Friday 25th April:

3.00 – 5.00 Sessions

Melissa Bei t , The Art Of Dialogue “Dialogue is not just quotation. It is grimaces, pauses, adjustments of blouse buttons, doodles on a napkin, and crossings of legs.” Jerome Stern. In this workshop, we will explore the topic of dialogue, as both writers and readers. What are the key elements of excellent dialogue? How can dialogue move plot in a desirable direction? How can good dialogue be used to ‘show, not tell’ the story? How can dialogue be used to develop characters? Participants should come armed with short (200 words or less) examples of their favourite fragments of dialogue, their own, or from other writers. During the session we will explore some examples of dialogue from well-known authors, and write some of our own. Mhoira Lauer-Patterson, Writing For The Spoken Word Many of us may listen to a short play on the radio, attend a community theater or watch a movie and wonder if we could have written the script. It is not difficult. In this session we will look at the main elements needed to produce the right script and to adapt it to each media form.

5.30 – 6.00 Key Note Address: Marele Day , Growing the Story: Mentoring Yourself and Others

6.00 – 9.30 Opening Dinner & Writers and Writers Groups introduce themselves

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Saturday 26th April: 9.00 – 11.00 Joint Session

Marele Day , Beyond The First Draft Through discussion, class exercises, and feedback this session aims to develop the skills necessary for converting a first draft into a polished manuscript.

11.00 – 11.30 Break

11.30 – 12.30 Conversation Groups (multiple streams)

Dee Beech Travel Writing Carol Deane Interviewing as Research for Creative Writing Siđsel Baker Journal Writing

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch

1.30 – 3.30 Sessions

Wendy Laharnar, Researching And Writing Historical Fiction Dive into history. Breathe life into your memoir or historical fiction. In this session we’ll consider: why we need to research; where to look – primary and secondary sources; the pleasures and pitfalls of historical fiction … and we will write! Zacharey Jane, How To Get To The Kernel Of The Idea The inspiration for a story is a precious thing and needs to be nurtured as one would a rare seed. But sometimes getting to that seed involves a long trek through thick forest where you can’t see the wood for the trees. In this workshop, we will work through various exercises that help with inspiration, talk about writer’s routine, and practice strategies to cut the deadwood away to get to the heart of the story. Bring along your ideas and your writing for one-on-one assistance. If you would like a fuller critique, short stories or the first three chapters of your work can be emailed to Zacharey before the workshop.

3.30 – 4.00 Break

4.00 – 6.00 Sessions

Alexandra J . Cornwel l , Drabble (100-Word Fiction), A Creative Starter Workshop Alexandra will use different prompts, music, newspaper articles, visual motifs in art, photography and film. She will offer a wrap-up exercise to polish Drabbles created in the session and introduce you to blogs on Wordpress that publish 100-word short stories as well as examples of online anthologies for short fiction and non-fiction pieces. Beryl Peake, Poetry Pilgrimage The quest for poetry is a pilgrimage of the heart. This pilgrimage takes place in bursts of expression inspired by what is found with exercises in really paying attention to surroundings on a journey, with permission to go beyond the limits of the exercises to develop a sense of images, rhythms and sounds somehow into the special province of play which hopefully may be helpful and ongoing.

7.30 – 10.00 Dinner and a Reading of Works (Open to the public) Caterer, Food Angel Café

Sunday 27th April:

9.00 – 11.00 Sessions Lisa Milner , Exploring Character This is an intensive workshop on developing and presenting character in novels and short stories. With exercises and discussion, we will learn and practice the tools of effective characterisation, how to draw characters from a range of sources, make them real people, and work them into our writing realistically and successfully. Leonie Henschke , Getting Your Story Started – Writing The First Words Suffering from Writer’s block? Don’t know where to start? Come along to this workshop and gain inspiration and practical tips for writing discipline. You will also practice some easy techniques for getting the creative juices flowing. By the end of this session you will have honed that story you already have in your head or embarked on a new, more exciting one.

