Advanced Journey Through Journals workshop with Kathy Kituai
10-30 am – 12-30pm, six Wednesdays from 20 August to 24 September

Are you a student who took part in Journey Through Journal courses who has put into practice what you learnt and are now ready to discover how to build upon this expertise? Are you ready to develop journal entries that weren’t relevant to you at the time but are now? Has your journal writing slipped and you’d like to refresh your skill? This course is tailored especially for previous participants, regardless of how long ago they took part in a journals course. Kathy will revise, reflect and take you to your next step. Expect to arrive at the completion of this six-week course, with a deeper understanding of the journal process and a whole, new direction.

Diarist and poet, Kathy Kituai, has kept journals for twenty-one years, facilitated creative writing courses for seventeen, mentored writers who have gone on to win awards and be published, facilitated Reading Around Canberra for ACT Public Libraries, was sub-editor for Institute of PNG Studies and creative editor for Muse; most of her award winning poetry originated in her journals. Straggling into Winter is a year-long journal written in tanka poetry and was Highly Commended in IP Best Poetry Awards 2007. She has published four collections of poetry, three anthologies, a four-part dramatised documentary (NBC) a children’s picture book and two CD’s.  In Two Minds and Straggling Into Winter CD are due for release 2008.

Venue: ACT Writers Centre Workshop Room, Gorman House, Ainslie Ave, Braddon.  Cost:  $144 member concessions, $180 members,  $230 non-members. Click here to book this workshop.

 

 Experimental Prose with Susan Hampton

10am to 5pm Saturday 6 September

 
How can I rethink a story? Why is the essay becoming more like memoir? Who are the great experimenters in prose? This one-day workshop will give examples from writers whose formal and technical experiments have altered the way we write. We’ll look at montage and collage and other techniques which provide alternatives to lyric, narrative and argument. Can a thing be logical but non-linear? At the end of the workshop participants can expect to have several short pieces of new writing, ideas for innovation, and a reading list. The workshop is open to a range of levels from beginners to established writers.  Susan Hampton is the author of ‘The Kindly Ones’, a verse narrative about the Furies going on holidays (winner of the Judith Wright Award 2006). Her most recent publication is the essay Scale by Scale in ‘The Best Australian Essays 2007’, Black Inc.  Venue: ACT Writers Centre. Cost: $140 for non-members; $90 for members, $72 concession.   Click here to book this workshop.

 

 Experimenal Poetry with Susan Hampton

10am to 5pm Saturday 13 September

 
Why is some contemporary poetry so obscure? What are these poets trying to do? How do we create experiments for ourselves? This one-day workshop will look at examples of the genre from the French symbolists to Ern Malley. What do the Russian formalists mean by 'defamiliarisation?' We’ll practise free writing techniques and learn to give useful feedback to others. At the end of the workshop participants can expect to have several short pieces of new writing, ideas for technical innovation, and a reading list. The workshop is open to a range of levels from beginners to established writers. Venue: ACT Writers Centre. Cost: $140 for non-members; $90 for members, $72 conc.  Click here to book this workshop.

How to obtain a literary agent, with Sophie Hamley

12.30–1.30pm Friday 19 September

A FREE talk by literary agent, Sophie Hamley, in the Fireplace Room, Gorman House, Ainslie Ave, Braddon. Please RSVP on 6262 9191.  Members will have the opportunity to go into the competition to be chosen for a 15 minute face to face meeting with Sophie, which will take place in the same afternoon.  To compete for the free meetings with Sophie, please send your book proposal (author bio, market analysis, sample chapter) to director@actwriters.org.au by Friday 5 September. 

Sophie Hamley has worked in the print and online publishing industries since leaving school. She started by doing her time in the bookselling trenches while at university and then, after a year working in children’s books in Vancouver, BC, went to HarperCollins Publishers Australia, starting as an editorial assistant. From there, she moved to Penguin, and then into the online world for several years, at the Seven Network, Massive Interactive and CCH.  After deciding to move back to books, she worked as a senior editor at HarperCollins across a wide variety of titles, before becoming senior literary agent at The Cameron Creswell Agency in May 2006.Click here to book this workshop.

