The last issue of the VWC e-bulletin for 2008 will be Monday 8 December. It will resume mid-January 2009.
The VWC e-bulletin is sent to VWC members weekly on a Monday. If you are a VWC member and you are not receiving the e-bulletin please send your email address and name, using the contact us form.
— 02.12.2008 »
The VWC offices will close on Monday 22 December and re-open on Tuesday 6 January.
Any emails received or phone messages left will be answered on or after 6 January.
The VWC library will also be closed during this period.
— 02.12.2008 »
Iowa City became the third UNESCO City of Literature. It joined Edinburgh and Melbourne as the only UNESCO Cities of Literature, part of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network.
Read more about this announcement:
Third City of Literature is Written Up - The Scotsman
— 27.11.2008 »
Good luck to all those that entered the VWC Emerging Writers' Competition or submitting an application for a Readings or Grace Marion Wilson Glenfern Fellowship.
VWC Emerging Writers' Competition results to be announced in 2009.
The Readings and Grace Marion Wilson Glenfern studio residencies will be announced early December.
— 20.11.2008 »
As a result of generous donations from the Readings Foundation and the Grace Marion Wilson Trust, the Victorian Writers' Centre is delighted to offer two residencies for studio space at Glenfern in 2009. In both instances this will take the form of either one writer being provided space for a full year, or two writers for six months each.
The Readings Glenfern Writers' Studio Residency is to be offered for a "mid-career" writer; one who is established, with a proven track record of published prose, poetry or works written for performance.
The Grace Marion Wilson Studio Residency is aimed at an emerging or developing writer working on their first or second work.
The residencies provide access to a discrete studio space at Glenfern with seven-day access. The studios include a desk, power, lighting and the option of phone and internet. The recipient of the Fellowship will be expected to use the studio for writing purposes only, to honour the rules of the house and to use the studio for a significant portion of the week.
Read more about Glenfern and the residencies in the November edition of Victorian Writer.
— 06.11.2008 »
See Arts Victoria Media Release "Board announced for Australia's First Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas"
Board Directors
Applications for the CBWI Director close on November 7.
— 06.11.2008 »
Write 50,000 words in just 30 days, your time starts now ...
Don't let writer's block get you down. Over the course of the month writers across the world will be typing away madly to get 50,000 words not only typed, but into first draft of a novel. Since NaNOWriMo began over 25 books have been picked up by publishers.
What is NaNoWriMo? The website for this creative challenge says "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effor involved. Because of the limited writing windoe, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly." National Novel Writing Month celebrates 10 years in 2008. Step 10 of How NaNoWriMo Works ends with the encouraging "you rock for event trying." One of the most important rules is it MUST be from scratch, do not bring in any pre-written text. In 2007 there were 100,000 participants, with more than 15,000 completing the mammoth task between November 1 and November 30.
Read more: "100% perspiration" The Age November 1, 2008
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month
— 01.11.2008 »
Congratulations to Melbourne writer and journalist, Helen Garner, whose latest novel, The Spare Room was awarded the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.
The complete list of winners:
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
The Spare Room by Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper, (Allen & Unwin)
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Press Release by Lisa Gorton (Giramondo Publishing)
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (Brink Productions)
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful by Brigid Lowry (Allen & Unwin)
The Prize for a First Book of History
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming: Nathanael Pepper and the Ruptured World by Robert Kenny (Scribe)
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality Show by Marcia Langton (Griffith Review)
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Anonymous Premonition by Yvette Holt (University of Queensland Press)
The Prize for the Best Music Theatre Script
*The Wild Blue by Anthony Crowley (St. Martins Theatre)
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
"Going Finish" by Mandy Maroney (Read Mandy's comments on winning the award in the October Victorian Writer.
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Head Over Heel by Chris Harrison (Murdoch Books)
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests by Richard Flanagan (The Monthly)
JUDGES OF THE 2008 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
Lyn Gallacher (convenor), Joel Becker and Peter Mews
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
Judith Armstrong (convenor), Stephen Armstrong, Peter Cochrane, Mary Dalmau, and Jenny Lee
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Anna Ryan-Punch (convenor), Simmone Howell and Kirsty Murray
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Jennifer Strauss (convenor), Claire Gaskin and Peter Rose
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
Ailsa Piper (convenor), Mary Lou Jelbart and Wendy Lasica
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Peter Browne (convenor), Sarah L’Estrange and Terry Lane
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Michael Gawenda (convenor), Greg Hywood and Richard Watts
The Prize for a First Book of History
Tony Birch (convenor), Helen MacDonald and Alistair Thomson
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Philip Morrissey (convenor), Jane Harrison and Bruce Sims
The Prize for the Best Musical Theatre Script
Guy Noble (convenor), Robyn Archer and Robert Dessaix
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Kevin Brophy (convenor), Liam Davison and Louise Swinn
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Robert Pascoe (convenor), Piero Genovesi and Adriana Nelli
— 01.09.2008 »
The Melbourne Writers Festival is in full swing from August 22-31 2008 - download the festival Program to find out what's on.
The festival is being held at Federation Square in 2008.
— 26.08.2008 »
Melbourne named the second UNESCO City of Literature.
Read the Arts Victoria Media Release 20 August 2008.
Find more information about the UNESCO City of Literature title at Arts Victoria. This includes the complete submission document.
— 26.08.2008 »
Writers Victoria
Level 3, 176 Little Lonsdale Street,
the Wheeler Centre
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: 03 9094 7855
Fax: 03 9650 8010
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm
