CHRISTMAS PARTY

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

LIBBY HATHORN

Libby Hathorne leads a workshop on the topic “The Idea Becoming Book” includes prose and poetry tasks.

(from Wikipedia)
Libby Hathorn is an Australian writer. She has received many awards for her books, some of which have been translated into several languages. In 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution to children’s literature.

Hathorn was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and is an award-winning writer for children. Her stories have been translated into several languages and adapted for stage and screen.[1] Her work has won honours in Australia as well as in the United States, United Kingdom and Holland. She was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003.

Hallmark Hall of Fame has made a movie of her best-selling young adult novel, Thunderwith, re-titled The Echo of Thunder. It starred Judy Davis, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in the US for her performance as Gladwyn.[2] In 2004, Libby’s children’s picture storybook, Sky Sash So Blue, published in the United States, was performed as an opera in Birmingham, Alabama. Previously, Grandma’s Shoes was performed as an opera by Opera Australia and Theatre of Image. Libby was awarded an AWGIE for the libretto based on this picture storybook, in 2001. More recently, her CDROM series "Weirdstop" won the Australian Interactive Media Industry Awards (AIMIA), 2004 as Best Children’s Product; and in 2005 the New South Wales Society of Women Writers’ Bi-annual Award for Older Readers. "Wonderstop" won the Energy Australia National trust Heritage Award (Education) 2007.

As an Australia Day Ambassador, she travels to country towns each year where she talks about the importance of Australian literature. Libby’s novel, Letters to a Princess, (ABC) was released September, 2007. Her recently completed historical novel, Georgiana: Woman of Flower's (Hachette Livre) as well as the play based on her picture storybook, The Tram to Bondi Beach (Currency Press) were all released in 2008.

Libby is currently working on an arts project entitled "100 Views" in several schools, both in Australia and internationally. "100 Views" celebrates community through poetry, artwork and a festival.

SPECIAL PLANNING SESSION

This month we are having a special planning session, followed by our usual feedback groups on prose and poetry. Members are invited to bring along a poem or two, or a relatively short piece of prose, for which they would like feedback. Please also bring along copies for each person in the group. All are welcome to attend and to take part in the critiqueing process.

LIBBY HATHORN

Libby Hathorne leads a workshop on the topic “The Idea Becoming Book” includes prose and poetry tasks.

(from Wikipedia)
Libby Hathorn is an Australian writer. She has received many awards for her books, some of which have been translated into several languages. In 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution to children’s literature.

Hathorn was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and is an award-winning writer for children. Her stories have been translated into several languages and adapted for stage and screen.[1] Her work has won honours in Australia as well as in the United States, United Kingdom and Holland. She was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003.

Hallmark Hall of Fame has made a movie of her best-selling young adult novel, Thunderwith, re-titled The Echo of Thunder. It starred Judy Davis, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in the US for her performance as Gladwyn.[2] In 2004, Libby’s children’s picture storybook, Sky Sash So Blue, published in the United States, was performed as an opera in Birmingham, Alabama. Previously, Grandma’s Shoes was performed as an opera by Opera Australia and Theatre of Image. Libby was awarded an AWGIE for the libretto based on this picture storybook, in 2001. More recently, her CDROM series "Weirdstop" won the Australian Interactive Media Industry Awards (AIMIA), 2004 as Best Children’s Product; and in 2005 the New South Wales Society of Women Writers’ Bi-annual Award for Older Readers. "Wonderstop" won the Energy Australia National trust Heritage Award (Education) 2007.

As an Australia Day Ambassador, she travels to country towns each year where she talks about the importance of Australian literature. Libby’s novel, Letters to a Princess, (ABC) was released September, 2007. Her recently completed historical novel, Georgiana: Woman of Flower's (Hachette Livre) as well as the play based on her picture storybook, The Tram to Bondi Beach (Currency Press) were all released in 2008.

Libby is currently working on an arts project entitled "100 Views" in several schools, both in Australia and internationally. "100 Views" celebrates community through poetry, artwork and a festival.

ACTORS READING MEMBERS WORK

This month we will hear actors, Kay Dunne and Hugh Watkins, read prose and poetry, offered by members who would like to receive feedback of their work. The rest of the members are invited to give their impressions of the pieces heard. This is an in-house activity to improve critiqueing skills, and to benefit creative writing through focusing on voice and feedback.

PROSE AND POETRY

For our meeting this month we will break into 3 groups, 2 for feedback on prose and poetry, and a blog development group for those who wish to learn how to create a personal blog. Please bring along anything that you are working on for peer critiqueing if you wish to be in either of the feedback groups.  If you wish to join in the blogging group, you may want to bring along a laptop in order to set up your blog on the spot.

WALTER MASON

Walter Mason is a travel writer and speaker with a special interest in spirituality. Born in rural North Queensland, Walter was for many years a bookseller, later moving into roles in book distribution and publishing. He is now part of the University of Western Sydney’s prestigious Writing & Society Research Unit, where he is pursuing his PhD on the history of self-help books in Australia.

Since the release of Destination Saigon in March 2010 Walter has appeared regularly on radio and in the press talking about Vietnam. He has been interviewed on ABC Classic FM, Radio National, various ABC Local stations, Radio Australia and Voice of America. Destination Saigon has received rave reviews in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sunday Telegraph and NW Magazine, among many others.

Walter first visited Vietnam in 1994, and has been back numerous times since. He spent 3 months there in 1996 travelling the country with an eccentric Vietnamese-Australian Buddhist monk, living in remote monasteries and hermitages; in 1999 Walter spent 6 months at the Ho Chi Minh Social Sciences University studying the Vietnamese language; and he spent three months travelling and writing Destination Saigon during 2008/2009.

The Sydney Morning Herald named Destination Saigon one of the 10 best travel books of 2010.

INFORMAL DAY

This month we have decided to have an informal day when members read aloud their work and the rest of the group gives feedback.

JACQUELINE WINN
Best known for her award-winning short stories, Jacqueline Winn has been published in anthologies and literary magazines in Australia, UK and Ireland.

She has written two novels and a number of scripts for stage and film, as well as articles and memoirs. In 2010, her most recent novel manuscript was chosen by NSW LitLink/Varuna for a development award.

Ginninderra Press has published two collections of Jacqui's short stories - Once More With Feeling and Salt & Pepper - and her short stories have been chosen for Award Winning Australian Writing 2009 and 2010. Having completed the Professional Editing Course with Deb Doyle, Jacqui has edited work for individual writers and in 2010 she edited the anthology Scribbles for Taree Scribblers.

For more information about Jacqueline Winn, visit www.jacquelinewinn.com

CATHERINE HAMMOND
Catherine Hammond is a full-time freelance editor, who will speak to us about what publishers and editors look for in a manuscript. Catherine has had a long career in editing, holding positions at Doubleday and at Millenium Books, and working closely with many well-known publishers and publishing houses in Australia.

NO MEETING