BLOGS, LITERARY SITES, WRITER'S SITES, MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS

Blogs take all forms - many very sophisticated (and many, not). Look to the blogrolls on the blogs you visit to find other interesting places to visit. Try some of the blogs on Famous Poets & Poems. There is also The Australian Index which attempts a comprehensive listing of Aussie blogs. Add yours if it's not there already.

And if you still don't know what a blog is, go to this blog entry at Scripting News and see what Dave Winer has to say about voice and ownership under the heading ‘The unedited voice of a person’ and his earlier article at Weblogs at Harvard Law. See also Eurozine's "Blogging, the nihilist impulse" article.

Also included is just a few of the very many writer’s sites and magazine/journal sites.

Australian Literature Resources has a listing of Australian authors which is well worth a look and there are other sites which have lots of links to information on Australian writers eg the Literature site.

A

About Poetry site - lots of excellent links to poetry sites (American).

The Academy of American Poets

Robert Adamson - personal site

American Life in Poetry put together by Ted Kooser (their poet laureate 2004-2006)

Alternative-Read - review site

American Poetry Review - paper journal, rarely publishes Australians. Poetry and articles about poetry, poems in translation.

ars poetica - poems about poetry. Look at this developing poetry project/anthology put together by Dan Waber

Artists without Frontiers - modelled on the medical version. A human rights site for artists (including writers).

Arts & Letters Daily - general literary and comment site

ArtsRush - Literary and arts site

Arts in Shoalhaven news site - news of the arts in the Shoalhaven

Australia Council - premier Australian funding body (and their journal OzArts)

The Australian Index - a listing of Australian blogs on all topics.

Australian Literature resources up-to-date list of poets

AustLit - a resource for Australian Literature. Unless your organisation subscribes, you'll have to pay to get into some of it, but there are some free bits which are worth investigating too.

Australian Book Review - edited by Peter Rose. A great source of literary reviews and essays.

B

Bad Press - not what you think.

Baghdad Burning - a famous and revolutionary use of a blog

Blue Acres - 'poetry, process & sundry' - the blog of poet Jen Crawford

Blue Stalking Reader - a great blog for readers of prose. Get to it.

Bob's Byway Glossary of Poetic Terms

BookSlut - site and blog for rabid readers

Janice M. Bostok - personal site

Pam Brown - personal site

C

Children's Book Council useful site with helpful links among other helpful information for writer's for children, a peak body

Cordite - online literary magazine includes poetry and reviews. Poetry is often good, though the reviews are variable.

copyblogger - a blogger's blog. Full of useful information on copywriting, interestingly told and useful for non-copywriters too.

createillawarra

Alison Croggan - personal site

D

DC Green Yarns - Children's Author site

The Deletions Pam Brown's blog

Divan - online journal edited by Earl Livings out of Box Hill TAFE in Victoria.

DiVerse blog Australian Arts groups which transcribes visual art and special exhibitions into poetry

The Drunken Boat

Martin Duwell - personal site

E

Edge - Fascinating. Their tag goes: 'To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.'

The Empire of Larks - occasional blog of Chris Mansell

The Empty Page blog of the Queensland Writers Centre

Enterprising Words Di Bates & Bill Condon's site.

F

The Famous Reporter - the online version of the paper journal edited by Ralph Wessman. Coming out of Tasmania it has fiction, poems, gossip, reviews, interviews and articles on writing.

FICTIONS - short prose fiction by Chris Mansell

Fiera Lingue - interesting Italian site (which also has English)

foam:e - poetry site which grew out of the Espresso discussion list

40x365 40 words | 40 years 365 days | 365 people ...a very special blog.

Friendly St Poets - site of one of the longest running readings in the country (Adelaide).

A Fugitive Phenomenon An AustLit blog by Kerryn Goldsworthy

Fulcrum - an annual magazine of poetry & poetics. "From out of nowhere, FULCRUM has in only a few years established itself as a must-read journal, a unique annual of literary and intellectual substance positioned on the cutting edge of culture. - BILLY COLLINS"

G

The Ghazal Page - a page devoted poems in the form of the ghazal.

H

Haiku Review - excellent site, nothing to do with haiku, but has essays and discussions on literary and critical topics.

Kristin Hannaford - personal site

Dale Harcombe - personal site

Heat Magazine - poetry, fiction, criticism, visual arts.

