northerly sep-oct 2016

northerly By ron Writers Festival Magazine

September-October 2016

JEFFERY RENARD ALLEN · JOHN MARSDEN · IN DEFENCE OF PROCRASTINATION SUSIE WARRICK AWARD WINNER · POETRY · NEWS & REVIEWS · COMPETITIONS

CONTENTS

>> THIS ISSUE

SEPOCT2016 002 Director & editor’s note 003 News

Artist-In-Residence opportunity at Tweed Regional Gallery, plus more

7

007 Notes from the Festival

Jeffery Renard Allen interviewed by Katinka Smit

008 Fantastical, futuristic

Liss Caldwell guides us through the labyrinth that is speculative fiction

8

010 Poem ‘archaeological moment’ by Ashley Capes

011 Notes from the Festival

John Marsden interviewed by Katinka Smit

012 Susie Warrick Young Writers Award

Read Gabe Francis’s winning story ‘Whisper Me the Secrets of the Sea’

11

014 Rising

Q&A with emerging local talent Polly Jude

015 Arts round-up

Marie Antoinette and Zen gardens at upcoming ADFAS lectures

016 SCU showcase

15

Poetry from Ben Smith

017 Joys of wasting time

The benefits of procrastination according to Karen Whitelaw

018 Book review

Kathleen Steele on Promise by Sarah Armstrong and YA reviews with Polly Jude

18

021 A life in the waves

William Finnegan drops in on Lennox Head

022 Competitions 024 Writers’ groups

21 northerly | 001

>>HELLO

Director’s Note Where did stories take you?

In August 2016, Byron Writers Festival marked its twentieth year with its strongest and best received program yet, breaking box office records and presenting a Festival full of history-making moments like Stan Grant’s Thea Astley Lecture that people will continue to talk about for years to come.

After severe storm damage on the Wednesday night, it took a gargantuan effort to open the twentieth Byron Writers Festival. I would like to thank the Festival team, the volunteers, our partners and everyone in the community who all went above and beyond to make it happen. Also to our wonderful patrons who remained good-humoured and enthusiastic despite the weather.

How heartbreaking it would have been if Photo: Angela Kay we hadn’t been able to listen to the beautiful Festival conversations that moved us so profoundly. Our storytellers are our most important teachers and I would like to thank all the writers and people who chaired each session for leading us on incredible journeys over the three days. It is my sincerest hope that all of us who witnessed those stories carry them out into our communities so that the conversations continue to live on.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank and farewell our fearless Festival founder Chris Hanley who retires as Festival chair this year, handing the baton into the dedicated hands of our current and much loved vice-chair, Jennifer St George.

I have had the great privilege of working with Chris Hanley for three years – he has been an incredibly kind and generous mentor to me and has given immeasurable support and inspiration to everyone he has worked with. But above all, what a profound gift Chris Hanley has given to this community and Australia with Byron Writers Festival.

We invite to you all to stay connected with Byron Writers Festival via our blog and social media channels as we continue to post Festival highlights and audio podcasts throughout the year. We also hope to see your faces at our out-of-season events and workshops. Finally, be sure to subscribe to our e-newsletter for updates on next year’s Festival, happening August 4-6, 2017.

Edwina Johnson Director, Byron Writers Festival

FROM THE EDITOR northerly would like to offer rather belated congratulations to Lismore Public Library, which recently celebrated ten years of its remarkable project, the Lismore Human Library.

Begun in Copenhagen sixteen years ago, the idea of the human library sees a number of ‘human books’ available for ‘readers’ to consult. The human books are generally volunteers, often from minority backgrounds, who are on hand to answer questions about their experiences. Initially designed as a ‘means to break down barriers between cultures’, the human library is now a firmly entrenched part of the community, and convenes on the first Friday of each month.

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Since moving to the Northern Rivers I have been struck by how the region’s libraries are busy, popular hubs of interaction (as well as communication lifelines for the more transient residents passing through) that attract all ages and demographics. With such institutions under constant scrutiny regarding funding, innovations such as the Lismore Human Library prove that libraries are far from an anachronism and are moving with the times quite beautifully. All hail libraries, and those who dwell in them.

Barnaby Smith Editor, northerly magazine

northerly northerly is the bi-monthly magazine of Byron Writers Festival. Byron Writers Festival offer a year-round program of readings, workshops and writer visits as well as the annual production of Byron Writers Festival. Byron Writers Festival is a non-profit, incorporated organisation receiving its core funding from Arts NSW. LOCATION/CONTACT Level 1 28 Jonson Street, Byron Bay P: 02 6685 5115 F: 02 6685 5166 E: info@byronwritersfestival.com W: www.byronwritersfestival.com POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 1846 Byron Bay NSW 2481 EDITOR: Barnaby Smith, northerlyeditor@gmail.com CONTRIBUTORS: Liss Caldwell, Ashley Capes, Gabe Francis, Mark Hillringhouse, Polly Jude, Angela King, Mat Lee, Helena Maughan, Katinka Smit, Kathleen Steele, Karen Whitelaw BYRON WRITERS FESTIVAL BOARD CHAIRPERSON Jennifer St George VICE CHAIRPERSON Adam van Kempen SECRETARY Russell Eldridge TREASURER Cheryl Bourne MEMBERS Jesse Blackadder, Kate Cameron, Marele Day, Lynda Dean, Lynda Hawryluk, Anneli Knight.

LIFE MEMBERS Jean Bedford, Jeni Caffin, Gayle Cue, Robert Drewe, Jill Eddington, Chris Hanley, John Hertzberg, Fay Knight, Irene O’Brien, Jennifer Regan, Cherrie Sheldrick, Brenda Shero, Heather Wearne MAIL OUT DATES Magazines are sent in JANUARY, MARCH, MAY, JULY, SEPTEMBER and NOVEMBER MAGAZINE DESIGN Kaboo Media PRINTER Quality Plus Printers Ballina ADVERTISING We welcome advertising by members and relevant organisations. A range of ad sizes are available. The ad booking deadline for each issue is the first week of the month prior.

Email northerlyeditor@gmail.com DISCLAIMER The Byron Writers Festival presents northerly in good faith and accepts no responsibility for any misinformation or problems arising from any misinformation. The views expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily the views of the management committee or staff. We reserve the right to edit articles with regard to length. Copyright of the contributed articles is maintained by the named author and northerly.

CONNECT WITH US Visit www.byronwritersfestival.com. Sign up for a membership. Stay updated and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. http://www.facebook.com/ byronwritersfestival https://twitter.com/bbwritersfest

Cover art: The Word Seeker by Helena Maughan

Byron Writers Festival and northerly magazine acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of this land.

>> NEWS

Attention all writers: The Nancy Fairfax ArtistIn-Residence opportunity Byron Writers Festival is excited to announce the Nancy Fairfax Artist-in-Residence opportunity. Two of our writer members will be selected to enjoy seven days of distraction-free writing in the peaceful and picturesque artist studio at Tweed Regional Gallery.

New and emerging writers From 26 October to 1 November, one emerging writer from our membership will have the opportunity to enjoy this space for a self-directed writing retreat. To support you on this week of distraction-free writing, we have arranged for the selected writer to have two phone sessions with Alison Manning from A Mind of One’s Own. Alison specialises in working with writers to foster professional excellence and maintain emotional wellbeing, while overcoming procrastination and writing blocks that might come about from fear or selfdoubt. You can learn more about her services at www. amindofonesown.com. Applications are now open for this emerging writers retreat – please see the information below for how to apply for this competitive position.

Established writers The second opportunity, 1 – 8 February 2017 will be offered to one established writer from our membership.

This position will be chosen by randomly selecting the name of one writer from a hat of all of those who apply. There will be no support from Alison Manning

for established writers, though writers may arrange this privately if they wish.

The call out for writers for the February retreat will happen later this year, so keep an eye out in the northerly, website and our email newsletter for information about when and how to apply.

Application process The application for new and emerging writers requires: • A short synopsis (maximum 250 words) of the writing project you will be working on during the artist-inresidence. You do not have to be at any particular stage of your project to be eligible.

• A brief explanation (maximum 250 words) of why you would like to be chosen for this week-long retreat and how you will make use of the time.

• Three page (double spaced) continuous sample of your writing for the project you’ll be working on, or if you’ll be working on a new project, then a sample of a different piece of your writing.

Applications are open until 5pm on Wednesday, 14 September. Further details and online applications: byronwritersfestival.com/whats-on/ northerly | 003

>> NEWS

New social network for book lovers

A new app developed in Canada promises to revolutionise the world of online book recommendations.

The RECO app, developed by Toronto-based book retailers Indigo, claims to distinguish itself from existing platforms by the fact its recommendations are created by one’s friends and experts, rather than boring old algorithms.

RECO is a social network, of sorts, that will, according to a press release, provide users with access to ‘a global community of friends and influencers to discover, share, capture and discuss books’.

Upon signing up, users go through a ‘personalisation’ exercise that will make their tastes known, connecting them with others with similar tastes and lists curated by experts.

Indigo CEO Heather Reisman said, ‘As a lifelong booklover, nothing brings me more joy than sharing a book I love with my friends.

‘RECO is a platform for everyone to share the joy of reading and nothing beats getting a recommendation from someone whose opinion I trust.’

Visit www.reco.com to investigate for yourself.

Ancient edition of the Aeneid to be digitised

One of the world’s oldest manuscripts has been made available to all via the internet, with the Vatican Apostolic Library digitising an illustrated fragment of Virgil’s Aeneid that dates back some 1,600 years.

