The theme: The Truth Will Set You Free. Contest entries may be submitted until 1 July, and the window for general submissions closes a month later, on 1 August. Details may be found on the AWR submissions page — just click here.
2026 is off to a flying start! Margaret and Barry are once again excited to be on the AWR team, and really looking forward to reading the work submitted.
Elwood Writers recently had its last meeting of the year: last Tuesday, 9 December — coincidentally five years to the day since our anthology Every Second Tuesday was launched by Lee Kofman at Readings. Half a decade’s worth of water has passed under the literary bridge since that glittering night. And how quickly the stream has flowed. Happy fifth birthday, Every Second Tuesday.
But let’s look back at the year just gone. A busy year, 2025, and one of some notable firsts and lasts.
Our first ever writing retreat occurred in February, at beautiful Daylesford and Hepburn Springs in Victoria’s spa country, on the land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people. This was very much a week of intense focus, and we loved it so much that we followed up with a second retreat in July!
Which brings us back to Tuesday 9 December, and our last fortnightly meeting of the year. Nothing remarkable there. Except this was Barry’s last formal meeting. After co-founding Elwood Writers with Jennifer Bryce in 2007, Barry is bidding a fond farewell to the group. Everything must change, it’s often said. Very best of luck to you, Barry. We’ll miss you in too many ways to name. Thank you so much for your camaraderie and invaluable contributions over the years. We can’t begin to say how much we appreciate the work you’ve put into this website — now I guess we’ll finally have to start reading the operating manual.
But, Barry’s not getting away quite that easily — he’ll remain ‘on the books’ as an Honorary Member of Elwood Writers. And who knows, there might be a radio collaboration in the works for the not-too-distant future.
So we begin to cast our thoughts towards 2026: a new chapter for all of us. What lies in store for this changed writing group, we wonder. Whatever happens, we think it’ll be well worth reading about. So make sure to keep watching this space.
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Wishing everyone a peaceful festive season. All the best for 2026.
As promised, here is last Friday’s Elwood Writers special — episode 603 of the weekly literary magazine Cover to Cover, from Vision Australia Radio. Play at your leisure.
Cover to Cover
Hosted by Tim McQueen, this 1 hour program delivers a diverse feast of book readings and short stories presented by our fantastic team of volunteer readers.
You’ll also find this recording wherever you usually get your podcasts. If you usually get podcasts, that is. And if you don’t, we’d like to let you know that audio is the thing right now.
Did you tune in to last night’s edition of Cover to Cover on Vision Australia Radio? It was a rich exploration of change and place, and the intersections between the two, told through a selection of work from Elwood Writers. We’ve been receiving very good feedback on the show already. One listener got in touch last night to say it was our ‘best program yet’. And we’ve done twelve so far, so that’s a pretty neat endorsement.
We heard memoir pieces ‘Long Island’ and ‘Ellinbank Revisited’ from Margaret; a selection of poetry and haiku from Helen, including ‘The dish’, ‘In retreat’, ‘The magpie feather’, ‘Tink tink’, ‘Paradise’, ‘Moving day’, ‘Last orders’, and ‘Crossing the Fitzroy’. From Barry, we had short stories ‘Love Always, Adrian’, ‘Fragrant’, ‘Astronaut’, ‘The Sea Tower’, and ‘Front of House’.
As always, the glue holding the entirety together was Tim McQueen. Thanks to Tim and the VAR team for their support, allowing us once again the opportunity to read our own work on the air.
If you missed the broadcast, see you tomorrow at 1PM (AEDT) for the repeat. Listen online or on your wireless if you’re in Australia. All listening details can be found at the link here.
And if you miss Sunday’s repeat, we’ll share the program recording on this site next week. Or simply pick it up wherever you usually access your podcasts.
Not sure how to spend your Friday night? Too many choices? Not enough options? Or looking for a way to get out of a sticky social engagement? We’ve just the thing: the only event worth attending this Friday evening can be found on your transistor by tuning the dial to Vision Australia Radio at 8PM (AEDT) and settling in for this week’s edition of Cover to Cover. It’s another Elwood Writers special, our twelfth. The theme this time: ‘Stories of Change & Place’. With poetry from Helen, memoir from Margaret, and fiction from Barry, it’s sure to be a literary banger. All wrapped up in just under one hour.
Thanks as always to Tim McQueen and the team at Vision Australia Radio.
Vision Australia Radio can be heard in various ways: online from anywhere in the world, or on the radio if you’re in Australia. Details can be found at the VAR website, by clicking here.
And if you can’t join us this evening, the program is repeated Sundays at 1PM.
And if by Sunday you still haven’t had a chance to listen to this episode, fear not — podcasts usually come out on the Tuesday after the repeat. You’ll find those recordings wherever you get your podcasts, and we always share them here on the EW website. And then you can listen in your own time.
Isn’t it great when you don’t have to make a plan because someone else makes it for you? You’re welcome!
Elwood Writers was in the Vision Australia Radio studios on Tuesday, recording our twelfth special for the weekly literary program Cover to Cover. The focus of this latest edition is ‘change and place and the overlap between the two’, and features poetry from Helen, memoir from Margaret, and fiction from Barry. The broadcast date is Friday 14 November, to be repeated that Sunday.
We’ve been a bit quiet in the online space these past few months. Normally, we post at least once a month, but our usually razor-sharp attention slipped off the blogging ball in October. Our excuse? That attention was redirected elsewhere — we’ve been busily putting together the radio show. A lot of work goes into building each program, and we’re fortunate to have the support of Tim and the team at VAR along the way. It’s always well worth the effort.
Produced and presented by Tim McQueen, Cover to Cover airs on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, and can be heard on the radio in Australia, and online from anywhere in the world.
We’ll share more info on ‘Stories of Change & Place” closer to the time — so do stay tuned over the next couple of weeks. We hope you’ll be able to join us on broadcast night.
For now, from sunny (currently!) Victoria, have a very peaceful Sunday.
We’re pleased to share that the results of the American Writers Review 2025 Contest have now been published on the AWR website. It was a privilege for our group to serve as judges for this international literary event, and we extend our warm congratulations to the winners, finalists, and all who submitted work.
Regretting that you didn’t enter this year’s American Writers Review literary contest? Or that you didn’t quite make the deadline? Well, we have some good news: If you’ve visited the San Fedele Press submissions page recently you’ll have noticed that the deadline for contest entries has been extended to August 7. That’s right – there’s still time to send off that poem, short story, non-fiction, or dramatic monologue, photograph, or artwork. In short, written work and imagery is invited. Full details are available in our July blog post, linked here. Or if you want to head straight to the submissions page, do that by clicking here.
Contest deadline: 11:59 PM on August 7 (US Eastern Time)
A timely reminder from Margaret that the closing date for the American Writers Review literary contest is creeping up. The theme: Buyers’ Remorse. This year’s judges come from Elwood Writers – Margaret and Barry can’t wait to read your entries. The contest closes on 1 August.
You’ve a bit longer if you want to send a regular submission to the journal: they can be sent for the editorial team to consider right up to 1 September.
If you haven’t started on a submission or even thought about it yet, there’s still plenty of time remaining. All the relevant links are in Margaret’s blog post, above.
Elwood Writers 