Language and literature - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Call for entries | Announcements

Events

Writers' festivals

Writers' festivals around Australia feature a range of speakers, panel discussions, conversations, literary lunches, master classes, workshops and book launches.

Brisbane Writers Festival (12-16 September)
National Young Writers' Festival (2-6 October)

2008 Australian Poetry Festival - Sydney

5-7 September 2008

The Australian Poetry Festival is a biennial program of readings, panel sessions, discussion and debate, organised by the Poets Union to engage poets and the public in poetry and poetics. The program has grown from a largely Sydney-based event to a national program of parallel events in multiple city and regional venues. Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts.

National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW) - National

1-7 September 2008

The theme for NLNW 2008 is Partnerships in Learning. Across Australia parents, teachers and communities are working together to develop the literacy and numeracy skills of Australia's young people. Literacy and numeracy are fundamental skills that are critically important to Australia's future prosperity and position in the world. The promotion of strong literacy and numeracy skills amongst young people assists in countering educational and social disadvantage.

ANZAAB 35th Australian Antiquarian Book Fair - Melbourne

24-26 October 2008

Leading Australian dealers will offer scarce and interesting books, prints, maps, photographs, manuscripts and ephemera covering a wide range of collecting interests, especially Australiana. Malvern Town Hall.

Australian Poetry Slam 08 - New South Wales and national

Heats: 6 Sep to 4 November; NSW Final - 21 Nov; National Final - 4 December 2008

Contestants are given a microphone, a live audience and just two minutes to impress the judges with their spoken word, poetry, hip hop, monologues and stories. This year there are 10 regional and metro heats in NSW. Heat winners will compete in the State Final at the State Library of NSW on 21 November. NSW's top two slam poets will battle against state and territory winners for the coveted Australian Poetry Slam 08 title and $5,000 cash, at the National Final in Sydney on 4 December.

Featured projects

Joshua Button, Joshua and the Two Crabs, Magabala Books, 2008

July 2008

Joshua Button is a young Indigenous author with a keen interest in the saltwater country he has grown up in. Joshua's observations of his family's fishing trip to Crab Creek give us a unique opportunity to see this adventure through his eyes. Joshua's illustrations are both insightful and evocative of the beauty of Crab Creek. Crab Creek is a tidal creek that lies in the mangroves of Roebuck Bay near Broome, in the Kimberley region of north-west Western Australia. Joshua won the NAIDOC Junior Scholarly Achiever of the Year for his work.

Sydney PEN Voices: 3 Writers Project 2008 - Sydney and Canberra

30-31 July, 24-25 September, 12-13 November 2008

Sydney PEN commissions three talented writers to write an essay and deliver a lecture on a big issue facing contemporary Australia. In 2008 these writers are Christopher Kremmer, Melissa Lucashenko, and Anna Funder. The essays will be published as a collection by Allen & Unwin in 2009. Various locations.

Digital publishing research - call for industry feedback

12 March 2008

A new research project from the Australia Council for the Arts and Copyright Agency Ltd requires input from Australian publishers on their needs to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies. This includes the impact of e-books and e-readers, print on demand technology, e-commerce, online marketing and new forms of business planning.The report will be finalised in May.

Call for entries

Brand Spanking New - National

Event 22 October - 1 November 2008

New Theatre is calling for expressions of interest from writers to take part in Brand Spanking New, an initiative to foster new Australian writing through the creation of a hothouse for emerging and established writers and directors. Brand Spanking New is an opportunity for writers and directors to collaborate in a non-competitive, well-resourced, nurturing environment with the view of strengthening relationships between emerging and established practitioners.

2008 Genre Fiction Award - National

Entries by 5 September, event 29 November 2008

This Award is a call for unpublished genre fiction manuscripts by published or unpublished writers of any age who are resident in Australia. Genre fiction categories include crime, adventure, action/thriller, historical, family saga, romance, science fiction, fantasy, humour and others. First prize is publication by New Holland Publishers.

