Thank you, Glenn Stuart Beatty
Thank you, Glenn Stuart Beatty
Celebrating twenty-five years of service as Hunter Writers' Centre farewells outgoing Chair Glenn Beatty
For Glenn Beatty, storytelling is something intrinsic. Throughout his career, he has worked in the steel industry, in change management, and in the public service, but nothing has matched the pull of storytelling itself.
Hunter Writers’ Centre has known Glenn Beatty for over twenty-five years. He served on the Board in the early 2000s, and for the last four years his steady hand has been back at the rudder as Chair. Alongside Director Katherine McLean, he has helped steer Hunter Writers’ Centre through leadership changes and into a period of growth.
Beatty’s own long history of storytelling has produced plays, a collection of poetry, a novel, and various other works, which speaks to his belief that story can’t be confined to ‘the pure literary traditional sense, but instead storytelling in all its means.’
Being Chair of Hunter Writers’ Centre has allowed me to give something back.
His passion for story is one half of what makes him suited to the role of Chairperson. The other half is his commitment to the community of storytellers across the Hunter region, a commitment that extends well beyond Hunter Writers’ Centre. In 1988, he helped establish Poetry at the Pub, first as a member and later as both Secretary and President.
‘Hunter Writers’ membership ranges from some very experienced, high-quality writers to people just starting to dabble in writing. We bring all those people together. The strength of the HWC community is that it’s a sharing community of people who are interested and passionate about storytelling.’
As opposed to his experience in the collaborative world of theatre, writing is ‘a very solo activity’ he says, but one that still needs connection.
‘You need people you can talk about your work with, to bounce ideas off. That’s one of the key things we provide. We’re not just an organisation that runs workshops, events and competitions—we aim to enable a creative community.’
After four years, Glenn stepped down from the role of Chair at the recent AGM and is looking forward to spending more time on his own writing. He continues to be involved as the convenor of HWC’s Newcastle Short Story Writing Group.
‘I’ve learned a lot from the elders within the Hunter arts community. Being Chair of Hunter Writers’ Centre has allowed me to give something back.’
We thank Glenn for his commitment to HWC and our community of storytellers. He has been an integral part of the HWC journey, and we look forward to his continued friendship.
For more information about Glenn, please visit his website: Glenn Stuart Beatty || Poet Author Playwright