News

Stage and Screen Special offer

ATTENTION NON-MEMBERS! The Victorian Writers' Centre is offering a special discount to non-members for our Stage and Screen: the Pitch and the Process session series. Book online now and enter the promotion code ‘STSC’ to receive entry to any session for only $10.

VWC members, we have a special offer for you too. Book online now and enter the following promotion code ‘STSCM’ to receive discounted entry to any session for $10/$8.

Offer closes 5pm, this Friday 1 April.

Head to our events for details.

— 30.03.2011 »

Applications for 2011 VWC Regional Partnerships Program now open

Applications are now open for the VWC’s new Regional Partnerships Program. This program offers regional writers’ groups and festivals the opportunity to request a professional writing workshop or forum of their choice at a generously subsidised rate. Closing date 22 April. Click here for details.

— 17.03.2011 »

2011 Indie Book Awards

Independent booksellers from across the country have nominated their favourite books from 2010. Winner Best Fiction has gone to Melbourne author Chris Womersley for his book Bereft, while Winner Best Debut Fiction has been awarded to Jon Bauer(also from Melbourne) for his book Rocks in the Belly. The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do (Allen & Unwin) was the winner of the Indie Book of the Year Award 2011.
More information can be found here.

— 15.03.2011 »

Aboriginal author wins Commonwealth Writers' Prize

Kim Scott has become the first Aboriginal author to win the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the best book in south-east Asia and the Pacific. His book That Deadman Dance centres on the harmonious relations between his Noongar people of south-west Western Australia and early settlers. The title refers to a Noongar dance based on a military drill by Matthew Flinders’s marines and recorded 100 years later by the anthropologist Daisy Bates. Of his being the first Indigenous Australian to win the prize, Scott told The Age, “It bothers me a bit because it says what a history of disadvantage we’ve had when indigenous Australians have always been storytellers. It’s really sad.‘’

— 08.03.2011 »

Shaun Tan takes Oscar glory

Melbourne’s own Shaun Tan was today awarded the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for The Lost Thing. Shaun has garnered an international reputation for his illustrated works, including The Red Tree, The Arrival, Tales From Outer Suburbia and, of course, The Lost Thing. Presciently, one of Shaun’s illustrations adorns the cover of the latest edition of The Victorian Writer, out this week. Check out further details and video here.

— 28.02.2011 »

A Decent Proposal: back in print

The popular guide to putting together a proposal for publishers, A Decent Proposal: How to Sell Your Book to an Australian Publisher or Literary Agent, is back in print and available for purchase at the VWC library.

By Rhonda Whitton and Sheila Hollingworth, the book is “based on an industry-wide survey and using writers’ successful proposals as examples, A Decent Proposal introduces the techniques required to develop a Book Proposal that will satisfy (yes, and even excite) an Australian publisher or literary agent.”

VWC members receive a 10% discount on the book price, which is calculated during checkout.

— 24.02.2011 »

Applications open for State Library Fellowships

Australian writers, academics, artist, composers and researchers are invited to apply for the State Library of Victoria 2011-12 Creative Fellowships. They are given out annually to artists and scholars who propose thoughtful and innovative ways to use the Library’s collection. Applicants may be individuals or be working in collaborative partnerships, and can include artists practising in any art form (such as the visual arts, new media, dance, musical performance or composition), and writers and scholars in any discipline or subject. For more information click here.

— 17.02.2011 »

Getting to know you ...

Inez Baranay, tutor of Year of the Novel (Saturday 5 March – 5 November 2011), answers 10 quick questions about being a novelist, writing rooms and resembling the Red Queen.
…

1. Favourite novel?

The next one I will write. It’s the one I long for most consistently. I have so many favourite novels by other writers I could never name just one.

2. Best thing about being a novelist?

A life of freedom.

3. And worst thing?

A life of restriction.

4. Character from a novel that’s stayed with you?

Alice in Wonderland. (Though some friends say I now resemble the Red Queen.)

5. Biggest mistake people make in novel writing?

Each novel makes its own rules, creates its own universe, has its own time zones and in its creation has its own potential mistakes. But I could answer this in another way and say: Thinking of a first draft as a last draft, being in too much of a hurry to consider it done.

6. Define good writing in three words.

Indefinable. Unmistakeable. Debatable.

7. What does Melbourne “City of Literature” mean to you?

I’m not from here. There do seem to be more literary events down here, and they’re popular too. That’s part of Melbourne’s character and reputation. And the op shops have really good cheap books.

8. Describe your writing room?

For a long time it’s been a temporary space, but always a private room with a desk and the feel of a place I can write in.

9. What’s a day in the (working) life of you like?

There are so many days. On a good day I feel I’ve done some good writing, but I might end up changing my mind. On a bad day I don’t feel it at all, though it may end up having produced useful thoughts. I need coffee and solitude. I always write in the mornings and sometimes at other times.

10. Describe creative writing workshops in three words.

Conversation. Collaboration. Experimentation.

Learn more about Inez at www.inezbaranay.com. Further details and booking information about the Year of Novel workshop can be found here.

— 16.02.2011 »

Is Novel or Young Adult your thing?

The Early Bird booking discount ends soon for the VWC Novel and Young Adults workshops: choose between Year of the Novel with novelists Inez Baraney or Sallie Muirden (both run Saturday 5 March – Saturday 5 November 2011); or Year of Young Adult with Maureen McCarthy (Sundays 6 March, 8 May, 3 July, 11 September and 6 November).

Early Birds receive 10% discount. Booking Deadline is 11 February – get in fast!

Click here for all the details.

— 09.02.2011 »

Shaun Tan nominated for Academy Award

Writer and illustrator Shaun Tan is one of only seven Australians nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards. The nomination is in the category of Best Animated Short, for The Lost Thing, a film adapted from his picture book and co-directed by Andrew Ruhemann. It was produced by Sophie Byrne in a small room above a laundromat in Melbourne’s inner north. Tan worked on the film as a director, writer, designer and artist.

— 04.02.2011 »