Super Sessions with Lesley McFadzean
Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 September

Publishers may be responsible for marketing published books but you, as the author, are responsible for marketing your manuscript to agents and publishers.  If you are an author with a completed manuscript, or even if you just have some ideas for a published book, Lesley McFadzean can help you find your market.  Have you thought about:

o   Where your manuscript fits in the market?
o   What market (Australian or overseas) is appropriate for your manuscript?
o   What makes a manuscript marketable anyway?
o   What agent or publisher is most likely to be interested in your
manuscript?
o   What you can do to make you and your manuscript stand out from the
crowd?
 
If you want to discuss these and other questions about your manuscript, book a forty-five minute one-on-one session with Lesley McFadzean, former literary agent and publisher. After booking, and before 15 September, please then email a synopsis, author bio and sample chapter to director@actwriters.org.au  Lesley McFadzean has worked in the publishing industry in Hong Kong and Australia for 25 years as an editor and publisher. Most recently, she was Manager of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for a period of three years, International Rights Manager for an educational publisher for four years and a Literary Agent, representing more than 120 established and emerging Australian authors. Since April 2006, she has worked on a freelance basis as a writer, publishing project manager and editorial mentor. Cost: $75.  Limited sessions available so book early. Payment at time of booking, on 6262 9191. Click here to book this workshop.

World building for adventure stories with Gillian Polack 

for students in years 5-7

10am - 12pm on six Saturday mornings; 11 and 25 October, 1, 15, 22 and 29 November

 

A series of morning workshops for late primary/early high school students.  Each class will look at one topic.  We will explore the topic and write stories using it.  1. Create a medieval town;  2. How to make your magic work;  3. Making sure your hero gets fed (food design and land design and markets); 4. This goes with that (arms and armour and fortifications and siege warfare– making sure your fighting works); 5. What your peasants know (and when they can leave the farm to fight dragons); 6. Travelling (from basic equipment to money to roadside cooking). Gillian Polack is a fantasy author, Medieval historian and a member of the ACT Jewish Centre. She holds a PhD and an MA from the Centre for Medieval Studies in Canada. Her first novel was Illumination (half-Arthurian fantasy, half-modern) and her second novel, The Art of Effective Dreaming, is forthcoming. She loves helping writers and would-be writers learn how to construct realistic Medieval settings and recently advised Felicity Pulman on her new series (the Janna Mysteries - Brother Cadfael for teens). Gillian has taught medieval history and writing workshops for a variety of organisations. For more information about Gillian, visit www.gillianpolack.com.   Venue: ACT Writers Centre.  Cost: $120  youth members and children of current adult members, $155 non-members.  Click here to book this workshop.

 

Writing a Spiritual/Personal Development Book with Lucy Baker
Saturday 18 October from 10-5pm (with a break for lunch)

The course will cover: The first draft and how to begin it; How to open for inspirational writing; How to get yourself out the way - self-esteem and the ego; Your experience in development and how to access it as an author; Writing for the market; Becoming visible as a writer and expert.  Lucy Baker has been involved in both writing and self-development Since 1972. She comes with a print media background, was nominated for an AWGIE  in 2004 for a movie script, has written several books and been published in numerous publications since 1983. She is also the Pastor of The Canberra Spirituality Church and works as a hypnotherapist and trainer in self-development and spiritual studies. Venue: ACT Writers Centre. Cost: $140 non-members, $90 members and $72 member concessions.  Click here to book this workshop.

 

Writing Magic with Gillian Polack

10 - 5pm, Sunday 26 October

 

This workshop will introduce you to historic magic systems and how to use them to create a realistic fiction system. How the world and its powers were conceived and used in the past can be very handy for writers who need to devise an effective magic system in a hurry. We will look mainly at European magic (with a focus on the Middle Ages and Renaissance) but will explore some ancient byways. The focus will be on how the systems can work for you in your writing. Gillian Polack is a fantasy author, Medieval historian and a member of the ACT Jewish Centre. She holds a PhD and an MA from the Centre for Medieval Studies in Canada. Her first novel was Illumination (half-Arthurian fantasy, half-modern) and her second novel, The Art of Effective Dreaming, is forthcoming. She loves helping writers and would-be writers learn how to construct realistic Medieval settings and recently advised Felicity Pulman on her new series (the Janna Mysteries - Brother Cadfael for teens). Gillian has taught medieval history and writing workshops for a variety of organisations. For more information about Gillian, visit www.gillianpolack.com.   Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.  Cost: $90 members & concessions, $72 member concession rate, $140 non-members.  Click here to book this workshop.

