Look who’s popped up in this week’s Star Weekly newspaper – hello there, Helen!
You can usually catch Helen in person at Chamber Poets in Woodend, Victoria. The next event is this Saturday (tomorrow!) at Woodend RSL from 1pm to 4pm. All welcome. More info is in the clipping above.
EW
Congratulations to Barry, with two stories in the latest issue of American Writers Review from San Fedele Press. Elwood Writers has a formidable history of contributing work to AWR, and we’re thrilled that the group continues to be represented in this year’s issue.
We had the pleasure of sighting Barry’s contributor copy at the last Elwood Writers workshop, and I think we all agreed that San Fedele Press have outdone themselves – it really is a beautiful book, containing wonderfully compelling stories and artwork. Info about how to get your hands on a copy can be found in Barry’s blog post, linked just over to the left.
Happy reading!
EW
Elwood Writers is always interested in literary provenance, and this, from Barry, provides some clues and insights into how his short story ‘The Americans’ came to fruition:
The Elwood Writers tribute to colleague and friend Jennifer Bryce was broadcast on Vision Australia Radio’s Cover to Cover last Friday, 4 August 2023 (repeated Sunday 6 August). If you missed the program, or if you’d like to listen again, it’s now available as a podcast at the link below:
The recording can also be accessed via the MP3 audio-file below:
We hope you enjoy this celebration of Jenny’s life and work.
Best wishes,
EW
Do tune in to Cover to Cover on Vision Australia Radio (VAR) this Friday evening at 8:00pm (AEST) to hear our tribute to Jennifer Bryce, our friend and colleague who co-founded Elwood Writers in 2007. Jenny died in April, and we were invited by Tim McQueen, presenter and producer of Cover to Cover, to put together a one-hour program honouring her life and work.
Our program focusses on Jenny’s literary and musical achievements, and features recordings of Jenny reading her stories ‘Memories of Adelaide’ and ‘So This Is Winter’. Barry reads Jenny’s short-story ‘Benjamin’, and Helen reads Jenny’s essay about the music she commissioned for the trio Ensemble Françaix. There are tributes and musical interludes, and Margaret does the honours in holding the program together with her wonderfully informative intros and links.
We reached the edge of the old Luna Park – mainly ruins – a few broken fences where it had once been secured because the structure was unsafe. Sure enough, the waters were receding quite dramatically. We stood and watched as the man-in-the-moon mouth sucked up the waters and regurgitated them out to sea, wheezing and gurgling to the beat of some unknown subterranean rhythm. Towers still tottered over the entrance, barely supporting a few fragile wooden slats – all that remained of the scenic railway. A wind sprang up, further agitating the swirling water, and for just a moment I could hear a clattering like the old train, and squeals as the carriages swooped through a tunnel.
from ‘So This Is Winter’ by Jennifer Bryce
You can listen to the program online from anywhere in the world – just hit the ‘listen live’ button on the VAR homepage. Or if you’d prefer going old-school, the radio frequency and tuning details are also on the website. You’ll find everything you need at the link below:
https://radio.visionaustralia.org
The program will be repeated on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm, and we’ll share the podcast on this site as soon as it’s available.
Why not lose yourself for an hour in stories and music – we’d love you to join us in celebrating Jenny. Whenever and however you choose to listen, you’ll enjoy the warmest of welcomes …
Huge thanks go as always to Tim McQueen and the team at Vision Australia Radio for promoting and supporting the work of writers everywhere.
EW
We visited the studios of Vision Australia Radio in Kooyong yesterday to record the material for Jenny’s tribute on Cover to Cover – all that remains now is for presenter and producer Tim McQueen and the production team to put the program together. More on that, including broadcast details, later.
While we were there, Tim shared the exciting news that his daughter Andrea McQueen has achieved the longlist in this year’s Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) Publishable program. Seems Tim is encouraging new literature on multiple fronts! You can see the full longlist here, and read more about Publishable and other QWC programs here.
Congratulations to Andrea, and the very best of luck with the next stage of Publishable.
EW
The casualties of war are my specialty. As the daughter of a World War II veteran, I wanted to develop a scene from my draft memoir so that it reads as a stand-alone piece.