The document is among 80,000 in the library that will be digitised, with the intention of reducing the need for scholars to consult original texts, which can risk damage and wear and tear. The ‘Vatican Virgil’ dates back to 400AD and was created in Rome. The library holds seventy-six surviving pages and fifty illustrations from the Aeneid, along with fragments from Virgil’s poem the Georgics, Botticelli’s illustration of The Divine Comedy and sketches and notes by Michelangelo.

The process of digitising everything is estimated to take fifteen years and cost more than €50m (AU$74m).

‘Our library is an important storehouse of the global culture of humankind,’ said Cesare Pasini, library prefect.

‘We are delighted the process of digital archiving will make these wonderful ancient manuscripts more widely available to the world and thereby strengthen the deep spirit of humankind’s shared universal heritage.’

Politics impacting small publishers in UK, Turkey

A number of independent publishers in the UK have reported feeling ‘extremely vulnerable’ in the wake of economic uncertainty and fluctuating currency rates caused by the fallout from the recent Brexit vote.

The British pound fell by approximately ten percent in the wake of Brexit, which is causing independent and small publishers to lose out on foreign exchanges.

Daniel Petracco of Europa Editions UK told The Bookseller that the publisher may have to increase its prices as its margins have been ‘slashed’. Meanwhile, Jared Shurin of Jurassic London said his next book will be a ‘guaranteed loss’ and hinted that he may have to increase his prices by fifty percent.

The tides of politics have also had a huge impact on publishers in Turkey, following the attempted military coup in July. The Turkish Publishers Association (TPA) 004 | northerly

>> NEWS

OBITUARIES SALLY BEAUMAN British novelist and journalist; July 25, 1944 – July 7, 2016 YVES BONNEFOY French poet, author and translator; June 24, 1923 – July 1, 2016 MAHASWETA DEVI Indian writer; January 14, 1926 – July 28, 2016 PÉTER ESTERHÁZY Hungarian novelist; April 14, 1950 – July 14, 2016 FAZIL ISKANDER Russian writer; March 6, 1929 – July 31, 2016 JOHN KERR American author; January 31, 1950 – July 18, 2016 JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON American essayist and short story writer; September 16, 1943 – July 27, 2016 JIM NORTHRUP American author and poet; April 28, 1943 – August 1, 2016 ROBERT NYE British poet and novelist; March 15, 1939 – July 2, 2016 CAROLYN SEE American writer; January 13, 1934 – July 13, 2016 ANGELIKA SHROBSDORFF German writer; December 24, 1927 – August 1, 2016 BILLY MARSHALL STONEKING Australian poet and screenwriter; August 31 1947 – July 15, 2016 CORY TAYLOR Australian writer and memoirist; 1955 – July 5, 2016

has reported that twenty-nine publishing houses in the country have been closed by the government as part of its ‘decree on necessary measures under the state of emergency and regulations regarding some institutions’. The TPA says that publishers will have no right to appeal and described the closures as risking ‘human rights violations, the stifling of freedom of thought and expression and also irreparable financial and moral losses’.

Birrell ends time with SWF

Sydney Writers Festival in 2017 will take place under the guidance of a new director, following the announcement that current artistic director Jemma Birrell will step down at the end of the year.

Birrell has overseen four festivals, with the last three events having the highest ever attendance, book sales and ticket sales.

‘It has been an absolute pleasure to curate this literary extravaganza,’ said Birrell. ‘A heartfelt thank you to

the writers whose work has enriched me personally and professionally. Leaving Sydney Writers’ Festival has been a difficult decision. It was an honour to work in this world-renowned festival that’s key to national discourse in Australia. It has been exhilarating to work in a team of exceptionally talented people. After four festivals, I decided to end my time on a high note and pass on the reigns to the next artistic director.’

The search for a replacement will commence in early 2017 once Birrell has moved aside.

QUOTAT ION CORNER

'At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don’t need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go because you can...'

— Toni Morrison, Tar Baby (1981) northerly | 005

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Notesfrom

>> INTERVIEW

the Festival:

Jeffery Renard Allen Jeffery Renard Allen is regarded by some in the United States as ‘the next William Faulkner’. While steering away from any ‘gritty’ realism, his writing and style nonetheless lays bare the bones of reality. His collections of poetry and short stories and his two critically acclaimed novels have won multiple awards, while he recently expanded into essay writing, with a piece on the Black Lives Matter movement forthcoming in Evergreen Review.

He spoke to northerly at Byron Writers Festival 2016 about the commonality of the human experience, digging through the past for inspiration and challenging entrenched prejudices and mythologies. Interview by Katinka Smit.

African-American literary tradition begins in orality; it’s relevant and has the power to change black lives, yet many African-Americans are unable to access it. How do you bring this literature to them?

Literary fiction has a very select audience. It’s unfortunate, but serious books require a lot of time and thought. There are books that break beyond that audience but it’s not always possible to do that. It’s a larger question of the whole approach to education. In America our educational system is broken. Some people are functionally illiterate, they don’t really understand how to read a work of literature. And sometimes people are not aware of what’s out there, and some people just don’t have time to read.

Family relationships appear a lot in your stories. What is it about the family that attracts you as a writer?

My mother and my aunt had a really strange relationship, they had really bitter arguments and I didn’t understand why – that was really the seed of my first novel. You have to go back and look at where you came from. I was curious about what their lives were like in the South. I was an only child raised by a single mother.

My grandmother on my father’s side didn’t want me to have anything to do with my father. He was involved in things that they thought I shouldn’t be privy to. It was a weird family dynamic. I’ve been interested in what family means, other than the traditional nuclear family, and how we form our own families outside of biological relationships, to have support and survive and stay sane.

How do you approach the novel?

I’m trying to tell stories that are interesting but also unique in some way. I think it’s important to challenge the received form of the novel. Unlike other literary forms every novel is its own animal so writers can break whatever rules they want. I try to set up ambitious challenges for myself.

How did you come up with the idea for your latest novel, Song of the Shank?

I read a book years ago by Oliver Sacks, the neurologist, called An Anthropologist on Mars. In one chapter he talks about the autistic savant, Stephen Wiltshire, who can draw anything he sees, and he talks about Blind Tom in a footnote as an historical precedent.

I was trying to figure out what my next novel would be about, and the more I found out, there were so many

Photo: Mark Hillringhouse

fascinating things about Blind Tom’s life that seemed to lend themselves to fiction.

Song of the Shank is about music and a musician. Were you trying to put music into the writing?

From the start I knew that the book would have multiple voices, a reflection of who Tom was as a musician. He was also a mimic – he could recite speeches and imitate the voices of people. I was aiming for a thick narrative, many voices and directions coming in at once, changes and ideas introduced where the reader isn’t always sure where they’re coming from, mirroring Tom as a receptacle for all things. I’ve always been interested in music that is very layered, and also African tradition. I wanted to reflect some of those musical directions.

You write primarily African–American characters.

When you write a story about someone like Blind Tom, how much of your worldview changes?

In this novel I’m also writing about a white woman in the nineteenth century. I’m interested in people and personal experiences; fiction is always about commonality.

I have a problem with this idea that if I’m a white person I can’t write about black people, and if I’m a black person I can’t write about white people. When I’m writing fiction I’m enlarging my understanding of human experiences as a whole and not just particularly African-American.

You mentioned once that writing was about ‘putting the dirty stuff in people’s faces’.

I think in America sometimes we have this mythology about ourselves that goes unchallenged. There’s still blatant nativism, misogyny and racism that’s all part of the American reality. You can’t just write those things off.

I think it’s important for any writer to write about some of the things that are often overlooked. northerly | 007

What if? Embracing the possibilities of speculative fiction The sometimes misunderstood genre of speculative fiction has emerged from the ‘con’ scene in recent years to take its place as a mainstream style of literature attracting both serious readers and talented authors. Here, Liss Caldwell offers a guide to a phenomenon that, increasingly, transcend books and becomes its own sub-culture.

What if? It’s a question that can initiate an inquiry into the impossible or the unknown. If set within the boundaries of the real world, you may be writing or reading fiction. Speculative fiction or ‘spec-fic’ takes the ‘what if?’ scenario one step further. It extends our imaginations through the boundaries, natural laws and confines of the real world by posing the ‘what if?’ question to an alternate reality and world where a novel is set. What if trees could walk? Lord of the Rings. What if white walkers were real? Game of Thrones. What if there was a school of magic? Harry Potter.

Speculative fiction invites everyone into a realm of possibility and provides a Tardis to investigations of the imagination, an adventure into the unknown and a reflection of the known. Readers transcend the real world to an alternate reality where we can question without direct consequence.

How do we determine what is real in our current reality? What is real and known to you can only be based on your knowledge and understanding of the world around you, to some extent. Natural fundamental laws exist whether they are known to an individual or not. Gravity is a solid example of this. Can we be absolute that magic, extra-terrestrials, the supernatural and fantasy are not real? I believe in magic, vampires and faeries. To me, the possibility of zombies is real. I once promised my son, as he was prepped for surgery, ‘Don’t worry, I promise I’ll come back for you if there’s a zombie outbreak.’ Of course I was joking, there is no way I would go into the epicentre. Perhaps, I am special.

Being unique and heroism is one theme that is explored in spec-fic; from the mythical Odysseus to Frodo, Luke Skywalker, I Am Number Four, Divergent or Katniss Everdeen, we travel as ‘the chosen one’, solidifying the innate human belief that we are special. Advantage, alienation, supremacy, oppression and social acceptance are topics commonly put under the microscope in specfic worlds – witness Voldemort’s love of pure bloods and hatred of muggles.