ACT Writing and Publishing Awards - Australian Capital Territory

Entries by 19 September 2008

The ACT Writers Centre is pleased to announce that entries for the 2008 ACT Writers and Publishers Awards are now open.  These awards are given annually to an outstanding title by a local writer and publisher in each of the following categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children's writing.

Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award - National

Entries by 25 September 2008

Submissions are now open for the annual Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award. This award was established by Don McInnis to commemorate the life of his wife, a short story writer who lived in Canberra and passed away on 25 September 1997.

Australia Council for the Arts - Languages other than English (LOTE) publishing initiative

Entries by 26 September 2008

The Languages other than English (LOTE) publishing initiative supports the translation and publication of works by authors writing in languages other than English. The literature board will accept proposals from Australian publishers who wish to translate into English and publish the work of living Australian authors who write in languages other than English. Publishers may apply for assistance with writer's and translator's fees and some production costs.

Rodney Seaborn Playwright's Award 2008 - National

Entries by 6 October 2008

Entries are now open for playwrights to submit their script or theatre proposal to be in the running to receive $15,000 and the honour of winning the 2008 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award.

Inner City Life Literary Competition - National

Entries by 28 November 2008

This writing competition for adults on the theme of 'Inner City Life' is organised by the NSW Writers' Centre, sponsored by Gleebooks and the Village Voice, and open to anyone from anywhere. The topic is 'Inner City Life anywhere anytime', whatever interpretation you give to the phrase.

The Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize 2009 - National

Entries by 30 January 2009

The Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize is now open. The first prize is $10,000 for a 1,000-3,000 word short story.

The Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize 2009 - National

Entries by 30 January 2009

The Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize is now open. The first prize is $10,000 for a poem or suite of poems up to 200 lines.

Announcements

Ministerial appointments to Australia Council Literature Board.

27 August 2008

Minister Garrett has announced the appointment of Ms Margo Lanagan and Dr Gail Jones to the Literature Board. Ms Lanagan is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction. She recently published her third collection of short stories, Red Spikes. Dr Gail Jones is an associate professor in English at the University of Western Australia, whose second novel, Sixty Lights, won the 2005 Age Book of the Year Award for Fiction, amongst other awards.

41st AWGIE Awards

August 2008

At this year's annual Australian Writers Guild AWGIE Awards, The Black Balloon by Elissa Down and Jimmy the Exploder won the award for Feature Film Original. Doug MacLeod took home a number of awards for Dogstar: the Children's Television - C Classification award, the inaugural John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the Fred Parsons Award for Contribution to Australian Comedy. Dogstar is a 26 x half-hour animated comedy series from ScreenWest; a quest across space to find a missing ark full of dogs called the Dogstar. John Alsop was the recipient of the FOXTEL Fellowship for Excellence in Television Writing.

2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlist

21 August 2008

Arts Minister Peter Garrett said that the 14 shortlisted authors had presented the two judging panels with very difficult choices. The seven short-listed fiction books include prose, a compilation of short stories and a verse novel. Represented in the fiction short list are established and emerging authors. The seven short-listed non-fiction books include histories, memoir, biography, essays and political analysis. The winners of the 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction will be announced at an evening event to be held in the Mural Hall at Parliament House on 12 September 2008.

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards: Shortlist 2008

August 2008

The 2008 shortlist for the 12 categories of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards was announced on Friday 8 August. The awards were established in 1985 by John Cain, the Premier of Victoria at that time, to mark the centenary of the births of Vance and Nettie Palmer - distinguished writers and critics who made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture.

Books Alive opens new chapter for Aussie readers

27 July 2008

Arts Minister Peter Garrett has announced the launch of Books Alive 2008, a month-long campaign featuring a host of activities to tempt people to pick up a book. Books Alive aims to introduce all Australians to the joys of reading, and includes a list of recommended books, a giveaway feature title, promotions, advertising and author tours throughout August.

2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards - Judges receive nearly 200 entries

24 July 2008

The judging panels for the 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards consist of a  three-member panel for both the Fiction and Non-Fiction Awards. Each panel is comprised of a chair from academia, an esteemed author and a recognised public figure. Every judge is also an author in their own right. The judging panel for works of fiction, chaired by academic Peter Pierce, with author John Marsden and broadcaster Margaret Throsby, received 91 entries. Academic Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Indigenous artist and author Sally Morgan and comedian and script writer John Doyle, panelists for the non-fiction award, received 103 entries.