Margaret McCaffrey
Margaret’s essay ‘One Sacred Day’ was developed in response to a callout on The Human Writers for work on the theme of Anzac Day in Australia. The publication of ‘One Sacred Day’ on 25 April prompted her to then reflect on the nature of the eternal relationship between conflict and literature for a blog post on 22 June. Both the original piece and the blog post are well worth your time.
Thanks to Margaret for sharing her experiences and thoughts on this important theme.
Peaceful reading, everyone.
EW
While spending time putting together our tribute to fellow Elwood Writer Jenny for Vision Australia Radio, creativity continues to extend in diverse directions for us all.
Helen is delighted to have her poem ‘Identity in Two Acts’ included in the latest edition of Unusual Work (#35) published by Collective Effort Press, editor πO (PiO). For more info and to find out how to order your copy of Unusual Work, just follow this link here – you will be adding your support to our vitally important small presses and publishers.
Also, Helen was thrilled to be awarded Poet of the Month at the April Chamber Poets spoken word event held in Woodend, regional Victoria. The event was dedicated to commemorating ANZAC Day and celebrating International Haiku Day. Helen’s moving prose poem ‘The Diary’, about her grandfather’s experiences as a foot soldier in WW1, was followed by a poignant haiku – this reading encompassed both themes and clearly resonated with the audience.
It’s worth mentioning that ‘The Diary’ is published in Every Second Tuesday – Stories by Elwood Writers as part of Helen’s story ‘My Grandpa’.
So it’s double congratulations and two big cheers for Helen! Very well done.
Happy Monday to everyone.
EW
A Tribute on Vision Australia Radio
We’re slowly coming to terms with the enormous loss of our very dear friend and writing colleague Jennifer Bryce, who died on 27 April.
Jennifer co-founded Elwood Writers with Barry Lee Thompson in 2007. She achieved so much in her writing career, and was published widely in Australia and overseas.
Jennifer has written a broad range of fiction, both historical and contemporary, spanning themes such as loss, love, grieving, war, and the environment. The strength of her vision was a key driver in the production of the Elwood Writers anthology Every Second Tuesday. 2019 saw the publication of her debut novel, Lily Campbell’s Secret, launched at Readings in Carlton by Toni Jordan. Jenny’s follow-up novel had been successfully pitched to a publishing house, and the manuscript was under consideration at the time of her death. You can read more about Jenny’s work in her bio from this website – just click on the link here.
We’re honoured to have been invited by Tim McQueen of Vision Australia Radio (VAR) to create a special tribute, and this will be broadcast in Tim’s weekly literary program Cover to Cover. We’re working on the material now, and will showcase a selection of Jenny’s finest work. We’ll record at the studios of VAR in Melbourne in July, and the tribute will air soon after that. Details to follow as soon as they’re available.
Jenny is deeply missed by all who were fortunate to know her. For us, she will forever be the beating heart of Elwood Writers.
Helen was browsing in Stoneman’s Bookroom in Castlemaine last week, and spotted something rather exciting. In the middle of the second shelf in the photo below is a copy of the Elwood Writers anthology Every Second Tuesday. Helen sent this pic to the group, and we ran our eyes along the shelves, absorbing the host of excellent authors whose company we’re keeping. And, thanks to the orange Transit Lounge logo on that singular green spine, we quickly spotted another reason to cheer, nestled quietly on the left of the top shelf: Barry’s Broken Rules and Other Stories. So it’s a double hooray! for Elwood Writers and its members.
Thanks for your eagle eye, Helen, and for capturing the moment. And a huge thank you to Stoneman’s for supporting writers and writing everywhere.
In the literary world, being on the shelf is definitely a very good thing. Mind you, it’d be even better to be off the shelf and in the hands of an eager reader. Don’t forget to keep supporting your local bookshops and libraries. Especially the smaller independent booksellers who might be struggling a bit at the moment. If you want them to still be around this time next year, go and browse their shelves. And maybe take a punt on a book you might not otherwise have thought to read. Its author might turn out to be a favourite.
Whether you buy or borrow your next book, happy reading.
EW
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