NSW Writers Centre held Guwanyi – The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers’ Festival on Saturday 6 September. SCWC Chairperson Elizabeth Hodgson and Board member Dr Ernie Blackmore were in attendance, and SCWC member Tara June Winch was on the program for the festival.
Left to right: Elizabeth Hodgson, Ernie Blackmore, a devoted fan and Tara June Winch
South Coast Writers Centre presented the second in its series of Rocket Readings, hosted by Linda Godfrey, and featuring poets Jane Gibian and Chrissie Paice in June this year.
Christine Paice (pictured above) is a South Coast poet. Her first book of poetry Mad Oaks was published by Ginninderra Press, who have just released her second collection, Staring at the Aral Sea.
Jane Gibian (pictured above) saw her poetry collection Ardent published by Giramondo in 2007. Her previous collections are long shadows (2005) and The Body’s Navigation (1998). In 2002 she was awarded an Asialink Literature Residency in Hanoi.
Rocket Readings was held at Music Farmers, a venue, shop, gallery and label based in Wollongong.
Ernie Blackmore reads at Moruya Library
Elizabeth Hodgson at Bermagui Community Centre
The first event in the Indigenous Writers Tour, Celebrating the Voice 8, was held at Wollongong City Gallery.
Writers and audience. Featured readers front row left to right: Norm Newlin, Burraga Gutya, Lionel Fogarty, Barbara Nicholson (with artist Kevin Butler), Ernie Blackmore, Elizabeth Hodgson.
The event featured visiting poets Lionel Fogarty, Ken Canning aka Burraga Gutya and Norm Newlin, with local writers Barbara Nicholson, Dootch Kennedy, Ernie Blackmore and Elizabeth Hodgson. The evening was MCed by Paul Sharrad, and Kyarna Cruse opened the program with a capella performances of My Island Home and We Are Australian.
Over a hundred people attended the event, which was part of the program of the Sydney Writers Festival, and presented by the South Coast Writers Centre and the University of Wollongong, with support from Arts NSW, Woolyungah Indigenous Centre, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong.
This event will now tour to Bermagui, Moruya and Nowra (see dates below), with the tour being supported by South East Arts Region (SEAR) and Southern Trucks.
Bermagui
When: 3.30pm, Tuesday 3 June 2008
Where: Bermagui Library and Community Centre, Bunga Street, Bermagui
Program: Aunty Barbara Nicholson, Ernie Blackmore and Elizabeth Hodgson and local guests.
Moruya
When: 2pm, Wednesday 4 June 2008
Where: Moruya Library
Program: Aunty Barbara Nicholson, Ernie Blackmore, Elizabeth Hodgson and Min Mia.
Nowra
When: 6pm, Thursday 5 June 2008
Where: Lecture Hall, Shoalhaven Campus, University of Wollongong, George Evans Road, West Nowra
Program: Aunty Barbara Nicholson, Ernie Blackmore and Elizabeth Hodgson and Josh Black.
Sue Angel presented another fabulous night of literary entertainment at Headlands Hotel in Austinmer. The event was hosted by Van Badham and featured Alistair Stewart, The Bracket Creeps, The Common Cold Poetry Collective, Maddy Phelan, and music from a band that included Marianthe Loucataris, Mel Wishart, and Pedro Altuna, plus the launch of Alan Wearne’s new book The Australian Popular Songbook.
Van Badham and Alan Wearne
Music at Headlands
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David Brooks reads at Music Farmers. Video still courtesy of Dudley Langenegger Productions.
Poet and novelist David Brooks’ novel The Fern Tatoo has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Steven Carroll, Rodney Hall, Alex Miller and Gail Jones are also on the shortlist.
David Brooks appeared as guest reader at the SCWC’s Rocket Readings in March this year.
SCWC congratulates writers shortlisted for the NSW Premiers Literary Awards 2008. The shortlist was announced this morning at Gleebooks in Sydney.
Gregory Day, shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, appeared recently at an SCWC event in Nowra, while two of the six writers shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry – Joanne Burns and Brook Emery - featured at SCWC poetry readings in 2007.
SCWC can also hint that at least one of the other shortlisted poets will be appearing as part of the program of poetry the SCWC will present at Wollongong City Council’s Viva La Gong Festival in October.
The shortlist is available in full from Arts NSW’s website.
South Coast Writers Centre presented a panel discussion Are You Serious: Zines, comics and graphic novels at Wollongong City Gallery. The panel was chaired by Clementina Velasco and featured Julie Ditrich from Black Mermaid Productions, Vanessa Berry, and Matt Huynh from Stikman Comics.
The panel was part of a whole day’s program at Wollongong City Gallery, including a zine fair, workshops, readings and talks. There are some photos of the day on The Fetus’ Flickr page.
Panellists discuss zines, comics and graphic novels.
Attentive listeners at the panel.
South Coast Writers Centre presented a creative writing workshop Zest with Linda Godfrey at the Shoalhaven Arts Centre in Nowra.
Linda Godfrey’s Zest workshops are for new writers and writers looking to energise their writing. Linda is an experienced writer, editor and workshop facilitator, with an abundance of juicy, refreshing techniques to help writers start – or finish - their writing projects.
Upcoming SCWC workshops are listed on the News section of the SCWC website.
SCWC member Sandy Fussell has just launched White Crane, the first book in her Samurai Kids series. White Crane is flying off the shelves, and book two, Owl Ninja, comes out in October this year.