Rebellions, refugees, world and ecological destruction are also popular themes.

Speculative fiction is renowned for highlighting society’s current issues.

Whilst we might live in a world with a Ned Flanders next door or a Mr Burns as a boss, and we can identify with these situations, we do not live in a world of yellow, four-fingered beings as seen in The Simpsons. This difference provides enough distance for the show to raise questions that are contemporary, for example, Lisa’s long-term social acceptance battle with being a ‘nerd’.

Now mainstream, spec-fic utilises multiple platforms to deliver the ‘what if?’ story. Speculative fiction has been a part of the gaming industry since conception, from Pac Man and Space Invaders to Assassin’s Creed and Final Fantasy. The evolution through this medium is arguably the most defined. The Story City app, written by Joseph Diskett and Dr. Kim Wilkins, is a modernday Choose Your Own Adventure centred in Brisbane, bringing spec-fic to life through the app market – Pokemon Go does the same.

Current spec-fic market trends show that the new generation of buyers are obsessed with brands. Driven by the brand, not the product (book), they will purchase entire book series in one hit if hooked on the brand. The author is the brand initially, and with social media as the modern-day word of mouth, momentum gathers and critical mass occurs and spills into fandom, which keeps the ball rolling.

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>> FEATURE

Fandom is the offset from spec-fic going mainstream, with cosplay (costuming) being a common practice. I was a virgin cosplayer at Contact2016, The 55th Australian National Speculative Fiction Convention. I presented on panels dressed as Wonder Woman, Lara Croft, Selene from Underworld and Luna Lovegood. I am a big kid but I never thought I would be dressing up at anything other than a costume party, and I loved it.

Spec-fic inspires fandom with writers (Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series was initially created from Harry Potter fan writings), illustrators, musicians, animations, comics and podcasts. It is an ongoing evolution of expression. Fandom is no longer hidden at home in your geek corner. It would be hard to find someone who had not heard of Game of Thrones or who didn’t have opinions related to the TV series. Spec-fic is the ultimate tribe collector and ‘cons’ (conventions) host mass celebrations of the art form.

The youngest members at cons don’t hold back their opinions in discussions on everyday magic, and nor would Mr. Bill Wright, a con veteran. Bill attended his first con, Olympicon, Australia’s fifth con, in 1956. Since then he has travelled our nation to attend cons with only ill health forcing him to miss one or two. Spec-fic is about inclusion in its many and varied forms. Whilst in London for the final Harry Potter release after queuing at midnight for a copy, the tube was full of people reading and an amazing thing happened, strangers started conversing about the thing they all had in common, the love of Harry Potter. Why did Hedwig have to die?

(WHY!) The mute tube ride became a social interaction.

Can our enthusiasm and opinions go too far through fandom? At a recent conference, I was asked if the rebellious nature of modern-day heroes encourages youth to uprise against authority as seen in The Hunger Games, Divergent, Shadow Hunters and The Maze Runner? I think it is part of my job as an author, parent and teacher to encourage inquiring minds. It’s starting a conversation. It’s asking what can be instead of accepting what is. It’s taking positive action and giving voice to positive change.

As a writer of contemporary social fiction one of my reasons for creating my NA series Ability Inc. as spec-fic was to provoke questions and to explore the possibilities outside readers’ own circle of experience. The alternate world allows my characters to tackle problems in contexts with distance from an issue, which gives readers

at any age the ability to detach and see multiple sides of a situation as opposed to only their own.

Our world and its parameters change. Space travel used to be classified as spec-fic. Technology can become expired in spec-fic, as can our beliefs. In the times of slavery an alternate reality would have been one without slavery. Spec-fic knows the laws of our current reality and breaks them in an alternate world. The term is fluid and must adapt as technology and reality changes; there is nothing to say that War of the Worlds may or may not happen tomorrow, or Day of the Triffids, and then we will need to redefine our current world reality, and this will be reflected in what is termed spec-fic.

What’s new with spec-fic? Maria Lewis’s debut novel Who’s Afraid? has taken the world by storm with her female werewolf, and if this is the first you are hearing about her it won’t be the last. Lynette Noni’s series The Medoran Chronicles is huge and attracting an international fanbase with first instalment Akarnae already referred to as the Australian version of Harry Potter. Local author Renee Spyrou’s vampire/angel series Guardians of the Gateways is gathering momentum on the con scene. Local author Kim Falconer, well known for her Ava Sykes series continues to produce high-quality fantasy novels we can escape into.

Spec-fic distances the human monsters from my world and provides a porthole of escape. It opens my mind to other possibilities, dimensions and aspects that reflect my real world. Sometimes the monsters we perceive are misunderstood, sometimes the human monsters are worse than the ones with fangs. Perhaps in our times, when terrorist attacks and shootings are weekly worldwide news, it is easier to fall down the rabbit hole into an alternate world than to the reality of our own.

For me, whilst I enjoy visiting Oz, I know that there is no place like home.

Next on the speculative fiction calendar is Conflux, an annual convention in Canberra on the October long weekend (September 30 – October 3) and PAX in Melbourne (November 4-6), celebrating all things gaming.

Liss Caldwell writes social novels for adults and NA (new adult) audiences and is the author of Taboo, Sex, Lies, Secrets: It’s What They Won’t Tell You, the first in a series of six adult fiction novels released in October 2016, and Ability Inc. a series of thirteen NA novels released monthly beginning in November 2016. Liss facilitates retreats for writers and is a mentor to emerging authors assisting them to put their best words forward and navigate paths to publishing through thewriterscoach.co

northerly | 009

>> POEM

archaeological moment Ashley Capes

a penny has come thousands of miles to hibernate in the dirt it’s not worth much but neither is it worth nothing once we clean it in a glass of coke and the royal head has a nose again we take it inside, though the first one to tire of it reaches for the Sega later on I don’t know which one of us will take it to the front shed where the Nissan lords it over dead flies that gather in the window sill, and hide the penny behind a landscape mum and dad haven’t unpacked years later when moving house and neither one goes back for it the penny can close its tiny eyes to wait for a more archaeological moment.

Ashley Capes is a poet, novelist and teacher from Victoria. He is the author of six poetry collections and moderator of online renku group, Issa’s Snail. When not writing, Ashley focuses on film, volleyball and catching up on 1980s television like Magnum PI.

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Notesfrom

>> INTERVIEW

the Festival: John Marsden

As the principal at two schools in Victoria, John Marsden deeply loves life as a teacher. He is also the bestselling author of, among many other books, the Tomorrow series. The first book, Tomorrow, When The War Began, was turned into a film in 2010 and is on school curriculums around the world. His most recent book, South of Darkness, is set in the historical world of convict Australia.

John spoke to northerly at Byron Writers Festival 2016 about teaching young people to love using language and to recognise themselves as heroic.

Interview by Katinka Smit.

You’ve had a lot of different jobs in your life. Has this diversity of experience affected your writing?

Taking a variety of jobs was always accidental, but I think I’ve learnt a lot about people. I remember in my first job the bloke in charge of the department was a dyed-inthe-wool trade union guy with a strong commitment to working-class people. I was leaving my middle-class world and I’d never met anyone like that in my life. And that’s great. The more diversity of characterisation you can bring to a book, the better it’s likely to be.

The concept of the Tomorrow series: a war and dark situations that many adults would struggle to deal with, as your characters do. Do you think this is part of the books’ appeal?

The books portray teenagers as having heroic qualities.

They’re not heroic all the time, they can be scared and make awful mistakes, but overall they show courage and spirit, they show initiative and maturity. Teenagers who are told they’re immature, destructive, that they’re vandals, unemployable, illiterate, drug-addicted – I think deep inside they find it kind of nice to read about people like them who have heroic qualities.

You have a knack for finding the nuggets of gold in the dung heap of life, and you give that to your characters.

In most books in which the characters have moved, their lives are going to get better. There’s a sense that the human spirit is strong, that if you dig deep you will find some strength and spirit even though you may not be aware that it’s there when your world is collapsing around you. My teens and my twenties were pretty tough; it’s been a painful process to unlearn what I learnt early on, to learn different ways of viewing myself and the world, and the people in it.

Is that part of the philosophy behind your schools?

Yes, I talk to the kids about my own experiences of depression and despair, about ways I’ve found that have helped me, but also that there are no easy answers. If you’ve experienced a lot of depression, then you’ll probably struggle, maybe for the whole of your life. But those dark times aren’t permanent, and there’s growth possible within

them. I talk about artists, writers and musicians who draw on those periods as a source of inspiration.

Your latest book is adult historical fiction, set in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, so the language would have been quite different. How did you approach dialogue in the book?

The language had to be appropriate to the era. I was brought up on the literature of that period, the Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. I’ve wallowed in that language since I was a kid. I love the writing of that era, the way in which every sentence is so polished, elegant and precise.

Is that something that you tried to capture in this story?

Yeah. I had a bit of a conundrum because the kid telling the story hasn’t had any formal education, he should be illiterate. I had to sneak in little explanations as to how he’d become so literate because the language he uses is quite sophisticated. But he’s writing as an old man looking back on his early years.

