Scheduled Events:
Tuesday 31 March: Bankstown Poetry Slam will be going digital on the last Tuesday of the month via a Facebook Watch Party. Tune in from 6:30 on their event page. Sign ups open now and close on Sunday 29 March.
Thursday 2 April: The Wheeler Centre will be hosting Alice Bishop via live-stream on her 2019 short-story collection written after the 2009 Black Saturday fires, A Constant Hum. More info here.
Saturday 4—Sunday 5 April: Newcastle Writers Festival will be the first major literary festival to turn to online program delivery since the COVID-19 crisis. #NWFStoriestoyou will feature such authors as David Owen Kelly, Charlotte Wood and more. Check out the program here.
Sunday 5 April: Join the award-winning writers from Rosehaven, Please Like Me, Community, Rick & Morty and more, as they share industry secrets via the Sydney Opera House website. Be sure to check out the Sydney Opera House’s Digital Season program while you’re there.
Thursday 30 April: Red Room Poetry is calling all poets who have had launches, feature readings or festival appearances cancelled between 1 March and 1 July 2020. Submit your poem before next Thursday 9 April to be included in In Your Hands, which will be live-stream launched Thursday 30 April.
Friday 17 April: The Stella Prize will celebrate Australian women’s writing via a live-stream announcement from 8pm, featuring guest speaker Julia Gillard.
Ongoing Opportunities:
Ongoing: our very own Newswrite editor, Kirsten Krauth, moderates Writers Go Forth, a Facebook page where Australian writers with books coming out in 2020 can promote their work. You might also be interested in checking out Lisa Walker’s blog on new books that have come out this year.
Ongoing: The Social Distancing Festival has an excellent global line-up of music, art and performance live-streamed throughout April. Each day features a poetry/spoken word piece, as well as a theatre performance in the evening.
Ongoing: NEPTUNE: A DREAM ARCHIVE will be publishing written, auditory and visual accounts of dreams and hallucinations experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants from all over Australia/the world are welcome.
Ongoing: Avid Reader will be moving some of their events online, including books clubs and author panels – head to their page to see what’s happening across April.
Ongoing: Lost in Books will host a reading of a book direct from their shelves every week, English and other languages, via their Youtube channel. Lost in Books are also working on digitizing their creative program for kids. Check out their website for updates.
Ongoing: Running Dog is an online arts platform based in Sydney publishing weekly articles about exhibitions and events, essays and poetry. Check out their first curated issue, ‘Automate Me‘, or subscribe to their e-newsletter, Strays.
Ongoing: Have a booklist curated personally for you by a knowledgeable bookseller from Harry Hartog via this online form.
Ongoing: Queensland Poetry Festival will be releasing poetry on their Youtube channel all pandemic-long as part of their Panacea Poets series.
Ongoing: Access a range of panels, discussions and performances via the Sydney Opera House YouTube channel. You can browse through the archives and watch live-streamed performances.
Ongoing: West Words are moving some events onto their Youtube channel, including their monthly Poets’ Corner, West Side Poetry Slam and Hemingway’s Polydactyl Kitten Club. Stay tuned for April event dates! Also check out West Side Poetry Slam’s online poetry share-space to share work and give feedback!
Ongoing: Access free courses in humanities, arts and design, social sciences and more from Ivy League universities at freeCodeCamp.