Hi Spirits - blog of Andrew Burke

How to make a living as a poet Gary Mex Glazner

Haiku Oz

HOW2 - a women's innovative writing site edited by Kate Fagan.

Langston Hughes

hutt ezine from papertiger

I

Identity theory- is a web-based magazine of literature and culture edited by matt borondy

Internet Poetry Archive - great resources on some of the 'great names' of contemporary poetry

Island Magazine - site of the premier paper magazine of Tasmania, includes poetry, fiction, articles, reviews

J

Jacket. Also a good place to go for news is the Jacket Noticeboard

Jackson Mac Low

Jill Jones - personal site

K

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre Palestinian writers.

L

Law Like Blog - blog of Tim Hamilton

The Literature Page- a place to read classic books, plays, stories, poems, essays, and speeches

Literary Minded - blog of Angela Meyer

Literary Kicks 'where literature lives online' - since 1994.

M

McSweeney's - The famous site (prose fiction).

Chris Mansell

Masthead - literary arts magazine edited by Alison Croggon

Metro Magazine film and movies

Modern American Poetry - This link is a sampler of Hass's Poet's Choice. Well worth a visit.

Mipoesias

Meanjin - 'Meanjin is a forum for reflection, speculation, opinion and fresh creativity in various literary and visual genres.'

Czeslaw Milosz

Mudlark - online journal of poetry and poetics

Les Murray

N

narcissusworks - blog of Anny Ballardini

Ibrahim Nasrallah

New England Review - out of Middlebury College in the US. Not to be confused with the Australian New England Review which comes out of Armidale, NSW.

The New Quarterly - Canadian. A mix of fiction, poetry, interviews, and talk about writing. Won Gold in the 2004 (Canadian) National Magazine Awards.

nthposition very good magazine with political and visual and written art, discussion etc.

nonlinear poetry - blog of Jukka-Pekka Kervinen (Finland). Has links to a variety of interesting blogs

North of the Latte Line - edited by Anne Kellas and Ivy Alvarez. Australian happenings and events, items of interest.

O

Overland Express- the online version of the paper journal Overland. Poetry, fiction, articles, reviews.

P

The Page - very good poetry page - includes news from all over

Papertiger

Paradise Lost? 'the blog of the blogger who got sick of blogging' - Dee Rimbaud

Poetry Bay - online poetry magazine out of the Bay area (US)

Poetry Daily - interesting. Picks up poems from newly published books and journals.

Poetry International Web - 160: Texting and Poetry

The Poetry Kit Based in the UK but all sorts of useful things here

The Poetry Library - UK

Poetry magazine - comes out of Chigaco, USA

Poetica ABC Radio National (Australia). Mike Ladd's definitive radio poetry show.

PoetServ.com - home to The Salt River Review, RelativeLinks, reviews of poetry online and resources for poets and writers who frequent the web

PoetrySoutheast out of the University of Illinois

The Poet Watch - interesting site with some good links as well.

The Prairie Home Companion of Garrison Keilor fame. If you don't know his work the subtitle of the site - "Consider the em-dash." might give you an idea.

The Prairie Schooner - long-established magazine out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska Press

Selwyn Pritchard

Q

Quadrant - paper journal, includes poetry, fiction, reviews and articles.

R

Rattle styles itself 'Poetry for the 21st Century'. They have a new emagazine available for download and its free. Worth a look.

Recommended Poets from Dee Rimbaud's site.

Real Poetik

Reeling and Writhing "A place to chat about literature of the world, or Australian literature, writing and publishing, as we choose." Previously known as You Cried for Night.

David Reiter

Dee Rimbaud

Ruby Street - blog of Jill Jones

S

Screen Hub Screen news and comment

Silliman's Blog - Edited by Ron Silliman. Deals with poetry and poetics. Probably the most well known of the poetry blogs.

Silva Rhetoricae The forest of Rhetoric - a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric

Small Press Exchange - good reviews of small press publications. Also has blogs, profiles, bookstore etc.

Southerly - out of University of Sydney

Stylus Poetry Journal - Online journal out of Queensland

Soul Sphincter blog of Jim Barrett, an Australian poet and PhD student in Sweden.