I love words. I love people like Dr. Seuss and James Joyce, they just played with language and we all benefited as a result. English teachers and parents teach kids that English has rules and it becomes a tyranny; people become monosyllabic or reticent because they’re scared of breaking the rules. We should teach kids that when it comes to language, they can make it do anything they damn well want it to do. James Joyce and Dr. Seuss took language by the scruff of the neck and shook it, they turned it inside out and kicked it around the room and tore it up and put it into new patterns, new arrangements. That view of language liberates you to use language creatively and fluently, powerfully. northerly | 011

>> READ

Susie Warrick Young Writers Award Byron Writers Festival’s annual Susie Warrick Young Writers Award invited Northern Rivers writers aged between thirteen and twenty-one to submit their short stories to a competition that provides the winner with $1,250 towards career development. Congratulations to Gabe Francis (19), who was this year’s winner with his story ‘Whisper Me The Secrets of the Sea’. Gabe received the award at Byron Writers Festival 2016. Runners-up were Jasmine Pierce (17) and Jacob Ellis (17), whose stories will feature in the next issue of northerly.

Whisper Me the Secrets of the Sea Gabe Francis

Everyone in the town walked around with saltwater in their heads, swaying in and out of focus with the ebb and flow of the tides. When the water was clear and winds blew offshore, the town was content. But when it rained, the water turned brown with mud from the river and the town turned murky with it.

Droplets.

Her father had always told her she angered too easily.

But she thought he didn’t anger easily enough. She parked her car at the lookout above the town and the sea, and spat curse words into the steering wheel.

The main street appeared pleasant enough from a distance. Of course from a distance, you couldn’t see the rust. But it was there. Under fresh paint, the whole town slowly corroding. Worn out by the southerly winds. The winds that whipped sand and salt into places from which sand and salt were difficult to shake loose. No matter how hard she tried.

Her mother had always told her she acted irrationally when she was tired. Yet the way she saw it, no one acted rationally at all. She locked her car and left the lookout behind. Above her, the moon hung heavy between the stars. It lay a blanket of light over the water and the sea wrestled to overturn it. The night was hot, too hot for blankets.

At the top of the headland, she paused to contemplate the night sky. Until she spoke adequately in the language of the stars. Until the distance between them felt no more than an arms length. Until she breathed on the stars and the stars breathed back.

So that when she closed her eyes, her vision did not break. When she closed her eyes, she still saw them there, the stars and the moon.

And so that when she finally jumped, she watched them from behind closed eyes. She felt the air brush past her skin but all she saw were the moon and the stars.

Her teachers had always told her that she lacked commitment. And they were right. So as she dropped she opened one eye. Only slightly, but enough to see it all.

She saw everything. And wished immediately that she had not, that she had kept her eyes shut.

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The water baptised her body. The sea observed it all.

It grumbled and hissed as they met in a splash and then rolled back to sleep. Restless, tonight. Impatient.

From uncharted waters.

The two boys went by moonlight across the rocks of the marine reserve. The headland stood above them, a silhouette against the night sky. They followed a well rehearsed procedure. Lures and rods and whispers of a secret spot. The boys cast, reeled and recast under the murmurs of the ocean. They spoke softly of its wonders.

Of mermaids and giant octopus. Of sailing ships, unchartered waters and sharks of an amphibious nature.

When the conversation came to conspiracies the two boys, alone on the rocks at the edge of the world, lowered their voices and leant in. Fishing rods clattering together as they whispered.

‘It already happened in Japan.’ ‘No.’ ‘Yeah. When all this nuclear waste leaked into the sea. Sharks with legs.

But they killed them all off. For our safety. Before they could reproduce.’ ‘Shit.’

When the rod first went full flex the pair got excited.

They were excited by the vibrations that ran through it and the creaks and squeals of the line. But that’s where the excitement had stopped. They saw the eyes first.

While the right eye was closed, the left eye caught the moon, shining through the surface of the water. The boy with the rod in his hand kept reeling while the other watched on. They saw the jaw locked open and the hook.

Through the gum. Like a fish. He kept reeling. Slowly now. The head came up to rest on the rocks first, followed by the neck. Then the torso. Below the knee there was nothing. Only blank space. The boys looked at each other. The thing at their feet, a monster of the sea. She lay there, cold skinned. And it made them regret their oceanic fantasies. It made them take it all back.

Impulse.

In her leg there was a tooth and as they dragged the body over the rocks the tooth was dislodged. It shimmered in the moonlight between rocks glossed by the water. They stared at it in silence. Until the boy who

>> READ

wasn’t reeling picked it up and put it in his pocket. He didn’t know why. And his friend never asked.

[—]less.

They cut the line, removed the hook and the pair clambered quickly back across the rocks. The body lay on an uneven bed of seaweed. Transparent. She was only flesh now. Moulded by the rocks. Before the bones and the skin had carried something else, something more than their weight. But now the bones were just bones.

The skin, only skin. At quiet points in the coming days, the boys would each find themselves wondering where that something went.

Muddy water.

The carpark was empty. They both had cuts on their feet that seeped blood onto the grass, turning brown as it dried.

‘What time your dad picking us up?’ ‘He finishes work in an hour.’ They sat in the night on the edge of the concrete carpark and stared at the sea, wondering if the gift it had chosen to give them that morning was a mistake. Wanting to go home. To sleep. A mutual agreement was made not to say another word on it. To pretend it never happened so that they might forget it ever did.

From the carpark they looked down the curve of the cape to see the street lights glimmering and trucks delivering milk and bread. Rituals on a daily repeat.

Sympathy coupled with a snarl.

A surfer found the body only a few hours later. In the news report that morning, he kept switching between ‘she’ and ‘it’ like he was struggling to determine what quantity of a person you need to recognise them as such.

But by lunch time the town had decided on that matter.

In the local fish and chip shop she was now an it. They sat around cold metal tables, discussing severed limbs and shark attacks while squeezing lemon juice onto battered fish with greasy fingers. The customers took a different approach to the boys who had sat silently in the carpark that morning. From table to table it was all they were talking about. In their minds, what happened was obvious.

‘I heard that it had too much to drink. And that it didn’t know where it was. That it was freaking out. And that it saw the ocean and went down across the rocks for a swim, just like that. It was always impulsive. And that’s when it happened. It was alone, it had no chance. Great white, they reckon.’

‘Tragic,’ they said. ‘What a shame,’ they said. ‘Send my love to the family,’ they said. The townspeople savoured every moment of that conversation. They shared every story, every conspiracy as to why the sharks attacked. But it was all just suspicion. At the back of their throats, you could see the saltwater gurgling as they spoke.

Tragic. What a shame. Send my love to the family.

The local newspaper that week showed a picture of the family and told a precautionary tale about swimming at dawn and dusk. The family stood together in the sand.

Their hair bleached blonde by the sun. Their hands kept young and soft by the sand and the sea. They looked out over the water at something out of frame. The father wore a business shirt ready for the day of work ahead. It had rained the night before the photo was taken and the rising sun gave the headland a warm glow. The landscape looked serene and the ocean, innocent.

Listen.

On the night after the funeral a community meeting was held. The townspeople filled the local school hall.

Rows of rusting chairs made clanking sounds as locals took to their seats. On the stage sat the self-elected members of the residents association. The meeting had not yet begun but already they were complaining about decreases in tourism and their failing family businesses.

Each sharpened hooks in their hands with a cruel smile.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ someone said.

Men with resonant voices spoke of traps and nets and drum lines. With mouths gaped open wide and outlined in wine stains, the townspeople stared up at the stage.

Their eyes glassy. Their rusty chairs rocking back and forth. The men used whiteboard markers to explain their plan to pit man against the sea. They described an epic tale of blood and bravery in a tone that made the whole crowd cheer. So that when it came time for objection the hall fell silent. Gaping mouths remained unchanged.

Nothing. Members of the residents association started clapping. And the crowd followed suit. Clapping and cheering and nodding their heads in agreement.

But if they were really listening in that moment of nothing they could’ve heard the words of the sea.

Outside, it whispered sermons through the streets.

Sermons that occupied the dreams of those who would allow it. Those who left their window open for it.

On that night, the boy with the tooth was listening to the sea. He sat on the edge of his bed looking out his window with the tooth in his hand. It wasn’t like the cartoons, he thought. He turned it in his palm, pressing his finger into its point. The tooth was delicate and smooth to touch. He wondered about its owner. Where s/he was. What s/he was doing. Whether s/he was sad and confused and worn out too. The boy with the tooth noticed the moon was now waning and decided to go back to sleep.

Sharks among men.

The next day dawn revealed boats, one by one, like ants in long grass. Their diesel motors chugged and spluttered through the channel. An irregular heartbeat on the surface of the sea. Men stood atop the water. Waiting.

Eyes darker than wine, teeth whiter than milk. Eager to turn the muddy water red. To take from the water what the water had taken from them. To adopt the role of the divine where they believed the divine to have failed. The silhouette of the men against the rising sun cast shadows across the water, shifting and circling. Uneasy against the sand ribs of the ocean floor. Gnashing teeth exposed, reflecting light off the sun.

Lying in his bed, the boy with the tooth turned away from his window and kicked at his sheets. He loosened his grasp on the tooth. It had begun to burn a hole in his hand. He didn’t want it anymore. Stolen from the sea he had to return it. But the ocean was beyond his reach. So he opened the door to his bathroom instead.

He knelt over the shower drain. He slid his fingernails under the grate. He lifted it from the floor. He held the tooth above the drain. He let it drop. Into the blackness of the pipe it fell. A splash. An echo. But still he felt its heat in his hand.

And so he washed it down the drain with cold water until he could be sure that it was gone. In the early morning light he sat on the bathroom tiles with the shower running in the background and cried murky brown tears as men painted the inside of their boats with blood. The sea had told him everything. They were sharks in human suits. There were sharks among men. northerly | 013

>> RISING

Rising: Polly Jude In this section, northerly hears from a series of emerging writers who have had some publishing success but whose voices are still coming into being. Some will hail from the Northern Rivers, some from further afield – either way, each is an exciting nascent talent.

