Laura Jean McKay is the author of Holiday in Cambodia, a short story collection that explores the electric zone where local and foreign lives meet. Holiday in Cambodia was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2014. Laura will be leaving Portarlington in Victoria to appear at the Emerging Writers’ Festival Roadshow at the NSW […]

I first met Darrell at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival. It was that awkward moment when I’m standing close enough to him and his editor to hear their conversation but not enough to be part of it. You know, when you have that half smile while trying to decide whether to move closer to be […]

Gaele Sobott is currently completing a collection of short stories on her experience of disability and life in Lakemba. She will be performing with a group of other writers at the NSW Writers’ Centre on 8 November as part of the  Emerging Writers’ Festival Roadshow. We spoke to her about the development of this series […]

Leigh Rigozzi is a Sydney-based artist and the editor of Blood & Thunder, an infrequently published anthology of Australian comics. He is Projects & Communications Officer at the NSW Writers’ Centre. Leigh has curated an exhibition of comic art for the upcoming Emerging Writers’ Festival Roadshow and will be speaking on a panel about book […]

1.     Be curious. Don’t be afraid to go down that nameless cobbled street to see where it leads or ask the weary Greek shopkeeper why he’s looking so tired. 2.     Be persistent. If you want to get published, you’ll need to keep trying different editors before you strike it lucky.  3.     Take notes. Always travel […]

Day 1 A week at Varuna starts on a Monday afternoon. I arrive early so I can have lunch in Katoomba with author James Roy. In 2012 I did his excellent ‘Write a YA novel in A Year’ course at the NSW Writers’ Centre, and even though my one year YA novel is now a […]

Legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock is quoted as saying: ‘To make a great movie, you need just three things: a great script, a great script and a great script.’ I like that quote for two reasons: One, it acknowledges the importance of a good screenplay. And two, in a world filled with auteurs, any director […]

Words are the lifeblood of writing. Combining in myriad ways like the coloured pieces in a kaleidoscope, they can create wondrous effects – or muddy, lifeless, pompous prose that sends readers to sleep.So word choice needs to be a major focus for editors, whether editing their own work or that of others. Here are five […]

You have probably heard about blogging by now – it has been growing in Australia for some years. But if you haven’t quite worked out whether it is an activity that will suit you or not, that’s okay. Here are some tips that might help you decide: 1. Do it on your terms. Of course, […]