The second conference of the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network aims to bring together creative writing teachers from Aotearoa, the Pacific and beyond to continue discourse around the practice of creative writing pedagogy in our time and place. The conference is now confirmed for 10/11 September at the Auckland University of Technology.

Ahi Kā will feature a range of panel discussions and readings, a postgraduate forum, and a keynote (TBA) on the important issues facing creative writing and its teaching.

Key Dates

15 May: Call for ‘sparks’.

20 June: Spark abstracts due 18 July-: Online Conference registration open; early bird rates apply (online registration will be linked from the ACRWN website)

10/11 September: Ahi Kā: Building the Fire Conference

What is ACRWN?

The Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network (ACWRN) is a cross-university initiative joining creative writing teachers in New Zealand. The organisation opens opportunities for discussion, collaboration, publication, and publicity about issues relating to Creative Writing at tertiary institutions. The ACWRN website provides Creative Writing resources, events & news, a members directory, and a searchable Australasian database for Creative Writing teachers, supervisors, and examiners.

The Australian Centre is pleased to announce the following awards are open for applications:

Kate Challis RAKA Award 2016

The award of $20,000 (approx.) will be offered to the best book of fiction already published and written in English by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Please visit the website for more information.

Applications close 24 June 2016

Peter Blazey Fellowship 2017

The award of $15,000 (approx.) and a one-month writer-in-residency at the Australian Centre is for writers in the non-fiction fields of biography, autobiography and life writing and is intended to further a work in progress.

Please visit the website for more information.

Applications close 15 July 2016

The recipients will be announced at Melbourne Writers Festival, 2.30pm, Sunday 3 September at The Cube, ACMI.

Monash University seeks to fill a continuing position to be taken up (preferably) by 1 December 2016. The appointee to this position is expected to have a dynamic research and teaching profile. For more information and how to apply, see their website

The University of Canberra is hosting a two-part workshop with Professor Michael Grenfell, Professor of Education at Trinity College, University of Dublin on December 1, 2016.

The workshop will consider a range of theoretical approaches to Creativity and their applications in practice from diverse perspectives, including philosophy, aesthetics, sociology and psychology. The aim is to explore the essential features of Creativity and how they play out procedurally from different points of view.

The workshop is open to postgraduate students and early career academics (up till two years after finishing their postgraduate studies). Those interested in participating should visit the University of Canberra’s website.

If you are an emerging writer based in Australasia, take note! In partnership with Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF), we are offering a once-in-a-lifetime Prize.

The winner of this Prize will receive a ticket to the festival, accommodation for the duration of the festival and $500 towards economy airfares. In addition, you will receive a one-year annual membership to the AAWP and fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference in Canberra, where you are invited to read from your work. In addition, the editors at Meniscus will consider your work for publication.

Sound good? Take a look at the terms and conditions and visit the UWRF site for more information

TEXTJournal’s Vol 20 No 1, including the Special Issue ‘Writing and Illustrating Interdisciplinary Research’ edited by Simon Dwyer, Rachel Franks, Monica Galassi and Kirsten Thorpe, is live on the TEXT website! The journal is open access and is available here.

This issue features several exciting papers from both AAWP members and academics in the community. Jessica Gildersleeve’s review of Quinn Eades’, all the beginnings: a queer autobiography of the body, which was launched at last year’s conference, is also included in this month’s issue.

TEXT is currently open to submissions for the October issue. For more information, visit the journal’s submission guidelines.

AAWP is proud to launch the latest issue of Meniscus! Volume 4, Issue 1 contains not only the general issue, but also the latest Special Issue: Beyond the Divide edited by Dallas John Baker, which focuses on writing from the other side (geographical, political, linguistic or cultural).

Submissions to the next issue of Meniscus are now invited. Creative writing of any genre—poetry, micro fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essays—is welcome. See the website for more information.

This call for papers for an edited edition urges scholars from around the globe to find and describe the practice of writing and reading memoir within their own borders as a cultural phenomenon. How does it differ from country to country? How has it evolved? What are the ethical constraints of different countries? Who are each nation’s unique memoirists?

200-word chapter abstracts should be sent to Sue Joseph at sue.joseph@uts.edu.au by July 30, 2016. Selected contributions (5-6,000 words) will be confirmed by September 30, 2016.

For potential topics and how to submit, see the Call for Papers.

Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT) is calling for papers or presentations for ‘Ideas and Realities – Creative Writing in Asia Today’, the association’s 2016 conference at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 24-27 November. Follow-on events readings and panels are also planned for Hong Kong and Macau.

Both an academic and non-academic stream are offered this year. Academic papers will be considered for a special post-conference issue of AAWP’s peer-reviewed journal TEXT.

AAWP members are warmly invited. Here is the link to the Call for Papers.

See also the overview conference page.

You are invited to join and support APWT at this link

The $4000 Guy Morrison Prize for Literary Journalism recognises excellence in Literary Journalism by an undergraduate and postgraduate Writing or Journalism student.

The prize honours Sydney journalist and playwright Guy Morrison, former Production Editor of The Australian and Features Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, author of the memoir We Shared an Island, and plays Jara, Those Old Picasso Blues, Dancing the Tango in Sensible Shoes, Victor, and Eat Cake.

Conditions of the Prize

The Prize is for the best piece of Literary Journalism by an undergraduate or postgraduate student enrolled in a Writing or Journalism program in an Australian university. In the context of this Prize, Literary Journalism is defined as: “a factually accurate, well-researched story that demonstrates the use of fiction techniques in a work of non-fiction; a work that is written with style, flair, detailed description and narrative flow; a work that demonstrates a journalistic and critical understanding of some of the finest reportage in the English language”. The work submitted for the Prize must demonstrate these qualities.

There will be only one award presented each year and this will be at the discretion of the judges. The prize may not be given if there is not deemed to be a suitable candidate. The amount of the Prize is $4000. There is a travel allowance of up to $500 if the winner lives outside Sydney.

To qualify for consideration for the Prize, the applicant must:

1. Have been enrolled in a Writing or Journalism Program as a part-time or full-time undergraduate or postgraduate in an Australian university.
2. Have submitted a story of not less than 2,000 words and not more than 10,000 words that exemplifies the qualities of Literary Journalism as stated here.
3. Have produced the work in the 2015 academic year

Applications

Applicants must submit three (3) copies of the story, A-4 and double-spaced, with full details of name, institution, course, contact details and have it authenticated by a supervising academic.

Applications must be received by Trusteess, Dr Sandra Symons, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, NSW 2007 and marked “Guy Morrison Prize” by Friday the 29th of April.

The winning entry will be decided by a specially convened selection committee and the nominated judge, the decision of which shall be final. The winner will be announced at the launch of the UTS Writers’ Anthology during the 2016 Sydney Writers’ Festival, May 16-22.