11.00 – 11.30 Break 11.30 – 1.30 Sessions

Rosal ie Skinner , Writing Fantasy Love writing Fantasy? In this workshop we will: explore the genre, build our own Fantasy world, discuss how to create characters and use the Fantasy ‘plot arc’. Ir is Curte is , Magic Realism – Writing Between The Magical And The Mundane In Magic Realism (MR), the normal, the plausible, the everyday event co-exists with the supernatural, the extraordinary, and the magical. The authenticity of incidents isn’t questioned or explained, the “impossible” occurs without rationalisation. Writing MR means mastering realistic conventions of fiction and introducing something into the story that reveals a reality that is already in and of itself magical. Folktales are a form of MR; most protagonists live mundane, realistic lives into which magic intrudes without explanation. Through discussion, exercises and an inspiring use of traditional folktales you will understand the basic strategies of MR and how to use this skill to enhance your writing whatever your genre.

1.30 – 2.30 Lunch

2.30 – 4.30 Wrap-up Forming a Feedback Group: a meta-group of writers who offer constructive feedback to writers throughout the region; outcomes and ideas for the next GWW; passing the baton.

For further inquiries please contact:

Iris Curteis 6657 5274 email: an_lomall@bigpond.com

Carol Deane 6657 4005 email: deane.carol@gmail.com

Dee Beech 6657 5149 email: deebeech@gmail.com

Introducing our presenters and conversation group hosts:

Melissa Bei t Melissa’s stories have been published in Southerly, Meanjin, the Sleepers Almanac, Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories, Skive Magazine, and the Australian Women’s Weekly and have been place-getters or highly commended for various competitions, including The Age and the Alan Marshall Short Story Prize. Her first novel was selected for a Varuna Publishers Award. She lives in coastal NSW with her husband, three kids and way too many chickens. Mhoira Lauer-Patterson Mhoira retired from architecture in 1998. Having written many reports, reviews, articles and short stories, she picked up her love of writing for the spoken word. Six of her one to three act plays have been performed in public. Her first radio play, Darling Henry, is set near Black Mountain. Mhoira hopes to have her first novel, Claire: Once upon a Time, published this year. She is a member of the Coffs Harbor Writers Group.

Marele Day Marele’s four-book Claudia Valentine series won her a Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award for crime writing. Her Lambs of God was even more highly acclaimed and translated into six languages. This was followed by Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain’s Wife and most recently The Sea Bed. Dee Beech On my 51st birthday I embarked on a year of travel through India, alone, using public transport of the cheapest class, and began my writing with journals and letters. From notes and photographs, I gathered the threads of that remarkable journey to stitch together a tapestry of stories, adventures and misadventures; the most daring of my life. Carol Deane Carol is particularly interested in family stories and history. She is currently writing a historical fiction about a couple who migrated to Australia after WW2. She has found the journey involved in writing this story, through the research, interviews and travel, an amazing experience. Siđse l Baker Siđsel moved from Norway to Melbourne, and then on to Dorrigo, where she now lives. Her early interests in arts and crafts became intertwined with husbands and children. As the children grew she enrolled as a mature-age student in biology. She now writes about her tree change and tends her garden. Wendy Laharnar Wendy grew up in NSW’s central west, graduated from UNE, Armidale, with a BA in English Lit., Classical Lit. (in translation), and History. She writes historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Her medieval novel, The Unhewn Stone, won 3rd prize in the 2013 International Digital Awards for best YA novel and short stories. Wendy lives on the South Coast, NSW, with her husband and Mini Schnauzer. She likes creating with fabric and wool and enjoys travel and photography, always with research in mind.