Short-list for the 2008 Kit Denton Fellowship

21 July 2008

The Australian Writers' Guild has announced the shortlist for the 2008 Kit Denton Fellowship for courage and excellence in performance writing, named in memory of writer Kit Denton. The projects of this year's finalists investigate our very essence - from stories of racism and loss to narratives which question our constructs of punishment, religion and morality. The fellowship allows the selected writer to develop their proposed project into a marketable script. The winner will be announced at the AWGIE Awards on Friday, August 15.

New funding for WA playwrights

June 2008

Western Australian playwrights' profiles will be increased through a new funding program announced today by the Australia Council for the Arts and Department of Culture and the Arts (DCA). The partnership aims to profile the work of WA playwrights on a national scale. The program enables established playwrights to undertake creative residencies over a period of up to three weeks, to develop unproduced scripts, culminating in a public reading.

Steven Carroll wins Miles Franklin literary award

June 2008

Inspired by melancholic German philosophers and a surreal dream about his childhood in Melbourne, Steven Carroll has won this year's $42,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award, announced at the State Library of New South Wales. The Time We Have Taken is the third novel in a trilogy about a family living in an outer Melbourne suburb from the 1950s through to 1970. Both Carroll's first two novels, The Art of the Engine Driver and The Gift of Speed, were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, but this is the first prize he has won.

Brooks wins Book of the Year award

June 2008

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks has taken out the Australian Book of the Year award and the Literary Fiction Book of the Year award with her fictional account of a real book. The latest novel from the former Australian journalist, People of the Book, traces the perilous journey of the rare Hebrew manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah. From the opening scenes in Sarajevo to the finale in Spain, the novel weaves through 500 years of history. Brooks was awarded the prize at the 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards in Melbourne. Also honoured at the awards was Queensland writer David Malouf who was awarded the Lloyd O'Neil Award for outstanding service to the Australian book industry.

Richard Lane posthumously awarded Medal of the Order of Australia in Queen's birthday honours

June 2008

Richard Lane, former President of the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), has been posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours. The OAM in the General Division was awarded to Richard for services to the arts as a writer of screenplays, radio and television scripts, and histories of Australian radio drama. His writing career began in the mid-1930s when his first radio play, No Escape, was broadcast. By the 1940s he had become Radio 2GB's leading scriptwriter known for his great skill in adapting plays and films for radio. Richard Lane OAM died on 20 March 2008. AWG.

ABC Fiction Award announces 2008 winner

June 2008

A thought-provoking fantasy novel offering a highly imaginative perspective on Jesus' betrayal and death has won the 2008 ABC Fiction Award. The winner of this year's ABC Fiction Award is Adelaide-based high-school teacher Kain Massin. His novel God for the Killing follows the story of heroine Judith, who was snatched from Nazareth as a child and trained as an assassin by the Romans. ABC.

 

For more information see our Australian story on Australian literature.

Key online resources

• Australian Poetry Resources Internet Library (APRIL)
• NSW Writers' Centre
• Tasmanian Writers' Centre
• Queensland Writers Centre
• Northern Rivers Writers' Centre
• Writing WA
• Fellowship of Australian Writers (VIC)
• Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA)
• Writers Now Online
• Australian Poetry Centre
• Gold Coast Writers' Association
• Aboriginal Languages of Australia

Collection resources and online publications

• Jacket Magazine
• Red Room Company - poetry promotion and distribution
• The Complete Review
• Thylazine : The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature

Institutions and government organisations

• Australian Libraries Gateway
• Australian Literature Resources
• National Library of Australia

Peak bodies and associations

• Australian Society of Authors
• Copyright Agency Limited
• Australian Children's Book Council (CBC)

People

• Sleepers - advocates for writers
• The Angry Penguins
• Henry Lawson

Featured websites/projects

• Word Map
• Lightning Bug
• Project Gutenberg