Polly Jude lives on the Far North Coast with her family. She writes contemporary young adult fiction. She was a finalist at Pitch Perfect in 2013 with Cherry and in 2014 won a placement at Byron Writers Festival’s Residential Mentorship with Breathe. Since then she has written three more novels and has nearly completed her Master of Arts Children’s Literature. www.pollyjude.net

Can you describe your own work in terms of style, practice and form?

I write contemporary young adult fiction. I write about kick-arse chicks who tackle all the crap life throws at them: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Female protagonists don’t have to fight vampires or live in a dystopian hell; they can be regular girls with something to say.

When and how were you first drawn to literature and a desire to be an author?

The idea that I would one day write a book was always in there, hidden in the dark, slushy matter in the back of my brain. It popped up occasionally, reminding me that it was there, but the time and the opportunity didn’t present itself until a few years ago when I had some time off work. It was the first time in my life that I hadn’t been working or studying or both. So I started writing. My first novel, Sun Drenched, was terrible and I’m putting that kindly.

But I learn from the mistakes and the brutally honest feedback. You have to do a lot of bad writing before you get any good at it. So I kept writing, kept editing, grabbing every opportunity to work with other writers and learning from every opportunity. Who knows, I might just be a real writer when I grow up.

Which writers have influenced you most?

Is it wrong to say characters have influenced me more than writers? If a writer has done their job, I forget they even existed and get lost in the characters and their adventures.

So if I was to say which characters influenced me most, I would have to start with Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill [The Silence of the Lambs]. These charming gentlemen taught me all about suspense

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and leaving the lights on when your home alone.

From the Walsh sisters, who featured in many of Marian Keyes’ early novels, I learnt the importance of truly accepting drinking buddies, crazy mothers (my own helped out in this department too) and enduring friendships. Ponyboy Curtis [The Outsiders] was my first fictional boyfriend. He taught me to write characters that my audience will fall in love with.

Great writing can transcend time and place. The characters that allow us into their lives and change us, their influence lasts long after we have put the book down.

What is the most important piece of writing advice you have been given?

Ernest Hemingway said, ‘The first draft of anything is shit.’ That is my mantra. It doesn’t matter how bad my first drafts are, and arguably, some of them are terrible. Writing is hard work. It’s not glamorous. It’s working in your pajamas. It’s spelling mistakes so bad even autocorrect doesn’t know what you’re on about.

But the hardest part is getting that first draft done.

After that, it’s all grit and determination. Luckily, I have a truckload of both.

Are there enough opportunities for writers like yourself in Australia?

As an emerging writer, it is hard to break into the market. All you get are rejections, heart wrenching criticism, and months, and I mean months, of waiting.

There are opportunities out there but there are a whole lot of talented, dedicated, emerging writers out there too. I know they are just as determined, just as tenacious and probably more talented than me. This fact both motivates me and terrifies me.

From tragic queens to serene gardens

>> ARTS

Arts round-up...

Michael Cook at Tweed Regional Gallery

Michael Cook’s emotional and engaging new series Mother is an exploration of a theme that is universal to all; the love – or absence – of a mother is crucial to the development of children everywhere. Photographer Cook’s interpretation of the theme is thirteen images of a woman in a deserted Australian landscape. In these sparse, stark images, the ‘mother’ is always alone, though evidence of an absent child appears with a pram, toys and skipping ropes. The images express the stillness of the recently bereft.

Cook’s series speaks directly to Australia’s Stolen Generation, and is his most personal collection to date. A Brisbane-based photomedia artist of Bidjara heritage, Cook’s vignettes offer a psychological insight into the complex dynamic between personal experience and political power.

Mother runs August 26 – December 11 at Tweed Regional Gallery. www.artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au

Harry Manx at Lismore Star Theatre

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s 1783 portrait of Marie Antoinette

Let them eat cake! The cultural and artistic world of Marie Antoinette, France’s ill-fated queen An illustrated lecture by Martin Heard, Monday September 12.

Marie Antoinette, one of the most controversial figures in French history, is supposed to have said ‘Qu'ils mangent de la brioche’ or ‘Let them eat cake’ on learning that the peasants had no bread. Married at the age of fifteen, she became queen in 1774 at the age of nineteen and at thirty-seven was executed by guillotine in 1793 at the height of the French Revolution. It has been suggested by historians that her extravagance, frivolity, political interference and foreign sympathies ignited the start of the Revolution. However, it has been suggested by others that she was purely the victim of misogyny and the jealousy of a resentful nobility. Whatever view one may take, she was undoubtedly a trend-setter, an arbiter of taste and culture and a very significant patron of the arts.

Martin Heard studied History of Art at Manchester University, worked for a fine arts publishing company and now devotes his time to researching mainly English eighteenth-century and late nineteenth-century French art and architecture.

Moss, rocks and gravel: The development of Zen gardens in Japan An illustrated lecture by Keir Davidson, Monday October 17.

The Zen gardens of Japan have caught the imagination of many people around the world. They are composed of arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned

With his mixture of blues, folk and Hindustani classical music, guitarist Harry Manx is regarded by many as an essential bridge between Eastern and Western musical traditions. His compositional fusion of the blues with Indian raags has brought him considerable acclaim, but perhaps more remarkable is his mastery of the decidedly odd instrument, the mohan veena, a strange cross between a traditional guitar and a sitar – Manx often takes time out during concerts to offer a potted history of the instrument.

British-born but Canadian-raised Manx is something of a regular visitor to Australian shores, with this latest tour taking him to various regional locations, such as Lismore, as well as the majore cities. He tours in promotion of his newest album 20 Strings and the Truth, which came out in 2015.

Harry Manx performs on September 30 at Lismore Star Theatre. Tickets are $49 and can be purchased via www. starcourttheatre.com.au

trees and bushes and gravel or sand that, in some gardens, is raked to represent ripples in water. People are drawn, amongst other things, to their tranquil spaces and apparent simplicity. However, these gardens often remain something of an enigmatic mystery to those who have visited them. Why do these gardens look as they do? What were they created for? Keir Davidson explores the origins and the development of Japanese landscaping and its origins in the sacred spaces of traditional Japanese culture.

Keir Davidson graduated from the University of Leeds and became a landscape designer. He pursued his interest in Japanese gardens whilst living in Kyoto. For many years he has been associated with Woburn Abbey, initially as a waterfalls designer and subsequently as a landscape historian. He has recently published a book on the gardens of Woburn Abbey. Other publications include The Art of Zen Gardening (1983) and A Zen Life in Nature: Muso Soseki in his Gardens (2007).

Both ADFAS lectures will take place at The A&I Hall, Bangalow.

Members and guests are invited to drinks at 6pm prior to the lecture at 6:30pm, followed by a light supper afterwards. Guests are welcome at $25 per person. For general enquiries contact Anni Abbink on 02 6684 3249 or anne.abbink@yahoo.com.au, or Denise Willis on 02 6687 1724 or denisewillis50@gmail.com

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>> SCU

A showcase of SCU student work, compiled by Dr. Lynda Hawryluk

The sky is weeping Ben Smith

Grey.

Still, the silence haunts.

Wind blows through the endless Weeping willows Rising.

Sound.

Echoes for eternity.

Sing out loud.

No one to call back.

Silence.

Sweep.

The single drop of love.

Is lost.

It has fallen from the sky.

Lonely.

Resilience Has given way.

All hope has gone.

Darkness grows from within.

Despair.

Lost and found Ben Smith

Creeping silently, odd ends out.

Lost souls looking for home.

Daylight sweeps away ...

The lost boys have come out of their ancient hiding holes praying no one would be watching.

Everything was once magic.

Was this the life we once held?

Out of site, out of mind.

The things we forget Cannot hurt.

Saviour looking on.

Pitying.

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Benjamin Smith is an English teacher with the NSW Department of Education and Training. He graduated from Charles Sturt University in 2014 majoring in both English and history, with a particular focus on Australian English and language.

While inexperienced as a writer, Benjamin started his Associate Degree in Creative Writing to help develop skills that will help him become a recognised author. He is also looking forward to travelling to further develop his teaching methodology.

In defence of procrastination

>> LEARNING CURVE

Rather than tearing their hair out with frustration when afflicted by the procrastination bug, some writers tackle the ‘problem’ by embracing its possibilities for creativity and allowing ideas to incubate. Karen Whitelaw is one of them.

Some writers think that procrastination is the same as writer’s block, but other writers call it thinking.

While I was procrastinating the other day I came across Adam Grant’s Ted Talk, ‘The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers’. He makes a strong case for the procrastination-as-thinking camp.

Grant is a self-professed ‘pre-crastinator’, a term I hadn’t heard before but I certainly recognise the type.

They’re the people who start panicking months before a deadline, and who enter stories in competitions or publications the minute submissions open. But Grant’s studies show there is a downside to being a precrastinator. They are in such a hurry to complete their tasks they don’t give themselves time to come up with new, different and more creative ideas.

But if you’re a die-hard procrastinator, don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. If you never get around to starting a story, poem or novel then you’ve already written yourself out of the picture.

So what do original thinkers look like? Grant discovered there were three things they had in common.

