ZineWest 2017 Launch

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Image:fayroze

ZineWest 2017 Launch Sunday 8th October 
Food, Prizes, Judges’ Comments, Readings
Entry $10; Zines: $10 – first copy free for writers and artists included in zine.
Please join us at 11:30 am for a light lunch. Event begins at 12 Noon and runs to 2:00 pm or earlier, followed by ZW Word…..
….if you’re not published in the zine this year, why not bring an original 2 minute spell-binder for the Open Mic cash prize of $50! (sign on at 2:45 pm). Published entrants might find a spot as well…

ZineWest is a project of NWG Inc for new/emerging writers and local visual artists in Western Sydney.

NWG Inc Anthology 2017

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This tree is gone now – view from Lennox Bridge

Our members anthology is now open. You can offer up to three pieces of your original work.All members are entitled to one free copy – so you might as well be in it! Please read the info and guidelines carefully before filling in the entry form and sending to the anthology email address specified on form.

NWGIncAnth2017_EntryFormandGuidelines

 

 

 

ZineWest 2017 Publication List

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Every year we are grateful to all the writers who offer their work to ZineWest and every year it is a tough job to decide which pieces to publish. This year was the most difficult. There are some interesting pieces not included – we hope the writers will present them at ZW WORD which follows the print zine launch on Sunday, 8th October, 2017 at UNE FutureCampus Parramatta  The launch starts with food and drink at 11:30 am; ZW Word starts at 3:00 pm same day. More details on that soon. Meanwhile, here is our publishing list for 2017 – all works listed are eligible for the prizes, awarded by author/lecturer Luke Carman, and co-sponsored by the Writing and Society Research Centre, WSU.

PUBLICATION LIST for ZW17

F. An – Love Deconstructed
LE Armbruster – Pretending: A Hero’s quest
A. Scobie – Within Dreams
C.A. Broadribb – Danger – Link Box
K. Brown – Once-Fish
A. Chougaonkar – Lesson From Above
P. Cartwright – Crumbling
L. Courtney – The Sign Reads Warning
B. Curby – Mars Hill Café
D. Catherine – Seeing Red
R. Dunn – Glam
N. Fairbairn – First Day Back
fayroze – Friday
G. Funk – Wrinkled Full Moons
C. Haiek –The Rainbow’s Dawn
Y. Kassab – House of Youssef
Kayote – Derrida’s Wave
M. Ladrina – Other Irreversible Combustions
NL Mansell – Untouchable
A. Miller – I Never Knew
J. Mularczyk – Through a Child’s Eyes
S. Anora N – Hook, Line and Sinker
A. Noman – Perspectives
K. Oakley – Second Reading
A. Radovich – Who do you think you are?
S. See – Beaufort House
M. Sutton – How does a nice warm doona sound?
TigerSpirit – Scents of Home
L. Tudor-Tomescu – It’s Spring Back Home
K. Valeontis – (So Said the Particle Physicist)

ZW 17 Editor’s Award:The Big Black Thing Chapter. 1

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Stephen Pham, Winnie Dunn, Maryam Azam, Shirley Le

When we have a strong idea for a story, or a promising few lines of poetry, we want to crack open the possibilities. We won’t be satisfied with an easy, clichéd product. More likely we want to be honest. But good writing is a steep hill and being honest makes it steeper. The steady, patient build on inspiration/knowledge can be the answer.

Recently at NEW Writers Group inc we used an example given by director of Sweatshop, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, in his keynote speech at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival “Forest for the Trees”. Mohammed began by reading a school student’s piece from Sweatshop’s latest title, The Big Black Thing – Chapter. 1. Mohammed explained that the initial text was very brief. He kept asking the writer to include “more detail” and the result is a fetching story of a house and its people (or of people and their house). When war strikes the house and the people, we the readers know the loss, feel the fear.

The Big Black Thing Chapter. 1 is a vigorous contribution to the growing record of Western Sydney voices. It’s also fun to read. I love this volume because I’m busy at the moment. I can pick it up and take in two or three works, all different, and put it down again knowing that tomorrow I’ll be interested in the next story, the next poem. Contributors come from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Members of the Western Sydney Writers Group, school students, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, have all been wonderfully featured in this first of a series – a great way of advancing literature and community in Western Sydney, and I trust, beyond.

The Big Black Thing Chapter.1 will be the Editor’s Award for ZineWest 2017. Published by Sweatshop: Western Sydney Literacy Movement. Edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Winnie Dunn. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing edited by Ellen van Neerven. Project photographer – Socorro Cifuentes. Available from sweatshop.ws

‘Sweatshop was tired of waiting to see more cultural diversity in mainstream Australian literature and media, so we decided to create The Big Black Thing ‘ Michael Mohammed Ahmad.

SE Crawford, ed ZW

Art for ZineWest 17 due 25 June

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Geoff Sellman’s ZW16 winning image

NEW Writers’ Group inc is once again seeking artwork for our annual Western Sydney publication, ZineWest. There is a $100 award for Best Image.Our judge, Sophia Kouyoumdjian,sees all entries and advises on which images will reproduce best in the A5 zine.

The zine features around ten artists (and thirty writers – writing entries now closed). We are open to theme and style. Entry is free and all contributors retain copyright of their work. You need a connection to Western Sydney – work, study, residence, engagement with local cultural org …
You are invited to offer up to three images produced in the last 18 months. We need colour for the cover and centre pages, plus grayscale images for other inside pages. We don’t choose work that has already won an award, but previous publication is fine.
 If you would like to join us in the ZineWest project, please download and complete the form and email to us as an attachment (address is on the form) together with your attached jpeg entries (1-3) by 25th June 2017.
The zine is launched on Sunday, 8th October, at UNE FutureCampus, Parramatta.
FutureCampus Parramatta

FutureCampus Parramatta

ZineWest editors

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ZW17 Judge Luke Carman and ZW guest editor Mihaela Cristescu (at launch of Pounding the Pavement)

Editor Sue Crawford and guest editors independently rank every piece. We have a marvellous, tiring day of comparing our findings and selecting a list of thirty to thirty-four entries to publish in the print zine. Ten more pieces are flagged for ZineWest Word. Of course, in what has always been a tight competition, a different set of editors would make some different choices. If you want a glimpse into how we think, check the editor’s comments.Once we’ve established the publication list, we send those entries to the judge  who decides all the writing prizes except the Editor’s Award.  WritingEntryForm_ZW17 Due 28th May

 

Luke Carman – Creative Writing Workshop Sat 8 April ’17

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FutureCampus Parramatta

Hear author/lecturer Dr. Luke Carman comment on creative writing pieces by new writers. If you’d like a short sample of your work to be in the draw – prose (one page) poetry (up to two pages) – please bring three copies by 2:45 pm.

Date: Saturday, April 8, 2017
Venue: UNE FutureCampus, 211 Church Street, Parramatta
Time: 3-5 pm – includes open mic if time
Entry: $5 (free for financial members of NWG Inc.)

NB Are you thinking of entering ZineWest this year? Luke is the judge, so please don’t bring a potential entry for him to hear!

Pounding The Pavement – Romanian/Australian Anthology

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NEW Writers’ Group Inc was honoured to hear some of our writers read their work at this Romanian event, part of the NSW State Library’s Multicultural March, on Saturday 25th March, 2017. Mihaela Cristescu presented her latest anthology, Pounding The Pavement which includes works by 22 guest writers from Romania and Australia.

The event was opened by the Ambassador for Romania and New Zealand, Her Excellency Mrs Nineta Barbulescu. A pro-active supporter of the arts, the Ambassador gave the project’s writers and artists strong encouragement. Mr. Dan Barbulescu and family also attended. We were delighted to meet the newly arrived Romanian Consul General – Sydney, Mr. Iulian Nitu, and Mrs.Florentina Nitu.

Author and film-maker Anamaria Beligan launched the anthology together with author and lecturer Luke Carman who made reference to the English works. The anthology was illustrated by Canadian Romanian artist Luminita Serbanescu. A short movie by Andrei Pora was shown and soprano Felicity Amos sang in English and Romanian. Carol and Felicity Amos mused upon connections between the published works, and Mihaela Cristescu introduced the writing of Alex Plescan. Preparations for the second such anthology, OnThe Wallaby Track, are well underway.

NWG Inc is very pleased to collaborate in these annual projects. Romanian and Australian writers alike, find a new readership. The anthology was introduced by Mihaela Cristescu in Romania in 2016 and some of the works will later appear in the on-line journal Confluente Literare .

As always, the assistance of Mrs Oriana Acevedo, Multicultural Consultant Public Libraries and Engagement Division, and other Library staff was wonderful.

Photos and videos can be found at Code-Mixing Poetry, here are a few:

 

Her Excellency, Mrs Nineta Barbulescu, Romanian Ambassador for Australia and New Zealand

Loredana Tudor-Tomescu with Anamaria Beligan

Luke Carman and Mihaela Cristescu

Soprano, Felicity Amos

Sime Knezevic reads “Recognition”

ZineWest 2017 open for entries

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We are excited (it happens every March) to open our competition ZineWest for aspiring Western Sydney writers – many of whom write really great pieces we want to publish. You need to have an association with Western Sydney (due to council amalgamations, our sweep has broadened), be 16 years or over, and know how to work with the limits of a max 800 words in prose, or 60 lines (empty lines included) of poetry. We’d like to see comics and cartoons  again – a comic won second place in the first ZineWest. For information about Art entries please scroll down.

To enter, you need  to read and fill in the form below and email back to us with your entries. You can send us up to three works – previously unpublished please.  WritingEntryFormZW17  Entries close 28th May.

More Info: Editors select 30-34 written pieces to publish in the print zine and these are eligible for prizes. First prize is $400; there are also book awards (Giramondo) and commendations.Co-sponsor is the Writing and Society Research Centre, WSU. Judge is author Luke Carman. We also invite ten more writers to present at ZW WORD, a spoken word event following the print zine launch. Winner receives $100 – first year we’ve had a cash prize for ZW WORD. Some of our winning works have been re-published in Award Winning Australian Writing and more recently in a Romanian/ English anthology Pounding the Pavement.  

ART ENTRIES We cannot do without artwork! We’re looking for six images in full colour and six to eight in greyscale that have been created in last 18 months. Like writing entrants, you need to be 16 years or over and have a link to Western Sydney. However unlike with writing entries, we accept previously published images unless they have won a past award. No theme is set, however we ask for several lines about the work’s composition and inspiration. Published images are shortlisted for Best Image Award: $100  with a book prize for runner-up. Our judge, Sophia Kouyoumdjian, co-ordinator of the Parramatta Artists Studios, sees all entries. She assist editors select images for the zine and decides the Best Image award.

Entry is free. Submit up to three artworks. Due Date 25th June (NB writing due 28th May) For details of conditions please read ArtEntryFormZW17 

Want to read/view what has won before? For examples of past works published see our Ezine.