. One of the days highlights was the montage of images that Simon Swingler produced. He had been silently animating in the corner throughout the panel discussions and then produced a computer animated image of each of the panellists (I’d love to track down the one he did of me – it was fantasic.)

Ballarat Books was a fantastic sponsor, making sure a great collection of each authors work was available. It was a great festival and something I’m happy to have been involved in. The festival committee consisted of Alice Barker, Jill Blee and Nadine Cranenburgh, who should be congratulated.

by Melissa Watts

Tim Pegler

Over the last few months I have been helping Ballarat Writers to prepare for the Ballarat Writers and Illustrators Festival for 2011. As part of this I have prepared by reading  the novels of young adult author, Tim Pegler. Continue reading →

by Melissa Watts

Workshopping

A few weeks ago I attended a Ballarat Writers workshop run by Alison Arnold from Text Publishing and Cath Crowley, young adult author. The day previous Cath Crowley had won the Prime Ministers Literary Award for Young Adult writing, for her novel Graffiti Moon. The class was instantly excited when Alison told us about Cath’s success, and I have to give her credit for turning up so bright eyed the day after the announcement (if that was me I would have had a champagne headache to say the least.) Continue reading →

by Melissa Watts

Pure Poetry Recital 2011

Last year I went along to Ballarat Writers Pure Poetry event in the Art Gallery of Ballarat and was blown away. This year it’s on again.

Hear the Australian voice in poetry and music in this unique recital platform. Presented by Ballarat Writers Inc and the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Pure Poetry Recital will premiere new works by Victorian poets and composers, featuring cross-artform innovations by award-winning poet Nathan Curnow and Melbourne’s rising star, composer Anthony Lyons. New works by renowned poets will be performed alongside their musical reflections by Victorian composers.

An all-Australian program, including solo, duo and trio works by Brenton Broadstock, Ross Edwards and others. The Pure Poetry Recital will also showcase work by five emerging poets unearthed in the 2010 Pure Poetry Tour, in which Ballarat Writers Inc mentored poets across Western Victoria.

Come on a discovery – you’ll be moved by the interplay between music and words.

I’m reallylooking forward to this year, hearing brand new pieces.

Join me!