SoundEye - interesting stuff on a collaborative project

Synaptic Graffiti - for link to multimedia poetry

T

teaching poetry in the 21st century put together by Elizabethe Lhuede who writes: “If you're a lover of digital poetry, whatever the language, tradition or media, please enjoy this site.”

theatre notes an 'independent theatre reviewing and commentary' blog by Alison Croggon. Well-regarded.

3 Quarks Daily The editors say they hope to collect 'interesting items from around the web on a daily basis, in the areas of science, design, literature, current affairs, art, and anything else we deem inherently fascinating. We want to provide you with a one-stop intellectual surfing experience by culling good stuff from all over and putting it in one place. In other words, we are what has come to be known as a "filter blog".'

thinking about poetry blog of Warwick Wynne

Thunderburst has a useful link to the AA Independent Press Guide (UK based) which is a free online writers resource, listing over 2000 magazines and publishers and 700 internet magazines. Dee Rimbaud's site.

Thylazine Foundation site - arts, ethics, literature

John Tranter

U

UbuWeb - excellent literary site.

V

video blog of Chris Mansell

WXYZ

Dan Waber - this is a series of interlinked sites which are all well worth a visit. Not your usual ill-kempt site. It's address (www.logolalia.com) belies its contents.

Web del Sol - great site. From here you can get just about everywhere.

Wengu - Chinese Classic poetry site

Westerly - annual, out of the University of Western Australia

Les Wicks

Wild Grape gives up to date news on the Australian poetry scene.

Write and Read with Dale - Dale Harcombe's blog

The Write Stuff - edited by Ann Kellas and Giles Hugo out of Tasmania.

Writing Macao - includes poems by Christopher Kelen, Zheng Danyi, Leith D. Morton, Madeleine Marie Slavick and Matthew Power.

WORKSHOPS + COURSES

Choosing a workshop

There are also workshops of various kinds advertised by all sorts of people...some of whom (believe it or not) have not actually been published or even written much. This seems incredible, but I've come across it more than once. Usually they have done quite a lot of workshops as participants (one even used a writer's workshop exercises to put together a photocopied booklet which she then sold!). Sometimes they might have edited material in the past (which can be fine if they're running workshops on how to edit your work).

You have to assess whether you prefer a practitioner or someone who has it second hand. The rule of thumb: look at the person's experience/qualifications carefully. If you're writing as a hobby, it might not matter much if the person has just borrowed a lot of workshop exercises from someone else, but if you're very serious about your work, you might want to look for someone with more experience.

PressPress Workshops

Residential workshops and tours can be arranged within Australia and at selected overseas locations (eg Italy, Egypt, Morocco) to work on your projects and to get inspiration with targeted exercises and one on one consultations.

Join a workshop at beautiful Bamarang Bush Retreat in the Shoalhaven with expert tutors and visiting writers.

Script

Free script templates

Free templates on the Coherent Visual site. This is what the site says:

   The BBC offers for free some excellent script templates called Script Smart for screenwriters. Templates are included for a screenplay, a TV studio sketch, and a radio sketch (in both United States and U.K. formatting standards). The package with all the templates runs about 400K. Available in both Windows and Macintosh format.

QuickMuse + Poetry generator

QuickMuse is a great idea. Totally fascinating to the practising poet. See Pinsky, Muldoon and others write a poem to a set topic in a limited time in real time...that is with hesitations, corrections, backtracks, additions, as it happens, unfolding before your eyes. I love this.

If QuickMuse doesn't do it for you, this one literally does: Poem Generator.

Other courses or resources

Remember: you must make up your own mind about what is good value and what isn't. Ask questions.

A

About Poetry - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)

Australian Poetry Centre Based in Melbourne.

B

Bookdoctor Commercial site offering courses, advice, manuscript assessments etc

Buzz Words Di Bates' newsletter about children's books and writing available through Enterprising Words.

CD

Culture & Recreation Portal - an Australian Government site which is a portal, as it says, to all manner of cultural material- grants, government organisations, cross media arts etc etc.

E

Enterprising Words Australian children's book authors and freelance writers Di Bates and Bill Condon offer a range of writing, editing and manuscript assessment services as well as book products for the general public, including writers of all ages, teachers and librarians.

FGHIJKLM

Famous Poets and Poems - self-explanatory really. A good site though what is considered 'famous' might be open to debate.

N

NIDA Playwright's Studio. Playwriting workshop course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

O

Oz Poetic Society - poets' resource site. Not a site about poetics as the name suggests. Does have some useful links.