1

They are quick to start and slow to finish. Moderate procrastinators are up to sixteen percent more creative than either precrastinators or committed procrastinators. But there is an interesting proviso. You have to set yourself the task first, and then procrastinate about completing it. While you’re off catching Pokemon, ideas will incubate in the back of your mind. Putting things off gives your mind the time to come up with even better ideas, go off in non-linear ways and make unexpected leaps. It’s the same if you put your story away once it’s finished and come back to it later with fresh eyes.

2

They are just as full of doubt and fear as the rest of us, but they manage their doubts differently. You come up with a brilliant idea. You start writing but the idea loses some of its shine. You work diligently but the doubts creep in. The idea doesn’t seem to be much good after all. In fact it’s crap, and you’re a terrible writer.

Do you recognise this creative process? Most people do. But original thinkers differ from the rest of us by

making a distinction between idea-doubt and self-doubt.

Self-doubt paralyses us – I will never be good enough, clever enough, creative enough. Originals try to ignore self-doubt and listen to the doubts they have about the idea. They test, experiment and refine the idea, and let it incubate in the back of their minds looking for better options.

Everyone fears embarrassing themselves, looking stupid and getting rejected. I heard Peter Carey tell Philip Adams his fear makes him curl up on the floor in a foetal position the week before his books come out.

Peter Carey! Two times Man Booker winner! But Grant’s research shows that people regret the things they don’t do more than the things they do. Successful people fear not trying more.

3

They have lots of bad ideas. High-achieving creatives produce more masterpieces than the average, but they also have the most flops. Grant discovered that original thinkers expect to have bad ideas. Written a pigswill first draft? Of course, isn’t that what first drafts are for? To experiment, to take risks, to generate lots of ideas, and that will include lots of bad ones.

What can writers take away from Grant’s research?

That successful people, just like the rest of us, have doubts and fears, they procrastinate and have bad ideas. That we should stop thinking of procrastination as a problem and recognise that a moderate amount of procrastination can boost our creativity. And to accept that we will have doubts and fears and bad ideas, but try to use them as motivators rather than let them paralyse us. Is your writing too important to you not to try?

Oh, and if you’re still procrastinating, you should check out Adam Grant’s Ted Talk: www.ted.com/talks/ adam_grant_the_surprising_habits_of_original_ thinkers?language=en

Karen Whitelaw is a Newcastle-based award-winning writer and teacher of creative writing. Her articles and stories have appeared in various magazines, anthologies, radio, newspapers and multimedia. Her latest published story is included in Award Winning Australian Writing 2016.

This article was originally published at www.karenwhitelaw.com

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>>BOOK REVIEW

Duty of care PROMISE

BY SARAH ARMSTRONG Review by Kathleen Steele

Anna is a self-contained woman who is happy with her ordered life in Sydney until her neighbour dies and a new family takes up residence next door.

Within two days of their arrival, Anna is aware that something is wrong. She can hear the five-year-old girl, Charlie, crying at night and lets the girl into her house one day when she finds her wandering in her garden. Anna notices injuries on the child and realises she is a victim of abuse. Anna very quickly decides she must act and calls the authorities. After more than one visit from DoCS with no real result, and physical threats from the stepfather, Anna realises the child will not be safe unless she acts. And act she does, in a way that is both dramatic and out of character. Anna considers the impact her actions may have on the child more than once, but decides each time that her decisions represent the lesser of two evils.

There were two aspects of Anna’s situation that would have been interesting to pursue. Her impetuous actions are the first. After living a rather boring and conformist life, Anna suddenly acts recklessly with little consideration for rules. Yes, she worries about her father, her work colleagues and her boyfriend, but she does not seem to suffer from the bitter discomfort most middle-class law-abiding citizens feel when they discover the law is not equal. For example, the stepfather next door is all too familiar – a slippery character with no humanity who knows how to play the system far better than Anna, for all of her education and experience. Anna’s fear for the child is understandable, but she does not reflect deeply on the schisms in the welfare system and seems to accept quickly that the authorities will not act appropriately.

The second aspect that deserves more attention is Anna’s childlessness. It is brought up at the beginning of the story by the abusive stepfather as a good

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reason why she has no right to interfere in parental matters. It also arises within Anna when her feelings for Charlie deepen, and she knows that she will never have a child. It would have been interesting to discover whether she harboured greater discord than was implied – a sneaking suspicion perhaps, that the motives for her actions towards the child were not as clear-cut as she believed.

Most of the characters in the book are well rounded, with the exception of Charlie’s mother. She is portrayed as something between a victim and an emotionless monster. She is only present for the first half of the narrative, but despite her initial depiction, her presence is subtly maintained throughout the story, as it becomes apparent that Charlie loves her mother, but is frightened of her mother’s partner. The confusion and ongoing trauma caused by removing Charlie from her biological mother are touched on but not explored in any depth.

The pace of the narrative is good, although it seems that Anna makes her initial decision quite quickly.

Having said that, such a momentous decision would, no doubt, seem rushed in any circumstances. Also, there were loose ends that were not explained well enough for a pedant like me. Likewise, the final denouement fell into place a little too neatly, but again, my complaint probably says more about my inner pedant than the novel.

Promise captures the atmosphere and pace of northern NSW beautifully. Considering the subject matter, the novel manages to be uplifting without being sentimental, and is a firm reminder that it takes a village to raise a child.

Pan MacMillan / 400pp / RRP $32.99

What YA Reading?

>>BOOK REVIEW

Reviews by Polly Jude

WHEN MICHAEL MET MINA

THE WAY WE ROLL

BY RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH

BY SCOTT GARDNER

When Michael first meets Mina they are at a protest rally. Michael’s there with his dad’s antirefugee group, Aussie Values. Mina’s there because she is a refugee. Her family fled Afghanistan after the murder of her father. She left behind loved ones and a lifetime of memories.

Now settled in Australia, Mina’s family is working class. Michael’s family is wealthy. Her family move from the Western Suburbs of Sydney to the privileged North Shore after she wins a scholarship to Michael’s fancy private school. What could possibly go wrong?

When Michael Met Mina carefully weaves the story of their romance with a number of other, contemporary issues. This book deals with the two opposing political views but focuses on that moment when all teens must work out what they really believe in. It’s about growing up and dealing with the consequences of our choices.

If you like your ‘star crossed lovers’ stories with a modern twist of multiculturalism, this is the book for you. Randa Abdel-Fattah’s writing is refreshingly honest and funny. If you liked her previous books, including, Does My Head Look Big In This?, you are sure to enjoy When Michael Met Mina.

Sometimes you meet a person and you just click.

They get how you work, you don’t have to explain your jokes, there’s no need to fill the spaces with conversation.

When Will and Julian meet pushing trolleys they are instantly united against the yobbos who patrol the shopping centre car park looking for trouble.

Will and Jules come from completely different backgrounds. Will’s a product of private school. Jules is fresh out of juvie. But a good bromance can over come these differences.

Gardner introduces us to the trolley gang, a bunch of fiercely loyal misfits who adopt Will as one of their own. Jules takes Will home like he’s a lost puppy. Jules and the trolley crew teach Will what it means to be a family, to know what it’s like when someone’s always got your back.

This book is fast paced and oozes street cred. The Way We Roll has characters you’ll love and some you’ll probably hate.

The Way We Roll will appeal to young adult readers who like their fiction fast and funny. With punchups, angry goats and dysfunctional families, there is something here for most YA readers.

Pan MacMillan / 360pp / RRP $18.99

Allen & Unwin / 208pp / RRP $19.99

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Kristen Ableson Najma Ahern Linda Airey Jan Aitken Bruce Aldeen Jeni Allenby Stevi-Lee Alver Susan Ash Derek Audus Robyn Baker Melissa Bautista Janelle Barram Barbara Barrett Annie Barrett Gyl Bartier Karen Beaumont Penny Beaumont Lynne Beclu Kate Benecke Chris Black Eleanor Blackstock Kathryn Boorman Karen Border-Dujardin Isabel Borrelli Rhian Bosco Shelagh Bradley Julie Broadhurst Jan Brownlow Marina Brun-Smits Jann Burmeister Cathy Caldwell Teresa Campain Jenni Cargill-Strong Tricia Carney-Bray Lyn Carson Lee Cass Shien Chee Ang Cleak Carolyn Cleak Alan Close Wendy Coates Susi Cody Darci Cole-Ensor Jan Connelly Richard Cottam

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Allan Cowley Lisa Crane Sarah Craske Yolinda Critchley David Cross Melissa Darnley Jack Dawson Heeling Dean Michael Dean Karen Deighton-Smith Hebe De Souza Peter Dickson Madeleine Doherty Ellen Doolan Graham Double Jenny Dreise Vivienne Duncan Anne Dusta Amy Eckert Peter Emerton Richard Everist Susanna Evington Nancy Falcone Irene Feuz Judi Finn Sam Fishburn Peta Fitzsimmons Alice Forrest Susie Forster Dot Francis Paul Francis Gail Fuller Pia Gallagher-Ewing Renae Gallagher Melanie Gates-Manar Anna Ghioni Roy Giles Wendy Gilmour Fay Goodchild Pamela Gornall Peter Gough

Janet Goulding John Graham Lani Greenhalgh Emily Griffiths Dale Hamlyn Monique Hartman Fran Haysey Amy Headley Richard Heazlewood-Ross Michelle Heazlewood-Ross Jennie Hicks David Hickson Ann-Louise Hollett Guy Holloway Adele Hollywood Melissa Howard Buff Hungerland Linda Jackson Amanda Johnstone Rod Johnston Polly Jude Bruce Kaldor Lenna Kelson Robin Landvogt Ruth Langford Darryl Larkin Ruth Laxton Geoffrey Leach Shelby Lemus Caroline Lloyd Merryn Lonergan Rowena Lucas Maggi Luke Karen Macdonald Steve Macdonald Katie Mcallister Liz Mccall

