Susan Francis began writing her memoir in 2015. It progressed well and she and her husband decided to move to Spain for a year so she could complete it. How wonderful is that? However, six months in, tragedy struck when her husband died. Susan returned to Mayfield and found writing a positive process to help her through her grief. 3 years later and Susan’s achievements show the process not only helped her grief but brought her rewards. In 2018: Winner, Shelia Malady short story award; Highly commended, AAWP Emerging Writers’ Prize; Shortlisted for Varuna House Lit-link scholarship; Script performed, The Monologue Adventures Voices of Women; Longlisted E.J. Brady competition.
And the success continues into 2019: Long-listed, Margaret River short story competition, Published in the Hammond House Publishing (UK) International Anthology, Published in the Newcastle Short Story Award.
So what happened to the memoir? Well, just last month, Susan signed with Benython Oldfield, literary agent at Zeitgeist Media who has sent her memoir to some major publishers. Congratulations Susan!
Cassandra O’Loughlin released her wonderful collection Taking my Breath – a collection of ecopoems.
Dael Allison, poet, HWC member and secretary of HWC Board has had a very busy year completing much of our governance paperwork, writing her PhD and editing two books. What an amazing woman. One of the books she edited was To End All Wars. Here’s a review by one of the featured poets, HWC member Magdalena Ball.
Christopher Kelen has the rare gift of a voice that feels effortlessly, mesmerizingly, unique.
Poor Man’s Coat is a delight: a fresh and haunting mix of deep meditation, witty intelligence and the abundant wonder of poetry’s ‘wise surprise’. – Jean Kent
Kathryn Fry’s book of poems Green Point Bearings has been reviewed in The Compulsive Reader and by poet Brook Emery.
Storytime Lane have released two new books since their January launch: “Life is Not Fair When You Are Just a Chair” (E. S. Smith/Graham Davidson) and ‘”Hunter” which is book 2 in Graham Davidson’s Witches of the Cross-worlds series.
Sutherland Shire Literary Competition
Congratulations Penny Lane
1st and 2nd Prizes Free Verse for her poems ‘Nothing Much Here’ and ‘How to Write a Waterfall’
Congratulations Catherine Moffat
Highly Commended for her story ‘The Lady Vanishes’
Hayden’s Bedtime by Wendy Haynes will be available late March 2019. A crowdfunding event for this book starts soon. Please share and help families escape domestic violence.
Gillian Telford had two poems published in Not Very Quiet poetry journal: ‘Brisbane Water Estuary’ and ‘Midnight Lexicon’ and 2 poems in The Ghazal Page international online journal. ‘On being Alone’ and ‘of belonging’
Jan Dean, Kathryn Fry and Magdalena Ball also had poems published in Not Very Quiet this year.
Malcolm St Hill’s essay on Australian Frederic Manning and his novel, ‘The Middle Parts of Fortune’, (the greatest war novel of all time) was published in Overland in November
Laura Brown’s short story ‘My Brave New World’ features in A Patchwork of Stories, the best stories from the 2018 Birdcatcher Books Short Story Competition.
News from the Lake Macquarie Poetry Group:
Louise Berry had a poem published in the New Shoots Poetry Anthology 2017 and published her second book on Dora Creek history
Diana Pearce had a poem published in Valley Micropress in 2017, and several poems published in The Mozzie in 2017 and 2018 (print only journals).
Black Crow Walking received a 2017 HWC grant to write about homelessness in the Hunter.
Nicole Sellers had a poem published in Plumwood Mountain in 2017 and a poem published in Grieve Volume 6 Anthology in 2018.
In November, Laura Taylor celebrated her 100th post on Planet Picture Book, a blog where she explores children’s literature from every country in the world.
Michael Tippett won First Prize in the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge with his short story Crawlers. Read Michael’s story here.
The horizon shimmers, a quivering line of gel squeezed between the immense blue sky and the hard dun-coloured earth.
Mark Maclean is currently living and teaching in Lightning Ridge. He blogs about his experience in and around the town and his latest blog entry is about the time Bowie came to a nearby town. Read more
Congratulations Katrina McKelvey on the signing of a contract for her 5th published picture book, Isla’s Family Tree to be illustrated by Prue Pittock and published by EK Books in 2020. Read all about it here.
Jan McLeod’s book, Shadows On The Track: Australia’s Medical War in Papua 1942 – 1943 is scheduled for release by Big Sky Publishing in February 2019
Judy Johnson had a poem published in The Sydney morning Herald during 2018.
HWC Newcastle poetry group has reprinted its collection The Olley Poems. Hunter Writers Centre funded the publication of poems that pay tribute to Margaret Olley. Olley was an iconic figure in Australian art whose main focus on landscapes and interiors turned everyday objects and scenes into bursts of colour. Congratulations, HWC poetry group on a second print run! Purchase the book from the Newcastle Art Gallery for $15.
