Category Archives: Parramatta

ZineWest 2023 Launch

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Dr. Luke Carman will launch ZineWest 2023 on Saturday, 14 October, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm at UNE Sydney, Level 4, 100 George Street, Parramatta.
Also attending is art judge, Maria Serbanescu.

All welcome. $10 entry includes door prize ticket and morning tea. Carers and children under 13, free entry. Please note: Ground floor entry will be accessible from 10:45 – 11:30 am. If you expect to be late please advise before the day.

Zines $15, Contributors’ first copy $5

Morning Tea 11:00 am
Launch 11:30 am – 1:30 pm 
Commentary by Luke Carman 
Art PPT with Maria Constantinescu
Readings, prizes and awards
Giant Raffle & Door Prizes

Prizes announced at the launch
Writing: 1st $400, 2nd $300, 3rd $200; Highly Commended awards; Editors Award
Art: Best Image $100; Runners-up book awards

Writing co-sponsor for 1st place – Writing & Research Society Centre
Other prizes – Private donors

 

 

 

 

ZineWest 2023 – Art List

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Maria Constantinescu is an Australian artist based in Sydney, who has collaborated with NWG Inc on projects in Parramatta. She is our ZineWest Art judge for 2023. Maria will announce the winner of Best Image ($100) and Runners-up (book titles) at the ZineWest launch, 14th October, 11:00 am, UNE Sydney, 100 George St. Parramatta. Below, see the Art publication list and Maria’s bio.

ZineWest 2023 Art 

Sandra Borri – Autumn Pickings 
Mihaela Cristescu – The Way of the Water 
Trish Jean – Pelican at Dusk 
Erin Macnaught – A Girl and Her Dog 
Kathryn Munro – Floral Bouquet 
Marina Robins – Going Places 
Karla Schindler – The Garden Visitor
Michaela Simoni – Near Wentworth Falls 
Dannielle Viera – Ebony_Devil & Still Life 

Note: Most entries were in colour. We have sought  permission from several entrants to publish one of their colour images in greyscale for the zine’s inside pages. We will update the list accordingly.

Maria Constantinescu is an Australian artist based in Sydney, NSW. Her work investigates different modalities in which information about the universe and related theories of the sublime are translated into contemporary works of art, as a continuum of an artistic tradition nascent in the 18th-century Romanticism. Through a range of media including painting, drawing, digital video, and clay, Constantinescu’s studio practice explores connections between imagination and reality, and focuses on modes of making the unseen visible, presenting the unpresentable, and transformation metaphorically linked with alchemy. Constantinescu’s work has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions and is held in private collections in Australia and overseas. For more details and artwork images, please visit her website www.mariac.com.au or her Instagram page @maria.constantinescu.art.

 

 

 

 

ZineWest 2023 Publication List

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We thank all our entrants. You create a challenge every year. There is a readership for every piece we receive but we are limited by space.
See ZW2023 list below. 

ZineWest 2023 Publication List

C.A. Broadribb – Mineral Water with Extra Minerals
Mitch Browne – Amity
Adam Byatt – The Sound of Water
Peter Cartwright – Existence Suite – excerpt
Neil Collis – Suburban Boy
Marie Dustmann – Moon Festival
Danny Draper – Moment’s End-full Bliss
Lee Ekstein – To Have a Body
Norman Fairbairn – To Bunyah One Last Time
Lisel Herrmann – Dawn
Trish Jean – The River is a Mirror
Myra Koch – RIP My Friend
Ilona Krueger – The Shapes of Stress
Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan – The Feasting
Alle Lloyd – Cast in Silver
Kristof Mikes-Liu – A Way from where you live
Alison Miller – It’s been…
Benjamin D. Muir – Fashstralia
Jo Mularczyk – Save our Souls
Marina Robins – Train Connections
Paris Rosemont – Her vs Him
Rayan Shatnawi – Everything, everywhere, all at once
Michaela Simoni -Two Types of Human Species
Tyswan Slater – Above and Below
Augusta Supple – A Case of You
The Tropics888 – Made in the Factory
Geneva Valek – 1942
Dannielle Viera – Crossroads
 
Copies of ZineWest 2023 will be available at the launch on 14th October, 2023, at UNE Sydney, Level 4, 100 George Street Parramatta, 11:00 am. They will also be available via our online shop on the same weekend.

Parramatta Expression Ekphrasis update

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Our second round for Ekphrasis writing in response to Parramatta images is due 20th April. Writers new to the project can offer responses to 1-3 of the ten images. Writers who entered work in the first round, are welcome to send additional writing related to the three new images: Maria Constantinescu’s abstract – acrylic and Lake Parramatta sediment and water; Michaela Simoni’s painting of a lone canoeist inspired by Parramatta River (the project’s motif image); and the gallery’s only night scene, by Marina Robins. Full Gallery and entry form 

 

Maria Constantinescu
Marina Robins
Michaela Simoni

NWG Inc Gathering 25 March 2023

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Saturday, 25 March 3-5 at UNE Sydney 211 Church Street Parramatta upstairs (There is a lift!)

Join us for an informal discussion and exercise on Writing Character.
Tell us about a protagonist or the voice of a poem that impressed.

And how do writers produce a memorable person, an unforgettable voice?

Plus Open Mic – your original works are most welcome – short or an excerpt. 

Image: Banisters at 211 Church Photo: Mihaela Cristescu

And meanwhile don’t forget our Ekphrasis project and your entries for ZineWest!

ZineWest 2023

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ZineWest’s  2023 edition is open
for entries 1st March – 14th May.
Entry is free. Up to three entries. Please read the entry form carefully for guidelines. Entry Form.
Cover image: Kathryn Munroe

ZineWest is NWG Inc’s longest lasting special project which has been a valuable stepping stone for many writers, including some very successful ones. Every year we offer publication to aspiring poets and story writers 16 and over who have a connection with Western Sydney. Comics and cartoons also welcome. Local artists do a great job of helping us produce an attractive anthology. (Art Entry form available in May.)
Queries:   ZW2023_WRITING ENTRY FORM

Click here for ZW 2022 details and earlier ZW editions. 

 

Parramatta Expression 2023 – Ekphrasis – Writing

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During January we were offered images of Parramatta by local artists. It is now the turn of writers from Parramatta, and anywhere in Western Sydney, to respond with poetry or prose. You can write a response for up to 3 separate images in the gallery. Book awards.

PARRAMATTA EXPRESSION GALLERY (1)

Parramatta Expression Ekphrasis Writing Entry Form

Image by Michaela Simoni

Please read the entry form before you write. There is a brief statement of what we’re hoping for – more than just a good description of the image… Plus details on maximum words/lines.
All contributors retain full copyright. Launch is on 17 June in Parramatta. This project has been supported by a City of Parramatta Council Community Grant.

Open Mic – Valentine Theme

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Blast from the past at 211 Church Street (UNE Sydney) with Sue Chamoun, Luke Carman, Sue Crawford and Carol Amos. Will be great to return in 2023!
Photo: Mihaela Cristescu

First gathering for 2023 with NEW Writers’ Group Inc Saturday 4 Feb, 3-5 pm UNE Sydney 211 Church Street Parramatta – enter at ground floor reception, let them know you are attending our event, then head upstairs to sign in. Entry $5. Free for financial members.

Program!
Introductions; Updates on our calendar and key projects for 2023; Open Mic

OPEN MIC details:

  • Valentine theme – your interpretation
  • Light deep comic ironic (but not crude thanks)
  • No props, no music, solo only, English only
  • Time limit strictly 3 mins max
  • Your original work
  • Book award 

Note re Venue: 
We do not use the kitchen or student/staff equipment.
Guests at UNE premises are allowed only bottled water on site and no food.
(We sometimes go for a drink/snack afterwards.)
Wheelchair access. There is a wheelchair lift near main entrance and internal lift.
NB Some scooters might be too large. Please contact us at least three days beforehand at re options.

COVID: Please comply with social distancing requests. Do not attend if feeling unwell or testing positive.

New to us? You are most welcome but suggest you check our About page to see our charter and other information.

 

Street Musicians – Launch

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Romanian/Australian Anthology

Experiment Farm Cottage, Parramatta

11 March 2023, 11:30am – 1:30 pm

Launched by Luke Carman

Readings, Live Music, Refreshments

Free Entry

Street Musicians is Volume 7 of Mihaela Cristescu’s bilingual anthology series for Romanian and Australian writers, illustrated by Luminita Serbanescu and edited by Mihaela Cristescu and S.E. Crawford. The anthologies are first published and launched in Romania and then launched in Australia. Due to renovations at the State Library of NSW, which has hosted past launches, we will welcome you to the historic venue, Experiment Farm Cottage, at 9 Ruse Street, Harris Park, in Parramatta, NSW. 

This Romanian/Australian annual series is supported by NEW Writers’ Group Incorporated which is based in Parramatta. Many Western Sydney writers have contributed to one or more volumes, together with Romanian writers from Romania, Australia and other countries.
See also Code-Mixing Poetry on FB or our Rom/Aus page on this website for updates.

NB. This is a smaller venue than at the State Library so please RSVP  or to Mihaela via Code-Mixing Poetry by 12 February.