Sydney Writers' Centre blog

Book Giveaway - Australian Tragic by Jack Marx

This week's newsletter features another great book giveaway for subscribers. If you missed it, here are the details again.

Our latest podcast intervieaw is now available and this week we spoke to journalist, blogger and author, Jack Marx. His latest book is Australian Tragic: Gripping tales from the dark side of our history and is a book of true stories from Australia’s ‘dark heart’.


Australian Tragic is about a nation that began its life as a stage for misfortune - and ever since has struggled to outgrow its birthright. These are gripping tales that take us into the heart of this country: tales of genuine catastrophe, of grand chances gone astray, of fools and their plans pathetically undone, of heartbreaking sadness and violent loss, and of both goodness and human evil. From Aboriginals being curious in an American circus to the story of Martin Bryant at Port Arthur, and from Bob Bungey, who survived The Battle of Britain, but couldn't face life when his young wife suddenly died soon after he came home - all these stories are told in a gripping narrative style, driven by eyewitness testimony, a solid sense of place, and a mood of impending doom. And we thought we knew our history...

We have one copy of Australian Tragic to giveaway. Just tell us what Australian story you think deserves to be told (in 25 words or less). Email your answers to courses@spindriftmedia.com.au by Friday 4 December 2009, and don’t forget to include your postal address.

I can personally vouch for this book. I gave a copy to a friend of mine, a committed NON-reader, and he finished it in two days! He was fascinated by the stories - and I think he even shed a tear after reading one of them.

To enter our book competitions, you must be a subscriber to our newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

Rave reviews about our Feature Writing course

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My Child/Parenting Express writing competition

My Child magazine may not seem like the most obvious place to enter a writing competition, but don’t be put off! Now in its third year, the My Child/Parenting Express short-story competition is on again and is now accepting submissions.

Parents are invited to submit a 900-word story. Entries must be unpublished, creative non-fiction with the theme of pregnancy, child-birth or the first five years of raising a child. Easy! If you have kids, then no doubt you have plenty of inspiration.

The best story will be published in the Autumn 2010 edition of My Child, and the writer will also receive enrolment in our Online Feature Writing course. This is one of our most popular courses, perfect if you want to learn how to write great articles and get them published! You can check out the details here.

The winning author will also receive a $150 voucher for Agoo’s online store (funky and sun-safe clothes for kids), a Bella mini-bag by Il Tutto valued at $149.95, and a two-year subscription to My Child magazine. Three runners up will also be rewarded generously with a $150 voucher for Agoo’s online store, a Bella mini-bag by Il Tutto and a one-year subscription to My Child.

All entries must be submitted via email by no later than midnight on Sunday 10 January 2010. You can find out more at Parenting Express or My Child online. 

Live Poets @ Don Bank

Live Poets at Don Bank Museum are holding their last gathering for 2009 on Wednesday 25 November. Featuring at this meeting will be Louise Wakelingm, who'll be reading from Parachuting in a War-Zone, and Martin Harrison presenting Wild Bees, his new and selected poems. As well as the usual Open Section for audience memberes, there will also be a presentation for the Un-Darwin Awards fr 2009.

Live Poets @ Don Bank
6 Napier St North Sydney
When: Wednesday 25 November 2009
Time: Doors open 7.30pm
Cost: $7 (includes light supper and drinks)

Here's some more information about this month's guests:

Louise Wakeling is a Sydney poet, teacher and freelance editor. Her first novel, Saturn's Return, was published by Hale and Iremonger in 1990. In 1995 she co-edited Parachute of Blue with Jill Jones and Judith Beveridge and jointly won the inaugral Sports Poetry Award. She was awarded a doctorate of writing from the University of NSW in 1999. Her poetry collections include, Medium Security (2002) and Parachuting in a War-Zone (2008).
 
Martin Harrison lives in the Hunter Valley and teaches writing and poetry at the University of Technology in Sydney. Martin's essays on poetry, contemporary writing and a sense of place were collected in Who Wants to Create Australia? in 1994, which was selected in the (UK) Times Literary Supplement's International Books of the Year. Martin's poetry has been translated into German, Czech and Mandarin. He has been published in the USA and the UK as well as widely in Australia and has taken up writing residencies in Rome and New York.

For further information about Live Poets, contact Danny Gardner on 02 9896 6956 or 0422 263 373, or email dannylivepoets@yahoo.com.au.

Slim Ink book giveaway

If you're a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you'll know all about our regular book giveaways. For those of you who don't, here are the details for this week's Slim Ink book prize.

Once again our good friends at Slim Ink have trawled through the new release lists for the month and picked out the very best for us to giveaway. This month’s book comes from Judy Nunn, former Home & Away star and prolific author. Her latest book is Maralinga.

MARALINGA is a story of British Lieutenant Daniel Gardiner, who accepts a twelve-month posting to the wilds of South Australia on a promise of rapid promotion; Harold Dartleigh, Deputy Director of MI-6 and his undercover operative Gideon Melbray; Australian Army Colonel Nick Stratton and the enigmatic Petraeus Mitchell, bushman and anthropologist. They all find themselves in a violent and unforgiving landscape, infected with the unique madness and excitement that only nuclear testing creates.

MARALINGA is also a story of love; a love so strong that it draws the adventurous young English journalist Elizabeth Hoffmann halfway around the world in search of the truth. And MARALINGA is a story of heartbreak; heartbreak brought to the innocent First Australians who had walked their land unhindered for 40,000 years.

