ZineWest 2023

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

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.

Street Musicians – Launch

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. 

 

 

 

Parramatta Expression 2023

In 2023, NWG Inc will publish Parramatta images by local artists and invite Western Sydney writers to respond with an *ekphrastic poem or short prose. We are looking for images that have a hint of story, movement or mood. Here is an example by Michaela Simoni (first published in ZineWest 2022). Your work might be in a very different style, but we hope this image gives you a clue to the depth we are looking for.

 

The Ekphrastic project is open to all creatives in Parramatta and Western Sydney generally. These works will be published in a Pop Up Zine 2023 and some will also be republished in our digital Expression which is a good place for images. In January we will be sending around an entry form for writers, but art entries are open now, to help get the project underway by January:  Parramatta Expression:  ENTRY FORM (ART)

Parramatta Expression will also publish a print edition of our journal Expression which will include the works of a small 2022 NWG Inc workshop group that focussed on stories longer than we can usually print publish plus some poetry from ZineWest award-winning poets.

*Ekphrasis: “Description” in Greek… An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.”https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

 “Basically, an ekphrasis is a literary description of art. Like other kinds of imagery, ekphrasis paints a picture with words. What makes it different from something like pictorialism is that the picture it paints is itself a picture: ekphrasis stages an encounter between representations in two mediums, one visual and one verbal.” https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/

Parramatta Expression 2023 has been supported by a City of Parramatta Council Community Grant.

 

ZineWest 2022 Launch and Prizes

ZineWest 2022, our 16th edition, was launched at the Harry Todd Band Hall on Sunday 16 October on a sunny day in Parramatta. Around 15 writers read from their works, Luke Carman gave his usual amazing response to the writing, prizes were won and raffle tickets drawn. Food featured Sahtein Lebanese Feasts thanks to Sue Chamoun. Carol Amos (NWG Inc President) gave us a quick summation of our twenty years and we celebrated with cake!  Congratulations to all with a special cheer for our visual artists whom we love to publish. Cover image: Kathryn Munro.  Gallery photos here.

You can purchase a copy or two from our shop!

PRIZES AND AWARDS:
Writing: 1st and Best Prose ($400) Danielle Catherine; 2nd ($300) Nic Lesley; 3rd and Best Poem ($200) Peter Cartwright; Highly Commended (Giramondo Titles) J. Marahuyo, Norm Fairbairn, Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan; Editors’ Writing Award  (Australiana by Yumna Kassab) Marion Claire

Art: Best Image ($100) Sandra Borri; Runner-up (Book Award) Erin Macnaught

 

 

ZineWest 2022 Book Awards

The cash prizes are great but here are some of the terrific Australian titles to be won too as awards – or by luck in the door prizes and giant raffle. All three of these authors once won ZineWest. Joins us on Sunday 16 October for the launch of ZineWest 2022.

 

ZineWest 2022 Launch

All welcome to the launch of our 16th edition of ZineWest.
SUNDAY, 16 October, 2022
10:45 am for brunch (featuring Sahtein Feasts and salad snacks) 
11:15 am Readings, Prizes and Giant Raffle
12:45 pm NWG Inc’s 20th Anniversary Cake

HARRY TODD BAND HALL Jubilee Lane Parramatta
Street Parking. 10-15 minutes walk from Parramatta Station.

ENTRY: $10 includes door prize ticket (Free for primary age and younger)
ZineWest: $15.00 (Contributors first copy $5)

MC: Carol Amos, President NWG Inc
ZW Editor: Sue Crawford
Writing Judge: Luke Carman
Art Judge: Hayley Megan French 

PRIZES AND AWARDS
Writing: 1st $400, 2nd $300, 3rd $200
Highly Commended: Giramondo Titles
Editors’ Pick: Book Award
Art: 1st $100, Runner-up: Book award

ZineWest 2022 Launch

Sunday, 16th October

Harry Todd Band Hall, Jubilee Lane, Parramatta 
(Based within Jubilee Park in walking distance from Parramatta Station)

 

 

10:45 am: Morning Tea / Chat

11:15 am – 12:45 pm: Readings, Prizes, Giant Book Raffle 

Entry: $10 includes two door prize tickets and covers venue hire and insurance

ZW22: $15
Contributors: Please collect your first copy at $5 at reception table

MC: Carol Amos, President NWG Inc

Judges: Luke Carman (writing) and Hayley Megan French (art)

 

ZineWest 2022 Publishing List

Congratulations to the writers who have an entry selected for ZineWest 2022.  (Image: Mihaela Cristescu.) 

ALL entrants are welcome to offer work to our Pop Up Zine 2022, a project where we we can freely discuss reviews and edits. 

 

ZW2022 Publication List

Carly Bertuccio – High Voltage

C.A Broadribb – Fairies

Peter Cartwright – The Bloke Who’d …

Victoria A Cartwright – Life is (my Loom)

Danielle Catherine – Haircuts 1 to 3

Marian Claire – Delay

Danny Draper – No Barrier the Highway

Marie Dustmann – Contacts

Norm Fairbairn – To Die Upon the Sea

Kerstin Ferrol – The Cold Skin that …

Sophie Hall – Roadside Assistance

Myra Koch – Old Man Harold

Ilona Krueger – Cornflower Joy

Harold Legaspi – Fifties

Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan – Eric the Elver

Artelle Lenthall – Wolfie and Son

Nic Lesley – Runs in the Family

Louise Loomes – Paper Man

J. Marahuyo – Before the Rain

Jo Mularczyk – The Final One Hundred

Denise Newton – Tree Huggers

Arna Radovich – Catching Poems

Michaela Simoni – Rear Vision of my Time

Jake Tarasenko – The Better

The Tropics888 – For us to Keep

Paul Traynor – The Submission

Dannielle Viera – Scared Stiff

 

 

Creative Writing with Ariella Van Luyn

Writing Workshop …
creating memorable scenes in a range of genre including historical fiction.

Saturday, 11 June 3-5 pm
UNE Sydney 28 George Street PARRAMATTA 
Sign in on ground floor 2:45-3:00 pm
$5 entry with door prize
NB This is a masked event.

 

 Dr Ariella Van Luyn is a lecturer in writing at UNE Sydney. She is the author of the historical novel Treading Air (Affirm Press) and her short stories have been published in international and Australian journals including Voiceworks, Overland, Southerly and The Lifted Brow. Her areas of research are Creative writing, Practice-led research, Online writing pedagogy, Historical fiction. See more of her bio here.

Q&A with Ariella Van Luyn