Join award-winning novelist Alice Robinson to explore the craft of literary fiction writing, through reading, discussion and practical writing exercises in this hands-on writing workshop. (*This workshop will be recorded for registered participants who can't make the weekend sessions)

Over two three-hour sessions (Nov 13 & 14)*, Alice will lead you to consider and practice key components of literary fiction writing, including character, place, theme, structure, plot and style. Together, participants will consider what makes fiction 'literary' rather than strictly commercial, asking: can literary novels also be 'page turners'? What is the role of language and style in creating literary fiction? Are these components necessarily more important than character and plot? How do we invest our writing with beauty, universality and resonance? To what extent can writing also become art?

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify the differences between literary and commercial fiction
• Structure a literary novel
• Work with theme to create meaning and resonance
• Consider place and character through a literary lens
• Leverage language and poetic structures (metaphor, simile etc) in fiction writing.

*Please note date change for the second session: the old date was Nov 20. Since there is some programming overlap, these sessions will be recorded for registered participants to access for one month. The first session's recording will be available almost immediately after the Saturday session.

About Alice Robinson

Alice Robinson is the author of two novels, both published by Affirm Press. Her debut novel, Anchor Point (2015), was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Indie Book Awards. The Glad Shout (2019) was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and The Colin Roderick Literary Award and won the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Alice's stories, essays and reviews have been published widely in literary journals, including in Meanjin, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue Fiction Edition, Fireflies, Arena, The Australian Humanities Review and Australian Book Review.

Alice is also an experienced public speaker and writing teacher. She has appeared at numerous festivals including Melbourne Writers Festival, Brisbane Writers Festival and Adelaide Writers Week among others, and has been teaching creative writing in Australian universities and elsewhere for over ten years. Alice earned a Bachelor of Creative Arts at The University of Melbourne in 2004 and a PhD in Creative Writing at Victoria University in 2012, where she was awarded the Vice Chancellor's Peak Award for Research and Research Training.

—Writers SA members must be logged in to receive the member discount. If you would like to use a workshop credit to book in, please contact [email protected] at least five working days before the workshop commencement date. Our staff don’t work full time and we don’t want you to miss out!

—Registrations will close 4pm on the Friday prior to a weekend event and 5pm the day of for an evening event to ensure all participants have the relevant links and information during Writers SA business hours.

—Members of other writing centres in the National Writers Centre Network can access our member discount. Contact [email protected] with your membership number to make your booking.

Price: Writers SA Member $120/Non-member $180

(2 x 3hr session November 13th and 14th)

Venue: Zoom