P

Poetry About - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)

Poetry Daily news Interesting news, links.

Poetry Magic - Don't be put off by this title. Actually a good, basic introduction to prosody at beginner and more advanced levels, arranged under categories.

Poetry Resource - an good site for links to poetry-related topics. It is intended for students but not limited by this. I liked this site.

Poewar - writers' resource centre

QRS

QuickMuse live poems unfold

TUVWXYZ

Teenwriting: Advice for young writers - addressed to teenage writers, but very clear and useful for all ages.

And look at:

These are things that I've found that might be interesting to you:

Chris Hamilton-Emery, 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell: The Salt Guide to Getting and Staying Published (Salt Publishing)

or Gary Mex Glazner's How To Make a Living as a Poet (Soft Skull, 2005). (For more on this, go to the poetry.about.com site. While you're there, have a browse around at all the good work that Margery Snyder and Bob Holman are doing.)

Writing on writing: some books to search out

Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville.

The Art of the novel Milan Kundera.

Making Stories Kate Grenville & Sue Woolfe.

REFERENCE LEADS

Some libraries

Here are some library links where you can search the catalogues (as you can with most public libraries these days) but so much more - put aside a little time to familiarise yourself with the sites if you are an infomaniac.

1. National Library of Australia, Canberra [a copyright deposit library for NSW]
2. Mitchell Library within the State Library of NSW [a copyright deposit library for NSW]
3. Shoalhaven City Libraries
   
4. University of Wollongong Library
   
5. University of Sydney Library, Sydney [a copyright deposit library for NSW]
6. The NSW Parliamentary Library is also a copyright deposit library for NSW.

If these aren't enough, go the the National Library of Australia's Library Gateway which will guide you to the catalogues of other Australian libraries. If you can't find what you're looking for after all of this, write the book yourself.

Libraries on line

The Internet Archive

‘a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.’ from there you can get to Project Gutenberg.

You've got to love Project Gutenberg. A US based but worldwide project to preserve books out of copyright. This means that there are people getting them into digital form and available as free ebooks. You can volunteer to do this and other things and/or read the books. Good. Free and a great resource. Or go to this page for links to other free bookshops: iCommons

Have a look at this one: University of Adelaide Free eBooks Online.

Media and publishing outlets

For a list of media outlets, go to MediaBay. For a comprehensive listing of publishing outlets use the Queensland Writers Centre’s Writers’ Marketplace. And for another list of international writers’ organisations go to: Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia .

   LibraryThing enables you to catalogue your OWN library by drawing on the resources of big libraries out there. For all of the soon-to-be-organised persons out there. Go To www.librarything.com

Swapping

BookCrossing. A book liberation site. This is how it works: read a book, label it with a unique book number, then leave it somewhere. Someone picks it up, (possibly) logs it, reads it, puts it in a public place for someone (anyone) else to pick up. You can even book hunt.

Other swapping/trading sites can be found on Zen Habits - 20 ways to get Free or Cheap books.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies

AIATSIS is the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies - 'the world's premier institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.' Includes their press, audiovisual archive, library and research areas.

Writing tools

Poetry Tools on the extensive Poetry About site with lots of links to other sites which are useful though a bit biased towards rhyming dictionaries.

The Free Dictionary which has pronunciation audio, derivations, multiple languages. Lovely.

Strunk's Elements of Style - a classic for basic dots, spots and composition principles.

Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers 4th edition, 1994 in pdf form (newest edition is the 6th). Useful for all sorts of style & technical matters etc

Writing Question of the Week Purdue Owl News mostly questions of grammar etc but interesting.

Writer's Guide University of Victoria, Canada. Useful links to literary terms, how-tos on logic, grammar, sources, paragraphs - ie the nuts and bolts.

Web research

Do you want to find authoritative sources on Google? Go to Google, go to More, go to Google Scholar. Use Advanced (or use Advanced in a normal Google search). And while you're at More, have a look about. It will all change in a minute so come back again soon.

If you want to find a definition of a term, use the normal Google search field and write define, colon and then the term you want defined (eg prosody) like this - define:prosody - and you'll get a list of definitions of prosody on the web. You don't know what 'prosody' is? Well then...