Zacharey Jane Zacharey’s acclaimed first novel The Lifeboat was published in 2008 by UQP and released internationally. It was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award in 2009 and voted one of the favourite reads of 2008 by Radio National listeners. In 2011, UQP published Zacharey’s children’s picture book Tobias Blow, now included on the NSW Premier’s Reading List. She is currently editing her novel The Patchwork Man, which was awarded the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival LitLink Varuna Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2012.

Alexandra J . Cornwel l A geographer and poet, Alexandra worked as a town planner and legal secretary before launching Pipi Publishing & Author Services, an e-publishing consultancy service for self-publishing authors. Based at Brunswick Heads, Alexandra maintains The Drabble Writer's Table (www.squeakythongs.wordpress.com) as a mixture of poetry, microfiction and photography with commentary on creative inspirations and the ‘writing process’. She enjoys conversing with writers from the Bangalow, Brunswick Heads, and Dangerously Poetic Writer’s Groups. Beryl Peake Poetry her Passion and when beyond words—illustrating. Her poetry has been published (with pen name Annetta Hill) in the Don Dorrigo Gazette, Bellingen Shire Courier Sun and the Coffs Harbour Advocate; also in Dangerously Poetic’s anthology, To the Edge. She was a winner in the 2005 Poetica Christi Poetry Competition. Lisa Milner Lisa is a writer, academic and filmmaker, and has been a member of the Nambucca Valley Writers Group for many years. She loves working with other writers to improve skills in many areas. Leonie Henschke Leonie is a freelance journalist and writer with a background in newspapers and magazines, book publishing in Australia and Great Britain, and management of a university training company. Rosal ie Skinner After a career painting portraits and a life spent reading avidly, Rosalie took up a pen and began writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. She self-published part of The Chronicles of Caleath in 2004; when Museitup Publishing offered a contract for the complete series, she accepted. Now eight books of the series are being published. Rosalie lives in Coffs Harbour and, when not writing or working as a content editor, she enjoys being a grandmother. Ir is Curte is I’m an oral storyteller and writer, so I’m a provocateur. I evoke characters, places, events and challenge concepts. My studies include Visual Art, Dramatic Art (storytelling, acting) and a PhD in Creative Writing. My experience ranges from intimate workshops to seminars and presentations at national and international conferences.

We wish to acknowledge the Gumbaynggirr people, the traditional custodians of this land past and present.

This event is supported by: Arts Council of the Dorrigo; Biodynamics2024; Dorrigo High School; Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce; Food Angel Café; Northern Rivers Writers Centre; School of Arts & Social

Sciences, Southern Cross University; University of New England, Dorrigo Writers Group and Arts NSW’s Country Arts Support Program, a devolved funding program administered by Regional Arts NSW and Arts

Mid North Coast on behalf of the NSW Government

Dorrigo Grassroots Writers Weekend, 25 – 27 April, 2014 Registration Name (s):…………………………………………………………………………………… Address:……………………………………………………………………………… Phone: ………….. Email: ………………………………… Booking Fee _____ x $25 = $ ……. Friday, Opening Night Dinner ____ x $25 = $ ……. (Please nominate if you require a vegetarian or gluten-free meal.) Saturday, Dinner & Reading of Works _____ x $25 = $ ……. (Please nominate if you require a vegetarian or gluten-free meal.) TOTAL $ _________ Paid to: Dorrigo Arts Council, Grassroots Writers Weekend Paid by:

Direct deposit BSB: 704 328 Account: 1005 71293 Amount: $ __________ Date: __________________ your deposit reference (name) : __________________

Scan office@biodynamics2024.com.au

Fax 02 6657 5371 Post address below

Cheque: Post to: 15 Haydon Street, NORTH DORRIGO NSW 2453

A receipt will be emailed or made available at the event. For all inquiries regarding registration and payment, please contact: Hamish Mackay 66575270 (business hours); 66575274 (after hours) or mobile 0412862823 For accommodation see: www.dorrigo.com

Thank you for registering; we look forward to seeing you at the Grassroots Writers Weekend!