Writers Victoria, in collaboration with Mornington Peninsula Shire and Peninsula Writers Club, is delighted to announce the resumption of Writeability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula following a 12 month delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
This exciting new writing program for writers with disability is funded by Mornington Peninsula Shire.
Writeability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula is a series of free online (Zoom) 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 the Why Writing Matters Forum on Thursday May 20, 5:30PM–7:30PM, and Our Own Voices Forum on Saturday 22 May, 2PM–4PM, to learn more about the program.
Following the forums, Local Mentor Anna Spargo-Ryan will lead a monthly writers group via Zoom on Saturdays, 2-4pm. The writers group will meet on the following dates:
- Saturday 12 June 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 17 July 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 14 August 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 11 September 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 16 October 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 13 November 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 11 December 2021, 2-4pm
- Saturday 12 February 2022, 2-4pm
You can register here.
Writeability Goes Local collaborates 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. Writeability 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, Writeability remains one of the only disability-led literary initiatives in Australia. From its beginnings in 2012 as a partnership with Arts Access Victoria, Writeability 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 Writeability Goes Local: Mornington Peninsula and how to get involved, email Lyndel.