Trish Mccarthy Lucy Mccormack Belinda Mcgrath Diana Mepsted Colin Milanes Kelli Miller Zewlan Moor Ralph Moore James Morau Louise Moriarty Denise Napier Toni Naylor Alexandra Neill Beverly Nerden Emma O'Brien Vicki O'Neill Shelley Oldham Ellen Palfreyman Greg Palmer Jennifer Parenteau Jennifer Parry Abi Parker Alison Pearl Vivienne Pearson Adele Pedder Kim Pendreigh Shelagh Pepper Susan Perrow Catherine Perversi Kaya Polster Sarina Prizzi Danielle Purcell Dave Quemard Kaya Quemard Belinda Raposo Mark Reif Scott Rheuben Susan Rosedale Vivi Royston Mike Russo Marion Russo

Carmel Ryan Alison Sandercock Donna Santilli Kerry Seibold Fred Schack Jill Schurmann Kate Semken Melissa Scott Mark Scotton Sharron Short Anne Shepperson Fiona Sheridan Marin Simpson Ky Sheldrick Cathy Short James Smith Sam Sosnowski Jacqui Sosnowski Ray Sporne Lisa Stacey-Martin Dawn Stanfield Kate Steele Murielle Stephan Deirdre Stewart Paul Stewart Gloria Swan Shel Sweeney Susan Tapper Colin Tarbox Tracey Tervenski Anne-Marie Thompson Melody Valentine Oceana Valentine Tara Walker Sharon Wasley Amie Weekes Kate Wells Kate Westberg Ron White Alexandra Williams Meredith Williams Emma Wilsher Leah Wright Mary Ann Wright Noah Yamore

Finnegan engrosses Lennox

>>EVENTS

Fabled surf writer William Finnegan appeared in conversation at Lennox Head Community and Culture Centre on Saturday August 6 as part of Byron Writers Festival 2016. Mat Lee was one of many to be enthralled by his tales of travel and an award-winning career in journalism.

William Finnegan’s passion is surfing. Through this lifelong pursuit of riding waves he has travelled all over the world and surfed some of the best waves on the planet.

In discussion with prominent surf journalist Sean Doherty at the Lennox Head Cultural and Community Centre, Finnegan chatted about his early life as a ‘surf bum’, his view on surfing today and his work as a staff writer for The New Yorker. Finnegan also provided insight into his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Barbarian Days.

When asked how he got started with the book, Finnegan told an eager audience how he received a package in the mail from an old friend containing letters he’d written when he was a young grommet. Rereading them transported him back to that period of his life and although some of the writing made him wince, it inspired him to begin his memoir.

Growing up in California and Hawaii, Finnegan became addicted to surfing, but says he did not consider himself a ‘surfer’ and it was ‘just something that I did’.

His obsession took him to several of today’s most famous surf breaks long before the crowds and the popularity of surfing in the mainstream.

Finnegan reminisced about going to Tavarua, Fiji and surfing a break later called ‘Restaurants’. The Lennox surfing community listened with envy to stories of perfect waves with just two guys out, staying for weeks on end with nothing but an old wooden fish rack to sleep on. A far cry from the island today, with a resort built specifically to meet the increasing demand of visiting surfers.

Following talk of the ‘good old days’, conversation moved to Finnegan’s view of the commercialisation of surfing, ever-increasing crowded line-ups and his displeasure at surfing’s addition to the Olympic Games.

Barbarian Days is not written strictly for a surfing audience and it carries the general reader into the world of surfing by explaining the lingo, describing the experience of riding and unpacking the thought process of a surfer. Finnegan described the positive effects of writing this memoir, saying, ‘My wife said to me she finally understands why I surf. And my non-surfing friends have been amazed that we’re actually thinking out there’.

Finnegan has been surprised by the positive response of the book and quipped, ‘Maybe it’s better than I first thought’, expressing gratitude to the Lennox Head audience, marvelling that, ‘It seems everyone here surfs, and the surfing IQ is much higher than in the US where the average American wouldn’t know who Kelly Slater is’.

Finnegan’s work as a staff writer for The New Yorker covering political issues saw him asked his opinion on the current US presidential election, which he described as ‘unprecedented’ and Trump’s popularity as ‘scary’, adding ‘I might need to move to New Zealand’.

Finnegan’s work sees him travel extensively, with his next assignment reporting on the current crisis in Venezuela between book promotion obligations.

A life spent travelling to remote locations, dealing with the locals and finding his feet on and off a surfboard equipped Finnegan well for his journalistic career. He may not surf as much these days in the cold conditions of New York and he admits age is a limitation in performance, but he still has that passion for surfing and will always gravitate toward the ocean.

Mat Lee is a new and enthusiastic writer. Having worked in community services for over five years he has an interest in current social issues both home and abroad. Fascinated by sport, Mat draws inspiration from its drama and characters. This is his first article for northerly.

northerly | 021

Competitions

EPIC! SHORT STORY COMPETITION

PATRICK WHITE YOUNG INDIGENOUS WRITERS AWARD

The Footpath Library has announced the EPIC! Short Story Competition for primary and secondary students across Australia. The competition opens on the first day of the third school term in each state or territory, closing on September 30. There are two age categories, primary and secondary, with students able to submit stories of up to 300 words, while more information can be found at https://www. footpathlibrary.org/competition/2016short-story-competition/

These awards have been designed to encourage Indigenous Australians from kindergarten to year 12, studying in NSW, to put their reading, writing and creative skills into action. There are three themes to write to: ‘Things are not always what they seem…’, ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Standing on one leg…’. There is also a group competition, in which Aboriginal students working together with classmates can develop a shared poem, story or play. The deadline for entries is September 23, with a major prize and two encouragement awards on offer for each school year. For more information visit http://www.aec.org.au/ wordpress/patrick-white-award/

2016 WALTER STONE AWARD FOR LIFE WRITING This award defines ‘life writing’ as biography, autobiography, memoir, monograph and bibliography.

Biography and autobiography may be extracts in order to meet wordcount requirements of a minimum of 10,000 and a maximum of 25,000. The winner will be invited to an awards ceremony at the end of the year. The award is organised by the Fellowship of Australian Writers and offers a first prize of $1,500 and publication in Writers Voice. Closing date for submissions is September 30. More details at http://fawnsw.org.au/walterstone-award-2016-for-life-writing/

CHILD WRITES COMPETITION The Child Writes Competition is open to Australian primary schoolaged children. The winning writer will be paired with an illustrator to be mentored through a program that will result in a published book through Boogie Books. Submissions should be stories of no more than 800 words, and there is a fee of $15 per entry. Deadline is September 11, for more details visit http://www.childwrites.com.au/ CHILDWRITES-Competition.html 022 | northerly

HEYWIRE COMPETITION The Heywire Competition is for Australian residents aged between sixteen and twenty-two who do not live in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth or Sydney. Submissions must be true stories of you and/or your community. Entries are not limited to text, with photo, audio and video categories also available. Text entries should be approximately 1,000 words, while there is no entry fee. The prize is the opportunity for your story to be produced by the ABC and an allexpenses paid trip to the Heywire Youth Issues Forum in Canberra. Entries close September 16. For more information visit http://www.abc.net.au/heywire/ competition/

2016 POETICA CHRISTI PRESS ANNUAL POETRY COMPETITION This year’s Poetica Christi Press competition has the theme ‘Hope whispers’. As well as a first prize of $300 and a second prize of $100, twenty-five poems will be included in an anthology to be published by Poetica Christi Press.

The competition’s theme is designed

to lend itself to poems about hope, aspirations, faith, dreams, reverie, optimism, promise, perseverance, possibility, confidence, courage, expectation, potential, trust and more.

There is a $6 reading fee for each poem entered, and you can find out more at http://poeticachristi.org.au

SCRIBES WRITERS’ ‘SHORT TAKES’ Organised by Scribes Writers, based at Belmont in Victoria, the ‘Short Takes’ competition is seeking prose submissions across two categories (Fictional Short Story and Memoir) with a maximum word-count of 1,000.

First prize is $200, with second place taking $100. There is a $7 entry fee for each story, while the deadline is September 30. For further information go to http://www.scribeswriters.com/ details-and-conditions.html

THE STRINGYBARK TIMES PAST SHORT STORY AWARD 2016 The Stringybark Times Past Short Story Award is inviting short story submissions of 1,500 words or less, with the theme of Australian history. Each story must be based on a real-life event from Australia’s past. Total prize money comes to $950, with an entry of $12 per story and a deadline of November 15. There is opportunity for feedback from judges, also, for an extra $15.

First prize takes $400 plus publication and a variety of books. For full details go to http://www.stringybarkstories. net/competition-info/the-stringybarktimes-past-award-2016.html

RON PRETTY POETRY PRIZE Open to poets aged eighteen and over, the Ron Pretty Poetry Prize offers a first prize of $5,000, second prize of $1,500 and third prize of $750. Entries must be a single poem of up to thirty lines, with an entry fee of $25 for the first poem and $10 for subsequent submissions.

Closing date is September 15, with the winner announce on November 18. The award is named in honour of Australian poet Ron Pretty, founder of Five Islands Press. For more information and how to enter visit http://fiveislandspress.com/ ron-pretty-poetry-prize

WOLLONGONG WRITERS FESTIVAL SHORT STORY PRIZE The theme for this year’s Wollongong Writers Festival Short Story Prize is ‘Tidal’, with stories of up to 2,500 words invited. The winner receives $1,000 in cash and publication in the online literary journal Mascara Literary Review. There is a $12 entry fee, with the winner announced at Wollongong Writers Festival on November 27.

