Onsite in Parramatta

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Carol Amos, President of NEW Writers’ Group Inc, welcomed us to our first onsite Parramatta gathering in two years of Covid on Saturday, 26 March. We lined up outside for the group photo (inside it’s masks on always) and a kind passerby took this shot with Mihaela’s camera. Special thanks to UNE Sydney at Parramatta for this ideal venue. Kudos to Eric and Chris for tech support with Sue, Carol and the Cartwrights for ideas on Dialogue, and everyone for turning up on an unpredictably rainy day.  

GATHERINGS UNE Sydney at 28 George Street Parramatta
Queries:

Saturdays 3-5pm: Sign in 2:50-3:05 Ground floor entrance 
April 9, May 14, June 11,
July 9, August 13, Sept 10, Nov 12
Attendance: $5 for onsite gatherings
Free for financial members and carers
Please wear well fitted masks.

Carol Amos getting ready
Rainy arrival
Mihaela Cristescu Signing us in
Peter Cartwright

Valentine’s Spoken Word Comp – Book Award

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On 12 February, we took up our annual challenge of ‘rating’ completely different works of two minutes duration. We enjoyed all the contributions and the judge would have been happy to give out multiple book awards, but there was only one copy. Congratulations to Geneva Valek who won in a photo finish. We welcome into our Pop Up Zine 2022 all entries (except those being developed as longer works for a future we hope to hear about!)

Book Award – Girls in Boys’ Cars by Felicity Castagna – which won the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for YA.

NWG Inc February / March Events

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Saturday 12 Feb 3-4:30 pm

Valentine’s Day Spoken Word Val’s Rules:
2 mins of your original take on love/romance – the joy the despair the mundane. Solo, no music, no props, no intros, English only. You lose marks for unnecessary swearing and going over time.
Book award!  

 

 

We’ll also swap news on our latest reading and writing and discuss the NWG Inc’s 2022 calendar before wrapping up with Open Mic: your original work any topic, 2 mins max.
Zoom Link: 

 

1st March ZineWest 2022 Writing Entries open – entry form available soon.


Saturday 12 March 11:30 am
Launch of Stay A While, 6th edition of Mihaela Cristescu’s Romanian /Australian bi-lingual anthologies. State Library of NSW. 

 

Saturday 26 March, 3-4:30 pm Writing Exercise and discussion plus Open Mic. Details to come.

 

NWG Inc in 2022

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Photo: Mihaela Cristescu

NEW Writers’ Group Inc will soon be back at work!  In January the committee will draw up a calendar for 2022. No onsite venue yet, but the following events and projects are decided:

  • Our first gathering will be on Zoom in February, date to be confirmed.
  • ZineWest will open for entries from 1st March and be launched in October.
  • Romanian/Australian Anthology (Stay a While) launch is 12 March at the State Library of NSW. 
  • Writing projects for our regular anthologists and other Western Sydney creatives are being discussed.
  • The FB page Writing Parramatta will continue. We have a backlog of Q&A’s to post and will seek more from local artists and writers.
  • Gatherings – whether on zoom or onsite – will be held at least once a month for open mic, workshops and tutorials.
  • In the monthly sessions we plan to include short Q&A’s with individual writers.
  • We will run additional sessions with a specific focus – details to come. 

Writing Parramatta Spotlight

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NEW Writers Group Inc secretary, Mihaela Cristescu chatted on 17 November, to Jim Taggart and Darryn Cape-Davis, on Spotlight, Alive 90.5 about our Writing Parramatta project. Jim and Darryn read poems by Marina Robins, The Tropics888 and Peter Cartwright.  Mihaela brought to the studio a Covid-delayed birthday cake to celebrate the first year of the show!
Listen to the podcast here 

 

Image: Reflections by Marina Robins won Best Image Award in WP21.

Writing Parramatta Awards

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Saturday, 13th November, 2021, we gathered on Zoom to explore the collection of poems, images and stories published during this year on Parramatta themes. This project is part of Writing Parramatta 2021 which has been supported by a City of Parramatta Creative Economy Grant.

BOOK AWARDS:
Best Image: Reflections by Marina Robins; Runner-up: Light and Dark of Parramatta Park by Dannielle Viera. Judge Justine Youssef.
Best Prose: The Song by Geneva Valek; Runners-up: Run to Parra-dise by Nic Lesley and Going To Ground by Augusta Supple. Awarded by S.E. Crawford, Carol Amos and Christopher Sammut.
Best Poem: Jo’n’wicksy by Les Wicks; Runner-up Mars Hill Cafe by Belinda Curby. Awarded by S.E. Crawford, Mihaela Cristescu and Peter Cartwright.

Slide Images: Reflections: Marina Robins; Light and Dark of Parramatta Park by Dannielle Viera.

 

Justine Youssef

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Meet our art judge for Writing Parramatta 2021!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being mostly writers, NEW Writers’ Group always needs an artist to make decisions on art!  Justine’s choice of Best Image – Book award for WP21 – will be announced on Saturday, 13th November at our Zoom Launch.

Justine Youssef is an artist currently living and working across unceded Darug and Gadigal Lands. Through moving image, performance, scent and installation, their practice engages with moments and places that reconfigure authoritative realities. They have been awarded the 2019 John Fries Award (The Copyright Agency) for their work ‘Under the table I learn how to feed you’, and held their first solo exhibition ‘All Blessings, All Curses’ at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. Further to this, Youssef was a founding co-director of Pari, an artist-run space in Parramatta, and the Professional Practice Coordinator at the National Association for the Visual Arts.  Image Credit:  Joe Brennan

ZineWest 2021 Awards

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Thanks to all the contributors who created the 15th edition of ZineWest. Copies available at our shop. If you have a piece published in ZW21, select a product that includes your free copy.

Awards announced at the Zoom launch, 16th October: 

ART – Judge Elizabeth Chang, Curator and Artist Development, Parramatta Artists Studios

BEST IMAGE AWARD: SANDRA BORRI for Galah
RUNNER-UP: ERIN MACNAUGHT for Hands #1

WRITING – Judge Luke Carman, author and lecturer, Writing and Society Research Centre WSU

FIRST Place and Best Prose: CHRISTOPHER SAMMUT for Breathe
SECOND place and Best Poem: PETER CARTWRIGHT for The Time
THIRD place GENEVA VALEK for The Rat (prose)

HIGHLY COMMENDED –
MYRA KOCH for Piano for Sale (prose)
NORM FAIRBAIRN for On the Lake (poem)
JO MULARCZYK for Lies of Love (prose)

EDITORS’ AWARD
PETE SHMIGEL for Geronimo’s Daybreak

Image: Christopher Sammut



ZineWest 2021 Launch

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SATURDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2021 
3-4:30 ZOOM – Readings, Awards with Elizabeth Chang and Luke Carman
In 2022 we hope to add back in – food and giant book raffle!

Our cover features Galah, by one of our contributing artists, Sandra Borri.  Poems, stories, images and a little reminiscence re 15 years of finding interesting and diverse creativity in Western Sydney. More info @