Authors Julie Woodland, left, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Lisa Collyer at Mattie Furphy House Sunday, chatting about writing competitions as part of the Four Centres Emerging Writers Program at FAWWA
Hello everyone.
The Stuart and Hadow Short Story Award
FAWWA’s prestigious annual national short story competition, the Stuart and Hadow Short Story Award, is now open. Entries close 1 June, 2022, so do submit your short story as soon as you can. For details turn to our Writing Competitions page.
Emerging Writers Program
We had a full day at Mattie Furphy House on May 1 with two special events organised as part of the Four Centres Emerging Writers Program at FAWWA.
Western Australian author Annabel Smith ran a two-hour session on Delving Deep Into Character. Annabel is the author of interactive digital novel/app The Ark, the US bestseller Whisky Charlie Foxtrot, and A New Map of the Universe, which was shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards.
Annabel applied her talent for teaching to presenting a myriad ways fiction writers can better know, understand, and portray their characters. It was an energetic, fun, and thought-provoking class.
This was followed by a panel of Western Australian authors talking about their experiences in entering writing competitions. I was fortunate to chair the entertaining discussion between Julie Woodland, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Lisa Collyer, as they shared stories of their successes and experiences with entering competitions local, interstate, and around the world. Their advice included that it’s a good idea to check the terms and conditions of a competition before submitting your work. Click here for photos from the day.
New classes at Mattie Furphy House
We have a number of new classes at Mattie Furphy House. Bookings are essential. Author Holly Craig has just started her six-session Write Your Novel classes fortnightly on Thursday evenings at Mattie Furphy, which continue to July 7. Students can also attend via Zoom. Holly’s first thriller, The Shallows, will be released in the UK in June 2023, and The Rip in 2024. For details click here
Author, editor, and mentor Andrew Levett has three special events coming up. From May 10 to July 28 Andrew will help fiction writers create more believable characters by helping them to identify the story function of each. Andrew’s weekly classes will be on Tuesday mornings from May 10 through to June 28. For more information please click here
Andrew is also offering one-on-one mentoring sessions for writers to obtain feedback on their works in progress. Six one-hour appointments will be available on Sunday, July 3. For details please click here
Writers working on a novel, or about to start, may like to join Andrew’s Manuscript Development Writing Group from May 10. The classes will be on the first and third Thursday mornings each month at Mattie Furphy House. To find out more please click here
Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival
Have you booked your tickets for the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival? It is not to be missed. The three-day festival from May 13 to 15 will feature high profile fiction and non-fiction authors for children and adults, from across Australia and around the world. For the full program and to buy your tickets go to mrrwfestival.com
2022 Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition
Writers of short stories and poetry are invited to enter (from June 1) the 2022 Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition, held by the Lake Macquarie Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers in New South Wales. Entries will be accepted from June 1, and close August 31. The top 15 short stories and top 15 poems will be published in an anthology. For details please visit lakemacfaw2.wordpress.com
Write for Ukraine
The Australian Centre for Leadership for Women would like to invite women writers to express their support for Ukraine by submitting poetry and prose by May 22. The entries will go into a collection to be published for sale. Proceeds to go to UN Women to assist all Ukrainians. For more information please visit aclw.org/ukraine/
I look forward to seeing you at an event soon.
Karen Whittle-Herbert FAWWA President