Shameful cut and paste plagiarism on the net is particularly easy to detect so take care when researching to observe good bibliographic hygiene - ie reference everything. A good guide to what plagiarism is and how not to do it can be found on Avoiding Plagiarism section of the UNSW's Learning Centre: Academic Skills Resources. Lots of other good things there too.

Poetic terms etc

Poet's Graves In the UK. Yes, I know. Humour me. There are many people alive today who think the only good writer is a dead writer (because dead writers don't borrow money from you). This site also has a glossary of poetic terms and links to poems, poets (dead) etc. Useful.

Here's a picture of Cavafy's death mask. The mask is at his place, now a museum, in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

World Wide Words

World Wide Words is addictive. You can sign up for regular emails as well.

Ebooks

The Literature Page is a place to read classic books, plays, stories, poems, essays, and speeches online.

PoemHunter's Free Poetry Ebooks

Shearsman Ebooks - contemporary poetry books online.

Bookshops

There are many many bookshops that are easy to find online. If you can't find the book by googling, try specialist bookshops such as Dark Horsey Bookshop at the Experimental Art Foundation which specialises in books on art, architecture & design, cultural studies,feminism, philosophy, film & media, as well as small press literature, artist's books & catalogues, and local & international art magazines. Managed by the poet, Ken Bolton. PO Box 8091, Station Arcade, South Australia 5000. Phone: +618 8211-7505

Recordings

CD Baby - for recordings of spoken word and almost anywhere these days that has music.

PUBLISHING AND REJECTIONS

Publishing

There are many more presses - of course. These are some which might otherwise escape your notice. They are mainly specialist presses: some of them publish poetry exclusively. If you are interested in commercial publishers or large educational publishers their contact details can easily be found on the net and you don't need me to point them out to you. Look at the Scams and Ripoffs post.

AB

Ahadada Books - 'finely crafted limited editions'

CDEFG

Cahiers Bleus

Cornford Press - Comes out of Tasmania. No longer publishes, but still has a backlist.

H

Hale & Iremonger

eHarlequin - Romance

IJ

IP (Interactive Publications). Publishes in book and digital forms. Based in Brisbane, Qld

KLMNO

Kardoorair Press Poetry and education publisher based in Armidale, NSW. Has the excellent good sense to publish me, as does Interactive, and PressPress. What a coincidence that they are all listed here.

PQ

Paper Bark Press - Robert Adamson's press.

papertiger media has expanded from its original role as a publishing vehicle for their annual poetry CDROM, to publishing poetry and art on the web and in print.

Pardalote Press Poetry press with good production values, out of Tasmania.

PressPress Possibly the smallest publisher in the known universe. Publishes small poetry chapbooks only. Based in Australia.

Paroxysm Press says about itself: “Paroxysm Press rose from the gutter of the Australian music scene in 98’. It’s been fighting tooth and nail ever since to publish the type of hard edge, honest and high impact writing we all love and live for ourselves.”

R

Rubicon Press is a small Canadian poetry chapbook publisher. Go to their site for subscription and purchase details. Do not send ms by email. Snail mail to: Rubicon Press, Suite 304, 10750-78 Avenue Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6E 1P.

S

Salt Publishing

Small Change Press run by Graham Nunn. Based in Brisbane, it publishes poetry chapbooks.

TUVWXYZ

Transita - contemporary women's fiction based in the UK.

Agents

For a list of agents, go to the Australian Literary Agents Association site. It has useful material on finding an agent, various literary contacts (including manuscript assessment services) and a list of members. A useful and informative site for very new writers to those who have been around for a while. This American site has some useful information on it as well: Agent Query.

And you've got to go and visit this blog: Miss Snark, the literary agent - all manner of useful advice, with humour and grace. She no longer adds to this blog, alas, but there are many useful items there: in summary, read the instructions, try not to be an idiot. Fair enough.

Go to the Australian Society of Authors page also lists another half dozen Australian agents.

Rejections

The general rule is: people who publish stuff, don't have to like your stuff and don't have to publish it if they don't want to.

Mostly they'll be kind, but the various words of rejection ('not enough space on our list', 'unable to offer at this time' etc) add up to the same thing: 'Nope'. Be angry, get drunk, get over it; then have a look at this blog: Slushkiller on Making Light or if you want to indulge go to the Rejection Collection. Once you've got over that, see what can happen to you if you get too many rejections.

