A big congratulations to these Writers’ Centre members, who have achieved amazing successes in 2014. Many have had their first short stories or poems published, some have won writing competitions, received valuable fellowships or residencies, and others have had their first book published. They are novelists, children’s writers, poets, writers of non-fiction, memoir and more, and they serve as an inspiration to all of us to keep writing, reading and striving for our goals.
NSWWC tutor Zena Shapter has won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. The Ditmar Awards recognises and celebrates achievements by Australians in speculative fiction writing.
Decima Wraxall has had three poems, ‘Cambridge Man’, ‘Ella’ and ‘Howling Wind’ published in the June issue of FreeXpression Magazine.
Deb Hunt had her second novel, Love in the Outback, published by PanMacmillan in May 2014. She is now working on the next one.
Margaret Bradstock has won first prize in the Banjo Paterson Award for Poetry. Margaret has also won the Woollahra Literary Festival award for her latest poetry collection, Barnacle Rock.
Denis Fitzpatrick has published a short story, ‘Discovered’, with www.shortstoriesclub.com. The tale is of unforeseen consequences in a man’s dereliction of a fundamental duty. Denis also published a story, ‘My Dear Psychiatrist’, with www.shortstoriesclub.com. The story is a fictionalised rendering of the psychiatrist that guided Denis onto the path of full remission with his schizophrenia.
Jan Cornall launched her latest book, Archipelagogo – Love Songs to Indonesia, at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City on 7 July 2014.
Roger Vickery has won the 2014 Land Short Story competition. One of his stories reached the shortlist of the international Fish Flash Fiction Prize 2014. He also received a highly commended in the 2014 Peter Cowan 600 word short story competition and a commended in the 2013 Angelo B Natoli Short Story Award announced in March 2014. ‘Lord Tony’s Deal’ appears in Crime Scene Asia (Vol 1), http://www.panmacmillan.com.au and ‘A Daughter’s Tale, which came second in the 2013 Liz Huf Short story award has been included in an anthology published by Capricorn Writers and Friends.
Sean Greenhill has had a short story, ‘The Old Bullock Road’, included in John Bryant’s new book Great Australian Motorcycle Stories, to be released 1st August 2014.
Sean wrote to us to say, “I also wanted to thank the NSWWC and Newsbite as the original ‘call-out’ for submissions was actually posted on 2 February 2013 in Newsbite. The 16 month wait between then and publication seemed like forever, but is proof that all good things come to those who wait, and a reminder to me as a writer that patience is one of the ‘forgotten’ resources we need to have, and although the wheel turns slowly, it does turn.”
Kathleen Fernandes has had her story, ‘Contradictions’, published in Beyond the Rainbow, No. 74, July/August 2014.
Loretta Re will have her YA novel, Stand Up and Cheer, published in October 2014 by Wild Colonial Company after taking the NSW Writers’ Centre Young Adult writing course.
She had this to say, “I see you’re running another YA writing course [Writing for Young Adults with James Roy] later this year at the NSW Writers Centre. You’ll be able to tell them the course really does work (if they’re prepared to put their heads down) as my good news is ‘Stand Up and Cheer’ will be published in October.”
Nigel Bartlett’s novel, King of the Road, is to be published by Vintage (Random House) on February 1 2015. Nigel completed a research Masters in Creative Writing at UTS and has attended many events at the NSW Writers’ Centre.
Darcy-Lee Tindale has made the short list for the Ned Kelly Crime Fiction Awards; 2014 Sandra Harvey Short Story Award for her story, ‘The Scars of Noir’. The winners of the 2014 awards will be announced at the Brisbane Writers Festival on Saturday September 6.
David Blissett’s first non-fiction book, Snake Catcher is recently released and is available in major bookstores and online. His second non-fiction title My Primate Family, co-written with primate expert Lou Grossfeldt, is due for release in April 2015. David’s fiction novel Heartland, written under the pen name D.B Allen, is due for release in September/October in both e-book and paperback.
Lesley Walter’s second collection of poetry, Life Drawings, is to be launched by Brook Emery at 3.30pm on Sunday 28th September at Gleebooks in Glebe.
Denis Fitzpatrick’s short story, ‘Mine Dear Psychiatrist’, has been published. It first appeared in his anthology, Bearing all Gods and Goddesses, published by Independence Jones, and was entitled ‘My Psychiatrist’.