Judges are Michelle Cahill and Patrick Lenton. For further details go to http:// www.wollongongwritersfestival.com/ competitions/

PORT STEPHENS EXAMINER LITERATURE AWARD Short stories are invited of up to 2,000 words for the Port Stephens Examiner Literature Award. First prize takes $500, second place $300 and third $150. There an entry fee of $5 and a closing date of September 30. For complete details visit http://tilligerry.com/

KATHERINE SUSANNAH PRICHARD SHORT FICTION AWARDS Open to Australian residents on an open theme, this competition features an Adult section and a Youth (ages ten to twenty) section. Adults can submit stories of between 1,000 and 2,500 words with a fee of $10 for one story, $15 for two and $20 for three. Entrants in the Youth category can enter stories of between 500 and 2,000 words, and for them entry is free. Deadline for entries is September 16 and the judge is short story writer Susan Midalia. For more information log on to http://www.

kspwriterscentre.com/#!short-fictioncompetition/fd9p6

dymocks.com.au/andy-griffiths-kidswriting-competition

IPA POLICE DOWN UNDER ARTICLE WRITING COMPETITION

MARTHA RICHARDSON MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE

Writers of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to enter the IPA Police Down Under Article Writing Competition. There are three categories, of which one is open to the general public (the others being open to IPA Australian Section members only). This category invites submissions of up to 1,500 words on a police-related theme, such as contemporary policing issues, specialised services, case studies or personal experiences. Entries close on September 30 while there is no entry fee. To find out more go to http://ipaaustraliapolice.com.au/

The Martha Richardson Memorial Poetry Prize is organised by Ballarat Writers and will this year be judged

by Emilie Zoey Baker. Poems of up to 40 lines on an open theme are invited, with first prize winning $1,500. The deadline for entries is October 15, with the winner announced in November.

There is a $25 entry fee per poem ($20 for members of Ballarat Writers). For further entry guidelines go to https:// ballaratwriters.com/competitions/ martha-richardson-memorial-poetryprize-2016/

BIRDCATCHER BOOKS SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2016

NOOSA ARTS THEATRE PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

Short stories entered in this competition should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words in length and adhere to the theme of ‘Crossroads’. First prize takes $250, second place $100 and third $50.

Shortlisted entries are published in an anthology. Entry is $8 per story, with further information to be found at http://www.noosaartstheatre.org.au/ pages/playwriting-competition/entryform.html

The Noosa Arts Theatre Playwriting Competition aims to foster and encourage playwrights, both amateur and professional. A prize money pool of $8,000 is divided between the writers of the best three scripts, with $5,000 awarded to Best Play. Entries close on October 1, while there is the stage presentation on July 17.

A number of terms and conditions should be consulted, see http:// www.noosaartstheatre.org.au/pages/ playwriting-competition/entry-form.html

ANDY GRIFFITHS KIDS’ WRITING COMPETITION

THE HORNE PRIZE

Organised by Dymocks and Pan Macmillan, this competition invites Australian kids to enter their stories for an award judged by much-loved children’s author Andy Griffiths. The theme is ‘Living in a treehouse’ and the word limit for stories is 400 words. The competition closes on October 3, with prizes including an exclusive illustration

by Griffiths’ collaborator Terry Denton and sets of books. For full information on how to enter, visit https://www.

Aesop and The Saturday Paper have combined for this new prize, with The Horne Prize an essay prize that is seeking entries of up to 3,000 words on the theme ‘Australian life’. Entries close on October 1, with a shortlist announced on November 30. The winning essay will be published in The Saturday Paper on December 24. For full details on this competition, named after Australian writer Donald Horne, visit http://www.thehorneprize.com.au northerly | 023

>> WRITERS’ GROUPS

>> Alstonville Plateau Writers Group

>> Federal Writers’ Group

>> Ballina/Byron U3A Creative Writing

>> FAW Port Macquarie-Hastings Regional

>> Bangalow Writers Group

>> Gold Coast Writers Association

Meets second Friday of each month, 10am - 12pm. All genres welcome, contact Kerry on 66285662 or email alstonvilleplateauwriters@outlook.com Meets every second Wednesday at 12pm, Fripp Oval, Ballina. Contact Jan on 0404007586 or janmulcahy@ bigpond.com Meets Thursdays at 9:15am at Bangalow Scout Hall.

Contact Simone on 0407749288

>> Bellingen Writers Group

Meets at Bellingen Golf Club on the fourth Monday of the month at 2pm. All welcome, contact Joanne on 6655 9246 or email jothirsk@restnet.com.au

>> Byron Bay Fiction Writing Group

Meets monthly at Sunrise Beach, Byron Bay. Contact Diana on 0420282938 or diana.burstall@gmail.com

>> Casino Writers Group

Meets every third Thursday of the month at 4pm at Casino Library. Contact Brian on 0266282636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com

>> Cloudcatchers

For Haiku enthusiasts. A ginko (haiku walk) is undertaken according to group agreement. Contact Quendryth on 66533256 or email quendrythyoung@ bigpond.com

>> Coffs Harbour Writers Group

Meets 1st Wednesday of the month 10.30am to 12.30pm. Contact Lorraine Penn on 66533256 or 0404163136, email: lmproject@bigpond.com. www. coffsharbourwriters.com

>> Coffs Harbour Memoir Writers Group

Share your memoir writing for critique. Monthly meetings, contact 0409824803 or email costalmermaid@ gmail.com

>> Cru3a River Poets

Meets every Thursday at 10:30am, venue varies, mainly in Yamba. Contact Pauline on 66458715 or email kitesway@westnet.com.au

>> Dangerously Poetic Writing Circle

Meets first Saturday of each month at 1.30pm at Federal. Contact Susanna Freymark on 6688 4457 or susannafreymark@gmail.com Meets 1pm on last Saturday of each month, Maritime Museum, Port Macquarie. Contact Joie on 65843520 or email Bessie on befrank@tsn.cc Meets third Saturday of each month, 1:30pm for 2pm start, at Fradgley Hall, Burleigh Heads Library, Park Avenue, Burleigh Heads. Contact 0431443385 or email info@goldcoast-writers.org.au

>> Kyogle Writers

Meets first Tuesday of each month, 10:30am at Kyogle Bowling Club. Contact Brian on 66242636 or email briancostin129@hotmail.com

>> Memoir Writing Group

Meets each month at Sunrise Beach, Byron Bay. Contact Diana on 66855387 or 0420282938 or email diana. burstall@gmail.com

>> Middle Grade / Young Adult Fiction Writers’ Group

Meets monthly at 2pm on Sundays in Bangalow. Contact Carolyn Bishop at carolyncbishop@gmail.com or 0431161104

>> Nambucca Valley Writers Group

Meets fourth Saturday of each month, 1:30pm, Nambucca. Contact 65689648 or nambuccawriters@ gmail.com

>> Taree-Manning River Scribblers

Meets second Wednesday of the month, 9am-11:30am, Taree. Call first to check venue. Contact Bob Winston on 65532829 or email rrw1939@hotmail.com

>> Tweed Poets and Writers

Meets weekly at the Coolangatta Senior Citizens Centre on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30pm, NSW time.

Poets, novelists, playwrights, short story writers are all welcome. Phone Lorraine 0755248035 or Pauline 0755245062.

>> WordsFlow Writing

Meets second Wednesday of each month, 2pm-4pm at Brunswick Valley Community Centre. Contact Laura on 66801976 or visit www.dangerouslypoetic.com

Group meets Fridays during school term, 12:30pm-3pm, Pottsville Beach Neighbourhood Centre, 12a Elizabeth St, Pottsville Beach. Contact Cheryl on 0412455707 or visit www.wordsflowwriters.blogspot.com

>> Dorrigo Writers Group

>> Writing for Wellbeing

Meets every second Wednesday from 10am-2pm.

Contact Iris on 66575274 or email an_lomall@bigpond. com or contact Nell on 66574089

>> Dunoon Writers Group

Writers on the Block. Meets second Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Dunoon Sports Club.

Contact Helga on 66202994 (W), 0401405178 (M) or email heg.j@telstra.com 024 | northerly

Writing for Wellbeing workshops meet monthly on a Thursday from 10:30am to 1pm at Richmond Hill.

Focus is on expressive writing, support and feedback from facilitators Jan Mulcahy and Sally Archer. Phone 0404 007 586 or email janmulcahy@bigpond.com or visit the Facebook page

Support northerly in 2016 northerly is the bi-monthly magazine of the Byron Writers Festival.

Published in January, March, May, July, September and November, it is distributed to members, community organisations, libraries, universities, schools, festivals, publishers and bookshops and has a readership in excess of 3,500. Each issue features interviews, reviews, essays and national and international news.

An array of discounts and deals are available for organisations and individuals interested in advertising. To discuss your advertising needs in northerly, contact us on
02 6685 5115 or via email at northerlyeditor@gmail.com

BYRON WRITERS FESTIVAL & NORPA PRESENT

lionel SHRIVER IN CONVERSATION WITH DAVID LESER

Arguably the most perceptive and topical author of our times, Lionel Shriver is the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin.

She will discuss her new novel The Mandibles about the decline that might await the United States all too soon.

Tuesday 6 September 6.30pm Lismore City Hall NOW ON SALE

Photo | Suki Dhanda

norpa.org.au 1300 066 772