Finding the Form – Structuring the Narrative Masterclass with Kim Mahood

9-5pm both days with a break for lunch
Sundays 2 and 9 November

 

This weekend workshop is directed towards people who already have a considerable amount of written material, and want to explore techniques on how to find or create an infrastructure to hold together the various elements of the story. Although it is essentially for people working within the non-fictional memoir form, it will also be useful for fiction writers whose work does not follow a linear chronology.  The workshop will begin by looking at examples of the different structural devices used by successful writers, and discuss how and why they succeed.  In order to make the most of the workshop, participants will be expected to have prepared an outline of their work and be able to present a précis to the group of what they are trying to achieve. While the workshop structure will be flexible, each participant will spend half an hour presenting their material and receiving critical feedback from the workshop presenter and the rest of the group. For this reason participant numbers will be restricted to 10.  By the end of the workshop participants should have a number of structural techniques with which to approach their material, including specific suggestions for each individual, and an insight into the processes of allowing the material to suggest its own form. It will also be an opportunity to develop skills in the critical analysis of one’s own and others work. Kim Mahood grew up in the Tanami Desert.  Her memoir, Craft for a Dry Lake, won the Victorian Premier’s Award.  Venue: ACT Writers Centre. Cost: $168 conc members, $210 members, $260 non-members (which includes membership). Click here to book this workshop.

 

 

Tanka Upon Tanka with Amelia Fielden
1–5pm Saturday 8 November

Following on from the success of her 2007 workshops on tanka, Amelia is offering another opportunity for those interested to practice the art of writing sequential tanka on various themes, under her guidance. Newcomers to the tanka form are most welcome, and will be given ‘catch up’ assistance.  Those who participated in last year’s workshops on tanka ‘sequences’ are asked to prepare a five tanka string / or sequence about ‘relationships’ (any kind of relationships at all), for work shopping during the first half of the afternoon. The second session will be devoted to working in twos or threes on collaborative sequences in traditional Japanese set formats.  Amelia Fielden, is a translator and poet, with a B.A. Hons (Asian Studies), Dip. Ed., M.A. (Japanese Literature).  Amelia works as a free-lance translator of contemporary Japanese poetry, a journal editor, and workshop facilitator, while creating short-form verse in the traditional Japanese tanka style. To date Amelia has produced twelve volumes of translations of Japanese tanka. Five collections of her own tanka in English have been published, the most recent being Baubles, Bangles & Beads (2007).  Venue: ACT Writers Centre.  Fees: $30 concessional members, $35 members and non-members concessions, $50 non-members.  Click here to book this workshop.

Love and Sex in the Middle Ages with Gillian Polack

1.30 - 5.30pm on Saturday 22 November (Not suitable for children)

 

There are some words that people use when they think about love and sex in the Middle Ages: courtly love, chastity, hellfire.  The reality is a lot more complicated than these few words and far more interesting.  This session will open up new and interesting storylines for romance writers, historical fiction writers and maybe even speculative fiction writers. We will talk about what love might actually mean to someone in medieval France or England, what sexual practices were condoned and what sexual practices were condemned (and why).  Why was it easier to be Jewish than Christian?  We will look at romance and religion and what happens when the marriage between them turns foul.  If there’s time we might also examine medieval medicine and what it had to say about women's bodies, reproduction, orgasm and other matters of enduring interest. Gillian Polack is a fantasy author, Medieval historian and a member of the ACT Jewish Centre. She holds a PhD and an MA from the Centre for Medieval Studies in Canada. Her first novel was Illumination (half-Arthurian fantasy, half-modern) and her second novel, The Art of Effective Dreaming, is forthcoming. She loves helping writers and would-be writers learn how to construct realistic Medieval settings and recently advised Felicity Pulman on her new series (the Janna Mysteries - Brother Cadfael for teens). Gillian has taught medieval history and writing workshops for a variety of organisations. For more information about Gillian, visit www.gillianpolack.com.   Venue: ACT Writers Centre.  Cost: $60 members & concessions, $48 member concession rate, $110 non-members.  Click here to book this workshop.