I've got to say, though, that the best rejection (of a poem) I ever had consisted of a carefully typed (yes) form where the boxes reading 'Wrong shoe size' and 'Wrong type of fish' had been carefully xed in. I laughed for days.

Self-publishing

Anyone can self-publish. It's easy to do, although not necessarily a good thing to do.

'Publishing' is changing big time. Not everybody likes it; not everyone embraces it. We are in the middle of a revolution and it will be some time before the dust settles and the new form/s of publishing are accepted, commonplace or used at all.

My prediction, for what it is worth, is that some sectors of publishing will remain hardcopy because some sectors want a beautiful artefact, but most will go digital and that we will probably be walking around with an all-purpose electronic device (somewhere between a computer and an iPhone but more interactive than a Kindle) and we'll store our lovely books there. Remember how we used to store music?

It is possible to publish and ebook, or some version of an ebook, very very quickly. This is fine if you want to give a publication away - for example you might be very happy to do this is you have just written a family history.

If you're publishing through a blog or site (or even through something like googledocs) the process is instant - though you might have an audience of one. There are many creative geniuses out there, not just you. Some have taken this route though and succeeded. Have a look at this article Books Gone Wild: The Digital Age Reshapes Literature.

If you have enough money you can self-publish in hardcopy (ie produce traditional books) - selling and distribution are the difficult areas however. You might consider the many small publishers listed above. You might also want to see if your manuscript is a total dog before you inflict in on the public or publishers. PressPress has a manuscript assessment service if you want to go that route. You could think of getting a mentor and or editor to help you.

Here are two sites relate to science fiction/science fantasy although there are many more sites out there - including companies which will ease the process of publication such (as Lulu) for you: The Hal Spacejock Series, 'How to self-publish a book ...and who should be doing it' and Ian Irvine: The truth about publishing

ORGANISATIONS

Join a writer's organisation if you want more information and/or to meet other writers. Try to join at least one which will broaden your experience.

ABCDE

Australian Society of Authors - Writer's organisation. Join this is you're serious about being a writer

Asia & Pacific Writers Network - an alliance of writers, individuals and organizations working with language and stories, in all their forms. As a PEN initiative they aim to: promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere; fight for freedom of speech; work for good understanding and respect between nations; and, champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.

Australian Writers Guild The AWG is the professional association for all performance writers, that is, writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media.

FGHIJ

Fellowship of Australian Writers The FAW has regional groups and is often the place where writers first meet other writers. Go to the 'Regional groups' button and scroll down (eg to S for Shoalhaven).

KL

Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre is the oldest writers centre of its kind in Australia. The centre is in the Perth hills, in the former home of Katharine Susannah Prichard. The Centre facilitates readings, workshops, writers in residence and other services for writers at all levels. More info: kspf@iinet.net.au or phone (08) 9294 1872.

M

Melbourne Poet's Union - self-evident really. The Melbourne version of the Poets Union which used to have branches all over the place. This and the Poets Union (below) are the last independent remnants, and excellent remnants they are too.

NO

NSW Writer's Centre - Writer's organisation. There are a lot of writers centres. Find the one local to you. Start here.

Boolarng Nangamai - Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Studio, Gerringong, NSW

PQ

PEN exists to 'emphasise the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.'

Poets Union - Australian poet's organisation

RSTUV

Romance Writers of Australia RWA aims 'to promote excellence in romantic fiction, to help writers become published and establish careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the romance publishing industry.'

WXYZ

Watermark Literary Society - carries the tag: 'Writers & readers celebrating the literature of nature & place'.

Society of Women Writers NSW This society 'aims to enable women writers in all genres to meet and network, and to benefit from regular seminars and workshops. It also aims to encourage aspiring writers to achieve professional status.'

COPYRIGHT, LENDING RIGHT, LEGAL

Copyright is a cluster of rights which you should familiarise yourself with if you're going to be a writer. It's best to get this from the horse's mouth. The horse, in this case, is the Australian Copyright Council This is an authoritative site. Also runs training sessions and has information sheets.

The Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) 'is an Australian copyright management company whose role is to provide a bridge between creators and users of copyright material.' If you've published something it's a good idea to join (it's free).

Lending Rights

'The Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme makes payments to eligible Australian creators and publishers whose books are held in public lending libraries. The Education Lending Right (ELR) scheme makes similar payments for books held in educational libraries.' Here are links for Public Lending Right and Education Lending Right.

