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.
In February, Elwood Writers went away on a retreat – our first as a group. We rented a cottage in Victoria’s spa country, on the land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people. Our honorary canine member and muse, Ruby, joined us, enjoying the run of a huge backyard – the leafy haunt of kangaroos, possums and other bush creatures. A ten-minute walk from the cottage lay sleepy Hepburn Springs; forty minutes the other way, the gentle streets and beautiful lake of Daylesford.
We’d loaded the cars with supplies, so had everything we needed on arrival. We took turns cooking the evening meal, and on the fourth night we enjoyed feasting on all the leftovers. After dinner each night, over coffee and tea, we read our work aloud and discussed it, accompanied by Ruby’s contented snores. There were always nibbles on the table — a square of vegan chocolate, a morsel of fruit, a handful of nuts. Not quite dessert or afters, and certainly not pudding — more like mignardises, perhaps. Just enough to linger over as the evening unspooled.
From Helen:
“For me to leave behind the myriad distractions of daily living and immerse myself in all things writerly was a gift. This was my first writers retreat and I set myself a list of goals before I left home, my main plan being to finally complete a long-term project: a draft of my first collection of poems. With this total focus on the job at hand, along with evening readings and daily check-ins with my fellow Elwood Writers, I found my focus. It was with a sense of achievement that I entered the last poem into my manuscript at the end of the week.
“There was time and opportunity also to develop those poems and jottings I considered to have ‘legs’ and read those aloud after supper. There are, of course, other ambitions I wish to pursue, and I can’t wait for our next writers retreat in July to knuckle down, ears closed to all but the crackle of firewood.”
From Barry:
“I set an intention from the start: to read out around 1,500 words from my manuscript each evening. I managed to meet that goal, and one night read closer to 2,500 words. Helen and Margaret are generous, patient listeners, and always provide constructive and insightful responses. In all, during the week away, I presented close to 10,000 words of the novel. More of a writing intensive than a retreat!
“I enjoy crunching numbers, and that 10,000 words represents a fifth of the entire manuscript. Keeping figures like this in mind gives me a sense of where I am, and how the work is progressing. That it’s progressing at all is very satisfying.”
From Margaret:
“No sooner was I there … than I went on an excursion into town. On the day of our arrival, I’d spied a small, cosy café in the main street, which looked perfect for writing. Sure enough, it turned out to be a lovely, muted space with excellent hot chocolate to boot. I’d become one of those people who dreams of travelling to Paris, but once there immediately plans on where to go next.
“On the first day in my regional café, I asked the barista why it was named The Himalayan. He explained that it had something to do with the area’s geographical ‘ley lines’ and their connection to the powerful energy of Nepal. If this was so, then I’d found my spot. On the following day, the cafe’s electricity went out, forcing the other patrons to vacate. Only writers might say to themselves, oh good, now that it’s gone dark I have time to write and think. My piece was about Remembrance Day for soldiers (and their daughters), and in that instant I’d found my peace.”
Thanks to Helen for letting us know that the Woodend Haiku Festival is taking place throughout April around the town. Festival director Myron Lysenko is the Victorian representative of the Australian Haiku Society, and also founder and convener of Chamber Poets.
Various events are occurring throughout this month, coinciding with International Haiku Day on April 17.
… include a month-long haiku contest with an autumn theme, pop-up haiku poetry recitals, a free haiku picnic from 10am–1pm on April 2 at the Woodend Children’s Park, and a haiku-focused Chamber Poets event from 1–4pm on April 12.
2 April 10am-1pm Haiku Picnic. Woodend Children’s Park.
12 April 1pm-4pm Chamber Poets #109, Woodend RSL. Featuring internationally renowned poets from the Victorian based haiku group The Fringe Myrtles, plus Open Section and haiku music by Black Forest Smoke.
17 April 10am-midday Woodend Library. Free. Celebrate the magical, wonderful world of haiku. Listen to readings or be guided into writing your own.
17 April 1.30-3.30pm Woodend Neighbourhood House. Free. Poets will read haiku to you, write one about you or help you write one.
30 April 6pm- 8pm Haiku Dinner at the Victoria Hotel, Woodend. $22 for meal and a drink.
Local poet and festival director, Myron Lysenko, is a representative of the Australian Haiku Society and has organised a range of activities to celebrate all things haiku, coinciding with International Haiku Day on April 17.
Star Weekly 01/04/2025: Chamber Poets convener Myron Lysenko, and collective volunteers Jenny Zimmerman, Helen McDonald, Wendy Purcell, Talon Gostelow and Linda Stuart at the Woodend RSL. (Damjan Janevski). 466737_01
When I was a child, our mother used to read to my younger brother and me. By the time she had three more sons, she’d run out of steam; probably driven hoarse by my begging for more. There’s something magic about listening to a story that never loses favour. That’s why Tim McQueen’s program Cover to Cover (CTC) on Vision Australia Radio is a gift to his audience.
In October, Elwood Writers recorded our work for a CTC literary broadcast: Helen read her poetry and haiku, Barry his fiction noir, and I, a personal essay.
My story ‘Tommy’ is about a childhood friend who left Melbourne for London in the early seventies. His artistic dreams took him around the world before he settled back in England. His sudden death this year sparked memories for me of what he called our ‘naïve’ youth.
I worked on the memoir piece with the unstinting support of fellow Elwood Writers. When the opportunity came to record our work for an episode of Cover to Cover, I grabbed it with gusto. We have read almost annually for the program, but this time – perhaps because it was a ‘writers’ choice’ theme – I set about rehearsing properly. I practised by our local river, recording the story over and over while waiting for the birds and wood spirits to offer their free opinions. For me, parrots represent good omens, and a rare call from the lofty kookaburra can verge on the mystical.
Cover to Cover is popular with long haul drivers who may tire of the news cycle. Knowing there’d be listener scrutiny for our pieces sharpened my resolve to create flow and purpose in a way that simply leaving the words on the page might not have.
By the time of recording, I was as ready as I’d ever be. When the program aired, I returned to the river to listen and walk. I could hear in my voice unnecessary pauses, and a lisp I thought I’d left behind in childhood. But all in all, the reading – guided by Tommy’s effervescent spirit – made for a peaceful way to farewell my friend. Nothing one does will bring a person back, but shaping and chronicling days we had together can help.
Barry and Helen are masterful story tellers and literary performers. Now I’m a convert to the spoken word and an advocate for live readings being a part of a writer’s arsenal. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Consider it the gift of story to both listener and reader. Oh, and to writer too.
A selection of Helen’s poetry and haiku, read by Helen herself, was broadcast recently on Vision Australia Radio’s weekly literary program Cover to Cover. Episode 552 went to air on Friday 22nd November, repeated Sunday 24th November. Fabulous, Helen – what a treat!
In case you missed the program, the podcast (published Nov 26, 2024 at 2:11 PM) is available below:
Also included in this program are Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Sister of the Baroness’ and Damon Runyon’s ‘The Broadway Financier’, both read by Barry Leviny.
A sound file of the recording can be accessed by clicking here.
Cover to Cover is produced in the studios of Vision Australia Radio in Kooyong. The program is presented each Friday evening by Tim McQueen, and repeated on Sunday afternoons.
If you didn’t catch Cover to Cover on Vision Australia Radio (VAR) last night for ‘Elwood Writers presents: The Writers’ Choice’, there’s another opportunity to hear the program tomorrow afternoon. The repeat airs at Ipm Sunday in Melbourne, but you can check out local times at the VAR website, here. You don’t need a transistor radio, either: wherever you are, you can listen online at the VAR website – just click here and hit the ‘Listen live’ button.
We were moved by Margaret’s memoirs, unsettled by Barry’s ghost story, and carried to a place of peaceful introspection by Helen’s poetry.
EW
If you missed Friday’s broadcast, and you can’t make Sunday’s, don’t worry: we’ll be posting a podcast and recording of the program on this website sometime next week. Make sure you don’t miss any updates by clicking the ‘Subscribe’ button at the end of this post.
🎧 Tune in to Cover to Cover on Vision Australia Radio this Friday evening – it’s another Elwood Writers special! 🎧
Elwood Writers presents: The Writers’ Choice, includes:
📖 Memoirs by Margaret McCaffrey 📚 A new short story by Barry Lee Thompson 🖋️ Selections of poems and haiku by Helen McDonald
Don’t miss this literary showcase!
Vision Australia Radio
Check varadio.org for program times near you. If you can’t join us on Friday, catch the repeat broadcast on Sunday. And if you can’t make that either, we’ll be sharing a recording or podcast of the program on this site next week. So if you haven’t already, subscribe to Elwood Writers below to stay in the loop – it’s completely free and will remain free forever. How fab is that!
Happy listening!
EW
P.S. Do subscribe if you haven’t already – it’s a really good way to support our work, and we promise you won’t be disappointed. That subscribe button is coming up again at the end of the post. Here it comes …
I was enjoying a Marie biscuit and strong lungo yesterday morning when a new blog post from Barry’s website popped into the Elwood Writers mailbox. In the post – linked over there👉– Barry writes about an upcoming episode of Vision Australia Radio’s weekly literary program Cover to Cover, featuring the work of Elwood Writers. We don’t yet have a broadcast date for the program, but it’ll be sometime after the material goes to Cover to Cover‘s producer/presenter Tim McQueen in early October.
Elwood Writers has been contributing stories to Cover to Cover since 2015, featuring in roughly one special episode each year. Our first program, appropriately titled ‘Starting Over’, was broadcast in episode 38 of Cover to Cover on 11 January 2015. If you fancy a bit of a blast from the past, you can listen to that or any of the episodes featuring our work by clicking here. We’re always grateful for the invaluable support of Tim and the Cover to Cover team, and everyone at Vision Australia Radio.
Until my coffee break was pleasantly interrupted by the happy ping of that email notification yesterday, October had felt a long, long way away. And now? Well it’s closing in, but is still six weeks away – and I remember the six-week school holidays used to go on and on and on. We’ll be sure to provide more info about the radio program between now and October. To stay in the loop, make sure you’re subscribed – it’s free, and means you’ll never miss any content.
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