If you’d like to win a copy of Maralinga tell us: What would you do for a promotion? Email your answers to courses@spindriftmedia.com.au by Friday 20 November 2009 and please remember to include your postal address.

To enter, you must be subscriber to our newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

Amazing travel writing opportunity!

Sometimes I wonder why I've signed up for so many e-newsletters, but then occasionally something like this lands in my inbox...

World Nomads are teaming up with Rough Guides, Intrepid Travel and Hotels.com and offering the writing opportunity of a lifetime to one budding travel writer, and here's what you need to know:

WorldNomads.com is offering the chance to go to Tokyo, Japan with Rough Guides Travel Writer, Simon Richmond.

The assignment will be to research, review and update essential travel info for the Tokyo section of ‘The Rough Guide to Japan’, including accommodation, bars & restaurants, entertainment, shopping, tours, activities and transport, as well as searching out those local secrets that travelers want to read about.

Your work will feature in the new edition of ‘The Rough Guide to Japan’ placing your foot firmly in the door of the elusive travel writing industry!

The winner of the scholarship will be flown to Tokyo, Japan from their country of residence where they will join Simon Richmond from Rough Guides for a 7 day assignment. They will gain invaluable mentoring and hands-on experience through Simon's many years of Travel Writing.

After the assignment, the scholarship winner will also enjoy a 4 day “Flavours of Japan” tour with Intrepid Travel.

Applicants for the scholarship must Craft a 500 word (or less) travel focused essay based on a personal experience around one of the following themes;

a. 'A Journey that Changed Lives'
b. 'Responsible Travel'
c. 'Adventure in an Unknown Culture'
d. 'A Memorable Experience Involving Food in a Foreign Country'

They will also be asked to provide 200 words or less on why they should be awarded the World Nomads 2010 Travel Writing Scholarship.

Visit the WorldNomads.com Scholarship page for more information.

The deadline for entrants is December 21, 2009.

*Please note this scholarship is open to travel writing students and enthusiasts. Travel writing professionals are not eligible to apply.

Here's the link again just in case - World Nomads Scholarship.

Noddy's back!

 Lovers of Enid Blyton rejoice – Noddy is back! After a 46-year hiatus the beloved children’s book character is celebrating his 60th birthday with a new book – Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle – written by Blyton's grand-daughter, Sophie Smallwood.

Blyton’s wooden elf first appeared in 1949, and she went on to publish 23 more Noddy books. She was an incredibly prolific writer and wrote over 800 books in her lifetime. She’s well known for her Noddy series as well as The Famous Five, The Magic Faraway Tree, and The Wishing Chair series. (I loved The Magic Faraway Tree and Wishing-Chair books. Then, when I was ‘older’, like, 10, I got into the more daring Enid Blyton books – such as The Naughtiest Girl in School.)

Most people would be familiar with the controversy surrounding Blyton’s writing. Since her hugely successful writing career began, Blyton has been criticised for perceived racism and sexism in her writing. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that it really became obvious and moves were made to eliminate some of these elements from newer editions of her work. Of course, as a child, these issues went over my head. Without a context to attach them to, I didn’t see golliwogs as racist (I had no idea of their history or of what they represented) and I thought it was perfectly acceptable that boys were boys and girls were girls.

Nevertheless, Smallwood and the publishers of the latest edition of Noddy have taken modern sensibilities into account and the Golliwogs don’t appear in this book. In fact, they haven’t been included in new editions of Blyton’s books for around 20 years now. Still, Smallwood has promised a return to the original style of the books, and this will no doubt be helped by the illustrations of Robert Tyndall, who worked with Blyton on the Noddy series from 1953.

And my excuse for reading Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle in the bookshop? I have four nephews to buy Christmas presents for!

Book Rant

It seems every book I read lately is being made into a movie! When I researched The Time Traveller’s Wife on Google, I found links for the movie that comes out here in the next month or so. Now, I’ve done the same research for The Lovely Bones and, what do you know – they’ve made a movie!

Anyway, I’ve just finished reading The Lovely Bones and, while I wasn’t overwhelmed, it was an interesting read.

It’s the story of Susie Salmon, who is also the narrator, a 14-year old girl who is raped and murdered in 1973 very near to her home. (The scenes describing her death in the very first chapter are truly creepy.) From her heaven, she watches over her family as they struggle to deal with her death. She sees her siblings and classmates grow up, and her parents grow apart. She also keeps tabs on her killer.

I had a couple of issues with the book. The first was that Susie just seemed too mature. She was 14 when she was murdered and I never got any hint of envy or regret. She lives vicariously through her family, but what comfort is that when you’ve been murdered at the age of 14? I would have forgiven a little more self-pity.

Also, occasionally the dialogue became disjointed somehow. I often found myself re-reading passages because they didn’t make sense the first time. It didn’t always flow. It felt like Susie was trying so hard to analyse every event, to give some closure to her family – even if they themselves couldn’t enjoy it.

On the plus side, the book never veered too far into the sentimental drivel you might expect from a book narrated from heaven. In fact, many critics applauded Sebold for her ability to avoid sentimentality altogether. Personally, I felt it was borderline. There were moments where my inner cynic kicked in and I found myself cringing a bit at the sweetness of it all.

But all in all, it is a good book. Sebold has dared to tackle the aftermath of a horrific event and how a family deals with grief, yet she’s done it without being overly mawkish.

Let’s hope the makers of the upcoming film have managed the same restraint.