Call For Young Writers

Flyer from Vibewire.net: rewriting youth media:

Calling all young writers.

Are you an aspiring political correspondent?
Australia’s youth media portal, Vibewire.net, is seeking four young writers aged 24 years or under to cover the upcoming Federal Election from the campaign trail itself.
The selected candidates will travel around the country for the duration of one week prior to the election with either John Howard or Kevin Rudd, filing two stories to the ElectionTracker website each day.
Vibewire is looking for writers with a sound knowledge of Australian politics and a solid understanding of the key issues of the election who can write about these issues in an interesting and engaging manner. Writers will have to work to very tight deadlines.
This is a unique opportunity to network with the country’s best and most experienced journalists, see the campaign trail first hand, receive training, have your work read by a large audience and help make the federal election more accessible for young voters.
To apply to be an ElectionTracker you must be 24 years of age or under and an Australian citizen or permanent resident. You must be available to be away from home for one of the two weeks leading up to the election.
All short listed applicants will be invited to submit features, opinion pieces, interviews and other contributions to the ElectionTracker site, the number one site for the election coverage, reportage, commentary and discussion by Australians aged 16-30.
Writers must be available to attend training on Friday, September 14 and Saturday, August 15 in Sydney.
Applications close Tuesday, September 4 at 5pm EST. Email electiontracker@vibewire.net for an application form.
This project is possible due to the support of The Dusseldorp Skills Forum.

Watch this space!!

Prepare to be a.muse'd as a group of Curtin's journalism students launch their first online magazine...a.muse.

Editors are calling for contributions from anyone and everyone who is interested, so get writing!

More details to follow...

Talking Books

WritingWA and PICA have announced a new monthly literary event: Talking Books. The first event kicks of on Sunday 9 September at 3pm at the PICA Bar, Perth Cultural Centre, and will feature Susan Maushart speaking with State Librarian, Margaret Allen, about her new book, "What Women Want Next." The program to follow the inaugral event includes: Niall Lucy and Steve Mickler (both Curtin academics) speaking about their book, "The War On Democracy: Conservative Opinion in the Australian Press" (Sunday October 14 at 3pm); Shane McCarthy and Grant Stone talking about comic book writing and the graphic novel (Sunday 11 November at 3pm); and Deborah Robertson on her novel, "Careless" (Sunday 9 December at 3pm). All events are FREE. Enquires WritingWA at info@writingWA.org or (08) 9228 9908.

Contribute to Concrete Dialogues

The Concrete Dialogues website project offers opportunities for new writers to experiment with some creative re-mapping of Perth in poetry or prose. A snippet from the site's introduction:
"Concrete Dialogues is a narration of the stories seeping from the sidewalks and the silences of Perth. From roads that have been swallowed to suburbs newly born, the city's young writers expose a side of the street you may not have known. The project aims to redraw the street directories with text, filling grid coordinates with prose and points of interest with verse." For more details on how to contribute: http://dialogues.concrete.org.au/

Sell yourself out!

Well, not really...but make sure you put Thursday September 6th in your diary for the launch of Wasted magazine's latest 'Selling Out' issue.

Wasted is a quaterly Perth publication tailor-made to the lives of its discerning readers. It is independently owned and run by local university students, and young professionals.

Be there from 8pm at Gilkinson's Dance Studio in the CBD and get ready to witness the latest threads and trends, as local designers take to the catwalk.

Tickets are available from the Spot, or on the door ($15 earlybird/$20 otherwise)...so get to it!

Write for the university!

What with the many publications available to writers in WA, we tend to forget about the humble university publications available on campus. Amongst them, both Grok and Paragon Magazine are published by the Curtin Student Guild and are always open to submissions.
For Grok, you may go to www.guild.curtin.edu.au and go through these links for more information: About Your Guild > Guild Publications > Grok > Submit an article.
For Paragon, all submissions should be sent to paragon.curtinisc@gmail.com. Writers may look at the current and past issues of the magazine, available at the Guild Reception and through the International Students Committee. The next issue is sports-themed so all relevant stories and ideas will be greatly appreciated. Do feel free to email the editors at the above address if you have any queries.

Jacket magazine

Jacket magazine, edited by John Tranter, is Australia's premier literary ezine. It's free and offers a challenging mix of poetry, prose, essays and reviews in each volume. Jacket 33 is now online: http://jacketmagazine.com/00/home.shtml

A useful tip - while you're on the Jacket site it's worth tuning in to the very handy links section. This contains URLs to, and descriptions of, 70 national and international literary sites. Sample a variety of people to read and places to publish:
http://jacketmagazine.com/00/litlinks.shtml#au1

Indigo launched

The first issue of Indigo - the new writing journal for WA writers - was launched at the Fremantle Arts Centre on August 3rd. The journal includes the work of both established and emerging writers and is a great addition to the local scene. Congratulations to Garry Davies, a Curtin creative writing student, whose short story "Monsoon" was included in this inaugural volume. The submission deadline for Volume 2 is October 31st, 2007. For more info on how to purchase Indigo, or for submission guidelines, go to : http://www.indigojournal.org.au/

WA heats of Australian Poetry Slam kick off at PICA

The WA heats of Australian Poetry Slam kicked off at PICA on Friday, July 27th with 20 contestants pitching their poetry to 5 judges selected at random from a packed PICA Bar. The winner of the 2 minute verse-off was Vivienne Glance. The next of the 5 heats is at PICA on Friday, August 31st at 7:30pm. The ultimate State winner will be flown to Sydney to compete in the Australian Poetry Slam final in December. Participation in Poetry Slam is free but you must register to compete. For more info go to the website of the event's WA division manager Writing WA: http://www.writerswritingwa.org/

Sitelines: New Online Writing

Sitelines is the online journal for new writing and new media. Sitelines showcases a selection of the best new fiction, poetry, essays and creative non-fiction by students and graduates of Curtin University's long-running and highly regarded writing program.

Access Sitelines here:

http://sitelines.humanities.curtin.edu.au/

Writing Information Network

Welcome to all. This blog is intended as a communication network for past and present students from Curtin University of Technology's Creative and Professional Writing programs. The aim is to create a supportive community of writers and to facilitate the sharing of information, opportunities and ideas about writing in both fiction and non fiction genres.