UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the unfolding Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Write-ability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula has been postponed until further notice. Once we are able to get this program organised at a future date, we will provide updates.
Writers Victoria, in collaboration with Mornington Peninsula Shire and Peninsula Writers Club, is delighted to announce an exciting new writing program for writers with disability funded by Mornington Peninsula Shire.
Write-ability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula is a series of free writing workshops and author talks for writers and aspiring writers with disability. Interested writers and storytellers, as well as staff from local government, libraries, arts and disability organisations are invited to attend an Own Voices: Why Writing Matters Forum. (Please note that due to the closure of the Mornington Peninsula Library, a previously arranged forum has been postponed. We will post information regarding a rescheduled session in due course.)
Write-ability Goes Local is designed as a collaboration with interested local councils, regional writing groups, disability, arts and community organisations to support writers with disability where they live and work. The program aims to reduce the disadvantages that disabled writers can face due to social isolation, remoteness from city-based programs, the expense of professional development and assumptions that people with disability need other people to tell their stories. Write-ability Goes Local aims to bring accessible literacy programs and professional development to where it is most needed, and to foster writing networks and writers groups which will continue beyond the formal program.
Bridging the gap between mainstream arts and disability communities, Write-ability remains one of the only disability-led literary initiatives in Australia. From its beginnings in 2012 as a partnership with Arts Access Victoria, Write-ability has become Writers Victoria’s flagship program, actively supporting writers with disability who face barriers to participation and the development of their skills, practice and writing careers across the state.
Recognising that writers with disability are hugely under-represented in the writing and publishing sector, and that disabled people have the right to tell their own stories, we aim to engage with and support writers with disability throughout their writing journey through inclusive writing workshops, mentoring, fellowships, accessible online resources, creative writing programs and more.
Key to the success of this disability-led initiative is our employment of program officers, presenters, tutors, writers and mentors who identify as people with disability to provide role-models and peer support.
For more information about Write-ability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula and how to get involved, email Lyndel.