with Victoria Purman

Thinking about media releases, giving interviews or speaking on panels as a writer can be stressful. There's headshots to get done, media requests, and did you know there's a certain way to hold your book when posing for the camera? Add in the prospect of a book tour with curly questions from the audience and now all you want to do is shut your door and employ a publicist. Take the fear and unknown out of it with tips and tricks from a former journalist, media adviser, literary festival panel chair and Australian bestselling novelist, Victoria Purman.

with Bronwyn Tilley

There comes a time when every aspiring author will be asked by a publisher or agent if you have a social media following or online presence for your work. The best way to make yourself 'discoverable' online is with a professional website, so that you and your writing can be easily found by prospective readers, publishers and literary festival event bookers.

In this practical session, we'll use a simple (and free) web-hosting platform to build a professional website from scratch. All you need is an email address, a tablet or laptop, a few stock images, and any text you'd like to include.

with Jill Jones

In these days of climate emergency and ecological disaster how can poets respond? Is elegiac melancholy the only default left to us, or simplistic declamatory anger, or are there other ways to respond, to spur awareness and action?

What can poetry say about our responsibilities as well as culpabilities for species degradation, water shortages, famine and inequality, ocean acidification, a warming and drowning planet, political intransigence on climate action, and the need for alternative vision and action?

A 5-month program for writers working towards completing their first full length manuscript

February–June 2020

Are you looking for structured support and a strong peer network to help you finish your book? Writers SA's First Draft program provides fortnightly writing group meetings, a tailored workshop series, professional feedback and consultations, and peer-group support to keep you on track to complete your first draft by halfway through the year.

This program is suitable for anyone working on a long-form writing project, including fiction and narrative nonfiction in any genre, including poetry.

with Deb and Ron Kandelaars **Please note a venue change**

"You'll meet a host of remarkable people, from the Ramindjeri with their deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land and sea, to the European settlers and the profound change they brought about. Essential to Victor's story are the rough and ready whalers and fishers who once braved the seas of the rugged South Coast.

So, too, those involved in community organisations, tourism, agriculture, conservation, business, sport and the arts - trailblazers and local legends pivotal to the social fabric of the town."

— Victor Harbor: Down beside the sea

How do you evoke the essence of place in writing? How do you capture the complexity of landscape, people, culture, in a story? Deb and Ron Kandelaars spent three years interviewing residents, reading dozens of local history books, scouring libraries and museums, and sourcing hundreds of photographs to produce a book that explores Victor’s unique character. Join the authors of the beautiful new book, Victor Harbor: Down beside the sea, for a workshop on the qualities that bring place to life on the page.

with John Marsden

Every book is different. Some stories are bursting at the seams with well-developed characters and a network of complexities; others might follow one character who engages, willingly or unwillingly, with a compelling situation.

Language, characterisation and plot can all be powerful tools for authors to employ. The more that writers of fiction can hone their skills in these areas, the more impact upon readers they are likely to have. Join bestselling author John Marsden as he charges recklessly but joyously into all three of these areas (plot, language and characters). You’ll gain insight into his methods and hear advice on how to improve your own writing and storytelling, as he passes on the learning he has gained from his own writing career, which spans more than forty books. 

with Benjamin Law

The Laws of the Game

definition- a rule defining correct procedure or behaviour in a sport (in this case, the publishing industry)

A dilemma we face as authors is to follow religiously, or, without abandon break, the rules and conventions of the writing game and publishing industry. Always show, don’t tell. Only write what you know. Don’t attempt to publish anything remotely controversial or suffer the wrath (of…everyone?), only submit to one house or publication at a time, etc.

*This event books you for both workshops with Dr Lee Kofman* Please click individual event links to book into single workshops.

Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction

10:30am to 1:30pm

Click to book single session

Creative non-fiction is an expansive and exciting genre that includes many popular sub-genres, such as memoir, political or familial biography, poetic personal essays, investigative journalism, true crime and travel writing, and much more that resist easy categorisation. In this workshop you will learn about the main genres and the common principles in gripping creative non-fiction writing, such as making the author into a character, writing vivid prose, developing a narrative journey, and incorporating research seamlessly.

Learn from one of the best Australian writers in the business, Lee Kofman (VIC), about how to blend beautiful language with serious reportage, how memoir can make cultural and political critique, and how creative non-fiction allows us to explore both internal and external worlds.

with Dr Lee Kofman (see event series to book both workshops for a reduced rate)

Creative non-fiction is an expansive and exciting genre that includes many popular sub-genres, such as memoir, political or familial biography, poetic personal essays, investigative journalism, true crime and travel writing, and much more that resist easy categorisation. In this workshop you will learn about the main genres and the common principles in gripping creative non-fiction writing, such as making the author into a character, writing vivid prose, developing a narrative journey, and incorporating research seamlessly.

Learn from one of the best Australian writers in the business, Lee Kofman (VIC), about how to blend beautiful language with serious reportage, how memoir can make cultural and political critique, and how creative non-fiction allows us to explore both internal and external worlds.

with Dr Lee Kofman (see event series to book both workshops for a reduced rate)

"What do you do when your husband claims to be madly in love with you, but doesn't desire you sexually? When your therapist is more interested in opening an online sex-toy shop with your husband than in saving your marriage? Do you try yet another counsellor, get divorced or settle for a sexless marriage?" — On Lee Kofman's The Dangerous Bride: A Memoir of Love, Gods and Geography

"By the time she was eleven and living in the Soviet Union, Lee Kofman had undergone several major operations on both a defective heart and injuries sustained in a bus accident. Her body harbours a constellation of disfiguring scars that have shaped her sense of self and her view of the world." – On Lee Kofman's Imperfect

Writers’ best works usually dwell in the caves of shame. Shame is a reliable barometer to detect those urgent stories we need to tell. But how to dare, and find the right language, to write about what makes us or others uncomfortable? Find the courage to write about what matters to you and work through ethical issues involved (in both fiction and non-fiction), using practical exercises and strategies to make literature out of the uncomfortable.

with Vikki Wakefield

Magical Realism embraces the odd, the unusual, the mythical and the magical, by altering the world in which we already exist. Often considered the weird kid at the literary table, Magical Realism has yielded some of our most celebrated literature—stories that blend the ordinary with the extraordinary without justification or explanation. But is it a true genre, a style, or a complex literary mode? Do we need a label? Are there rules and conventions?