Corona’s difficult challenge timed with our annual reflection on writing in all circumstances. In our POP UP ZINE we hope to publish a lovely motley of pieces: humour, people’s useful opinions on other people’s writing, timely poems, images from nature … We have started with Mihaela Cristescu’s poem From Upstairs The opening stanza seemed a good place to start.
New Writers Group Inc will carry on – on-line! If you attend the Parramatta gatherings please note we are not meeting again in March or April. We will review May and later dates in accordance with subsequent advice. We plan to publish some work in a pop-up online zine. Details soon.
ZineWest 2020 is OPEN! ZineWest is an annual competition and journal for new writers, 16 years and over, with a strong Western Sydney connection. We welcome any word-based creative work we can reproduce. (NB but this year we are declining work written for the under 16’s.) Free entry, up to three pieces. Deadline is 10 May, 2020. WritingEntryForm_ZW2020
This is our fourteenth year. A good number of our past entrants have graduated to trade publication and we hope the same for all writers who entrust their work to us. We print publish around 30 writers and ten visual artists, plus a further ten writers are invited to present their work at an Open Mic comp. We welcome a range of styles and subjects. ZW is a good place for those shorter works not necessarily suited to a bigger competition. All works selected for print publication are forwarded to the judge, Luke Carman (An Elegant Young Man, Intimate Antipathies). Prizes include $400 (first place) and Giramondo Titles. We look forward to reading your work! NB The art entry form will be available in May.
ZW19FrontCover
February: How to please the reader was our first topic this year. Do our reactions as readers help us write better for our imagined fans? What techniques/topics/style do we admire? We agreed that personal opinion isn’t easy to corral.
Mihaela Cristescu and Norm Fairbairn received book awards: This Little Red Thing and Bent not Broken for reading their poetry in tribute to Valentine. Titles courtesy of SWEATSHOP See photo below.
Our second gathering for 2020, was a mock editing panel where each group had to decide between three good, but rather different pieces, for the one remaining space in an earnest new journal. It proved what we all know, that given a different editing/selection team, you will get different answers!
Writing Awards from Left: Rob Field (Director UNE Sydney, Nic Lesley (HC), Danielle Catherine (HC), Peter Cartwright (Best Poem), Alexander Donoghue (3rd Place), Hamish Spark (2nd Place), Naima Ibrahim (Winner of ZW19), Luke Carman (Judge).
Co-sponsor Writing awards the Writing and Society Research Centre WSU ; Art: private sponsors; ZW Word: private sponsor and SWEATSHOP
For full pdf see ZineWest Page plus two winning artworks
Editor’s Award was won by Laila Nawsheen. The prize was Yumna Kassab’s story collection The House of Youssef, (Giramondo) and presented by the author on left.
.ZWWord – Open Mic awards: From Left Carol Amos (NWG Inc Pres), Sue Crawford (ed ZW), Michaela Simoni (joint runner-up) Chris Winspear (joint runner-up) Kathryn Yuen (winner) Judges Annie Zhang and Jason Gray. Private sponsor and SWEATSHOP
ZW19 Art Awards: From left – Art Contributors Erin Macnaught, C.A. Broadribb and Michaela Simoni stood in for winner of Best Image Marina Robins and runner-up Tom Blake both unavoidably absent. On the right is Parramatta author Felicity Castagna and Rob Field UNE Sydney who did the honours!
SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER AT UNE SYDNEY
232 CHURCH STREET PARRAMATTA
ZW18Writing winner Annie XY Zhang
PRINT ZINE LAUNCH:
$10 Entry includes door prize and entry to ZW WORD
Zines @12 (contributors get first copy free)
11:30 am: Light lunch featuring Sahtein Lebanese Feasts
12 Noon – 1:30 ish …
ZW WORD!
Entry $2 (unless you paid for the print zine launch)
Loredana Tudor-Tomescu – Winner ZW WORD 2018
2:00 pm Nibbles/drinks – sign on for Open Mic
2:15 – 3:30 pm
Entries are open for our 2019 anthology. Financial members of NWG Inc and regular gatherers are welcome to contribute. The anthology is a self-funding group project. Entries due 31st August NWGAnthoForm_2019
THEME: “LIGHT” Your interpretation… We accept Prose (max 800 words) Poetry (max 60 lines) and cartoons (max 3 A5 pages) We also like to publish your original artwork.
Luke Carman talked about his latest book Intimate Antipathies, Giramondo Publishing. He used samples of writing from five local writers to give individual feedback and to motivate the group to “see again” what more they can bring to their work. Luke is writing judge of ZineWest and every year helps launch the Romanian/Australian Anthologies of our NWG Inc Secretary Mihaela Cristescu – who we can thank for the photos. Below are some random pics… And thanks to our venue UNE Sydney !
The writing entries are in, and it’s time to invite artists with a connection to Western Sydney to send us images for inclusion in our annual print zine. There is a prize of $100 for the Best Image. We aim to publish work by at least 10 visual artists.Our Judge (who sees all entries) is Sophia Kouyoumdjian, Director Parramatta Artists Studios. ArtEntryForm_ZW19
Launch is 12th October, at UNE Sydney 232 Church Street, Parramatta
Over the last twelve years, ZineWest has published around 360 short works by Western Sydney writers. You are most welcome to enter this year’s competition if you live, work, study or attend a local cultural org in Western Sydney; are 16 years or over; and haven’t yet been professionally published except in multi-author journals. Entry is free, you can offer up to three pieces, and since this is a niche comp you have an excellent chance of either being print published in the zine, or applauded at ZW Word which follows the zine launch. Entries must be your original work, not previously published in print or on-line, and not previously received an award. (ZW18 Cover Image : L. Marsden)
We are interested in all word-based work – anything we can reproduce in an A5 zine.You can discover what we’ve previously picked by looking at the ZineWest Page (includes ZW18 Judge’s commentary, YouTube link and launch photos) and the Ezine Page (Page numbers for ZW18 winning works in zine PDF).
All pieces selected by the editors for publication (notification in early June) are sent to our judge, Dr Luke Carman, who decides on the prizes: 1st = $400, 2nd and 3rd = Giramondo Titles, plus commendations. There is $100 cash prize for ZW WORD too.
Are you also a visual artist? We will post the Art Entry form in May.
Many thanks to our writing co-sponsor
Writing and Society Research Centre (WSU)