Part creative development, part networking, part writing group, the Established Author Forum features in-depth lectures at a high level from prominent writers on the topics they know best, as well as an opportunity to ask questions about their work and your own. After each lecture, writers share wins, frustrations, opportunities and industry developments within a social setting.
Details
When: Thursdays 29 February, 13 June, 24 October, 21 November, 6.30-8.30pm
Where: The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne
With: Cate Kennedy, Jane Harrison, Melanie Cheng
About the Tutors
Cate Kennedy is the author of the highly acclaimed novel The World Beneath, which won the People’s Choice Award in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2010. She is an award-winning short-story writer whose work has been published widely. Her first collection, Dark Roots, was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award in the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. She is also the author of a travel memoir, Sing, and Don’t Cry, and the poetry collections Joyflight, Signs of Other Fires and The Taste of River Water, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry in 2011. She lives on a secluded bend of the Broken River in north-east Victoria.
Jane Harrison is descended from the Muruwari people of NSW. Her first play, Stolen, had productions across Australia and toured internationally. She was co-winner of the 2012 RAKA Kate Challis Award for Stolen. Rainbow’s End has had numerous productions since its premiere in 2003 and won the 2012 Drovers Award for best touring production. Both Stolen and Rainbow’s End have been placed on secondary school curricula. The Visitors premiered at Sydney Festival in 2020 and won the Sydney Critics Award for Best New Australian Work for 2021. It had a new production at the Sydney Opera House in September 2023. Her novel, Becoming Kirrali Lewis, won the 2014 Black & Write! Prize, and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Her latest novel is The Visitors. She is the Festival Director of Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival (2016, 2019, 2022).
Melanie Cheng is an author and doctor based in Melbourne, Australia. Her short story collection, Australia Day, was awarded the 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. Her novel, Room for a Stranger, was shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and longlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Award. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, The Age, The Saturday Paper, The Australian and The Big Issue, among many others. Her new novel, The Burrow, will be published in September 2024.