Legal

The Arts Law Centre of Australia 'is the national community legal centre for the arts.'

AWARDS, PRIZES, GLORY, FUNDING

Prizes and competitions

The best source of material on competitions is through your local writers centre or in the latest edition of The Australian Writer's Marketplace available from the Queensland Writers Centre. It can't possibly have everything, but it runs close. There's also a lot of other information there which you might find useful.

Bear in mind that entering a competition is, by it's nature competitive. You have a greater chance of getting published than you do of winning a competition.

And sometimes good material doesn't win, but sometimes it's on the 'no' or 'maybe' pile because it's poorly constructed, unoriginal, uninteresting, badly written, under-edited, boring, the same as all the other entries, or not what the particular competition is about. Or it's the work of an undiscovered genius and the judges are fools who should not be let loose with blue pencils.

A note about conditions:

When you enter competitions it's as well to look at the conditions carefully and decide what you think is all right for you and what you think isn't.

I had a note from a writer about the conditions of a prize which read in part:

    I assign the copyright in my entry to the [the organisers].

And

1. 
   
   
   
   You agree that the [organisers] can copy, edit and publish your entry (including using quotations or extracts from your entry) for the purposes of the [organisers] and that no fee will be payable to you for this use.

It's up to you, of course, what you sign, but it's as well to know at assigning rights means you're giving over copyright (better to licence the work which means it's for a specified use and for a specified time). The copyright holder is the one who decides what can and can't be done with a work. You should check out the legal implications of what you sign. It's not up to other people to tell you (including me. I'm not a lawyer.)

The second paragraph also seems to be too generous to the organisers for my tastes. I'd be a bit wary of unknown editors being given all this freedom without the writer being able to object.

It's up to you, but think carefully about offering your work when these sorts of conditions apply. It might be that it's a fund-raiser and all very innocent, but exercise your judgement. Sometimes I'm quite happy to give away all sorts of things in a good cause - and sometimes I'm not. Guideline: Choose rather than be suckered.

Tips: when entering a prize or competition...

1.  It’s competitive - so compete: put in your best stuff. Don’t think that your third best stuff will be okay.

2. Put in material that suits the thing you’re entering ie do some research on previous winners. (For the PressPress Chapbook Award reading a couple of chapbooks and trawling through the site would be A Good Idea.)

3. Read the conditions and decide if they suit you.

4. Follow the instructions eg unbound means unbound, etc

A great prize

I would say this is a great prize because my PressPress runs it, but it is anyway.

2010 PressPress Chapbook Award - this is an annual award which began in 2008. Carolyn Fisher from Tasmania the inaugural award with The Unsuspecting Sky. In 2009 WA writers Scott-Patrick Mitchell won with his Songs for the ordinary mass. This year the prize is worth $600 (AUD) and publication with PressPress. You can go to the PressPress site for the award conditions. Poetry only of course.

Some other good competitions

(but you still have to make up your own mind and read the conditions):

The ABC Fiction Award 'Recognising emerging writers'

Allen & Unwin runs competitions - check out their site.

Arvon International Poetry Competition. First prize is five thousand pounds.

The Australian Centre Literary Awards. Part of the University of Melbourne.

The Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize

Griffin Award The famous award is $5000 for a new playscript. The Griffin has long been a force in Australian theatre.

Island Magazine which is one of Australia's premier literary magazines also runs a couple of prestigious competitions.

Poets Union runs the Broadway Prize.

PressPress Chapbook Award prize for a short manuscript. Prize includes publication of a chapbook.

Funding sources

If you can manage to make your project self-funding, so much the better. Applying for funding is time-consuming and your project must conform to criteria laid down by someone else. There are many sources of funding other than these, but this is a good enough start.

A word to the wise though, be very well-prepared if you are going to apply. Take the guidelines very seriously.

You might also think about being inventive and consider that there might be ways to generate income other than waiting for someone to give it to you.

Australia Council for the Arts Ozco is the federal government's main funding organisation.

All the state governments fund the arts, some generously, some not. They all have different guidelines and place different importance on different things. In NSW it’s the NSW Ministry for the Arts.

A good source of information about grants, prizes and other opportunities for artists is the Regional Arts NSW e-Bulletin: a free monthly online publication. Sign up for at the Regional Arts NSW website at www.regionalartsnsw.com.au

For more sources of funding etc this is a great place to go: