Tag: writers

Every Second Tuesday, update

The publication of Every Second Tuesday, an anthology of our writing from over the last ten years, is being held back until early November. By that time we anticipate seeing a little more stability in the literary landscape as new and exciting models of delivery are embraced.

In the meantime, here’s a peek at the book’s back cover:

And before the anthology arrives, we have the release of Barry’s collection of fiction to look forward to. Broken Rules and Other Stories is coming out on 1 September. More information is available at the Transit Lounge website, here.

So please stay tuned – there’s a lot happening this year, and we’ll be providing plenty more updates along the way.

Happy reading and writing.

Winning Poetry

Poetry Matters | Issue 36, July 2019

Helen McDonald’s poem ‘In deep blue’ is a prize winner in July’s Poetry Matters competition. That piece, along with Helen’s ‘A Friday, like any other’, is published in the always excellent Poetry Matters journal (Issue 36, July 2019). The theme of the issue is ‘runaway world’. More information on the work of Poetry Matters is available here.

Many congratulations to Helen!

A peaceful weekend and happy reading and writing to everyone.

Poetry to our ears

Congratulations to Helen on winning ‘Poet of the Month’ at the July Chamber Poets meeting in Woodend with her poem ‘Stark Against the Sky’. If you use Facebook, you can find out about Chamber Poets here.

And Helen’s poems ‘A Friday, like any other …’ and ‘In Deep Blue’ are published in Poetry Matters Issue 36 – the 2019 Competition edition. You can read more about Poetry Matters here.

Launch: The Sky Falls Down | An Anthology of Loss

Carrie Tiffany will launch The Sky Falls Down: An Anthology of Loss at Readings Bookstore, Hawthorn on Saturday 13 July at 2:00pm. The book features ‘Benjamin’ by Jennifer Bryce of Elwood Writers.

For more on the launch, visit the link below:

https://www.readings.com.au/event/book-launch-the-sky-falls-down

“This beautiful collection of writings explores the landscape of loss. It will meet you where you are. You’ll find yourself reaching for particular pieces that somehow articulate how you’re feeling, even before you’ve found the words to express it yourself … May this book become both a friend and a warm companion.” Petrea King, Quest for Life Centre.

What’s occurring?

2018 was an industrious and fruitful year for Elwood Writers. Among other events, we hosted and thoroughly enjoyed presenting our work at our first public soiree, in August at St Kilda Library, and in November provided the material for the Armistice Day Centenary edition of Cover To Cover on Vision Australia Radio.

We’ve more exciting group projects planned for 2019, kicking off with an excursion to Adelaide for Writers’ Week in March. We’re thrilled to have been invited to collaborate with Tim McQueen and the team at Cover To Cover for another themed program on Vision Australia Radio, and will post more about that closer to the time. Also in the pipeline is another soiree, possibly towards the end of the year.

And of course our individual projects continue, with material regularly workshopped within our fortnightly group meetings.

With so much going on and coming up, from time to time it can be useful to consolidate and reflect. In that spirit, we’ve created a dedicated page on the website for recordings, mostly podcasts, of our group radio programs. All our programs for Cover To Cover beginning with Starting Over in January 2015 can now be accessed easily in one place, here, or by clicking on the link below:

https://elwoodwriters.com/podcasts/

We look forward to updating this podcasts page with the recording of 2019’s radio program later this year.

There’s much to look forward to, and always so much to write about. Here’s to a peaceful year; happy reading, listening, and writing.

Best wishes from Elwood Writers.

Winter 2018 Soiree | Helen McDonald

In August, Elwood Writers held its Winter 2018 Soiree at St Kilda Library in Melbourne. In this post, Helen McDonald describes the work she presented at the event.

2018_08_25-elwoodwriters_058.jpgIt takes time and a good deal of thought for Elwood Writers to arrange our program so that the literary readings are varied, complement each other and hopefully engage our audience. One of the things I enjoy most about our soirees is the range of genres covered, and not only hearing but delivering an interpretation of the pieces we have polished and workshopped in our group meetings.  Each member of Elwood Writers brings their own unique voice to the occasion across fiction, memoir, short story and creative non-fiction.

My own leanings are towards poetry and memoir, and in this, our first public performance, I read a selection of poems as well as haiku, a poetic form I‘m very much enjoying exploring.  Our appreciative audience were even subjected, from me, to a short analysis of what haiku is – and isn’t.

This time it was just as much a treat for us, as for the audience, to have Jenny’s chamber group providing musical interludes.  Duo Con Brio (two thirds of Trio Con Brio) chose Bach as the perfect accompaniment for the literary works, and the combined sounds of oboe and cello clearly delighted everyone.

St Kilda Library’s community room was the perfect venue for this intimate evening with friends, acquaintances and family, and we were so pleased to welcome members of Roomers, the City Of Port Phillip creative writing project.

It is such a rewarding experience to share our work and with each soiree I like to think we raise the bar just a little bit higher.

All images HarrietClaire Photography

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live, work and learn, and we pay our respects to all elders past and present.

 

Lit on a Winter Afternoon

At the end of August, Elwood Writers held a literary soiree in the community room at St Kilda Library in Melbourne. The event provided an opportunity for us to present a curated program of short readings from our own work, and included fiction, memoir, and poetry.

Duo con Brio, with Monica Edwards on cello and Elwood Writers’ Jennifer Bryce on oboe, punctuated the proceedings with musical pieces by Bach.

The set-up.
The program.
Duo con Brio, St Kilda Library.
The thank you for the music.
Audience.
The reading.
The reading.
The reading.
The page turning.
The pages gathering.
The interval.

We’ll provide more information on some of the work presented at the event in forthcoming blog posts. For now, wherever you are, happy reading and writing.

2018_08_25-ElwoodWriters_064
The writers.

All images HarrietClaire Photography

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we tell our stories, and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

Back To School

It’s almost time for Australian schools to reopen after the long summer holiday, and this week’s edition of Cover To Cover on Vision Australia Radio looks at aspects of school life both inside and beyond the gates. The program features poetry, memoir and fiction from the members of Elwood Writers, and will air on Friday evening at 8 o’clock on 1179 AM Melbourne.  For times where you are, check out the program guide here:
https://radio.visionaustralia.org/program-guides

There’s a frequency finder (if you’re in Australia) and a live streaming link (wherever you are in the world) here:
https://radio.visionaustralia.org/

If you’re not able to join us on Friday, the program will be repeated on Sunday, and will be available as a podcast shortly afterwards.

Happy listening!