Breakout during lockdown with a feast of writers and creators from here and abroad!
Writer's Conference September 2021
Your Fun Informative Evening Online
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Covers all fiction and non-fiction writing with expert speakers in various fields
Register now so you can learn from and chat with writers, editors, publishers, directors, and branding experts
The event will appear on the Zoom Link
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Opening
Louise Crossley will open the event and welcome all you lovely people to our mini writer's festival.
Please be on time so you can enjoy everyone's talk and interview.
The event will close with Mat Clarke, which will be a few short words of debatable wisdom and special thanks to the presenters and audience.
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Basics:
Within approximately ten minutes per presenter, you'll learn all about how Mat Clarke creates, writes, edits and finishes a novel; what Noel Anderson thinks regarding the perils of writing an original musical for the stage; why the poet/author Alexandra Neumann believes poetry is benficial to mental health; how the Book reviewer Alicia Crossley can use bookstagram as a marketing tool for writers; how Louise Crossley uses curriculum writing principles for creative works;
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When you have a question for a particular presenter, please ask the question as soon as you think of it, even if the presenter is still talking. You'll need to go to this FACBOOK GROUP to ask your questions. Here's how to do it:
1) Join the group.
2) Find the presenter's photo and bio on the wall within the Facebook Group, which was posted previously.
3) Reply directly to that presenter's post and then type in your questions.
The presenters may have time to answer your questions during the event after they have finished talking. However, many will be answered afterward.
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Presenters:
Mat is a Thriller and contemporary writer from Melbourne, currently living in Ferntree Gully. He has written five novels and an array of short stories, of which can be found via World Writer’s Collective. He runs writers’ groups in person and online that are available to everyone, both beginner and intermediate.
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Mat will chat about what is involved in writing a novel, from Concept to Publishing.
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Alicia Crossley
For as long as Alicia Crossley can remember, she has been an avid reader of books and lover of words. It was only natural that she made the transition to book reviewing on Instagram, via a community known as ‘Bookstagram’. When she’s not reading case law and drafting legal advice in her day ob as a commercial lawyer, she’s reading new release fiction and non-fiction sent to her by publishers to publicise on her account. Today, Alicia will chat with us about Bookstagram as a marketing tool for writers.
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Book reviewer Alicia Crossley will be discussing how to use bookstagram as a marketing tool for writers.
Noel Anderson
Writer/Director, Noel Anderson completed NIDA’s Playwright Studios in the 90’s. Since then, he’s written several plays and directed over fifty theatre productions. Noel’s written work includes ‘Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever, Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Dark Victory and the original musical Audrey Hepburn and I Consider or Assets. Today he’s talking about the perils of writing a new musical for the stage.
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Writer/director Noel Anderson will be discussing the perils of writing an original musical for the stage.
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Fiction and corporate writer, Louise Crossley, is no garden variety language and literature teacher and writer. By day, she follows disciplined study designs when writing curriculum, and by night, she follows her healthy imagination. Author of five books, including award winning ‘Ella’s Handbag’, numerous courses, including a pronunciation program, and a research report, she’s discovered that the two disciplines complement each other. Today she’ll talk about how corporate principles can strengthen creative writing. www.louisecrossley.com
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Corporate and creative writer, Louise Crossley, will discuss how curriculum writing principles can be used for creative works.
Suraya Dewing & Hemali Ajmera
Suraya Dewing (NZ) and Hemali Ajmera (India) are members of The Story Mint. They are joint winners of a short story writing contest organised by First Forays Literary Agency, India, and Bookaholics Book Club, India. Their winning story, The Trader, can be found on The Story Mint website. Their prize was a publishing contract, and they are continuing to turn their short story into a novel in order to take advantage of the opportunity. The Trader is collaborately written. It is set on the Sil Road in the 15th century. Azeus is a Persian Trader and Yasira lives in a village in the Hindu Kush mountains. “The tale is mystical, refined and rife with the ache of first love’ commented a judge. Hemali and Suraya will talk about their experience and the benefits of working on a writing project with someone on the other side of the world.
Alexandra Neumann
Upon publishing her first novella at the age of sixteen, Alexandra Neumann has spent her days attempting to define reality with her words, her paints, and any other mediums available. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of fourteen, she has found a certain comfort in the structure and fluidity of poetry. Alexandra has been published through multiple literary journals (HIP Literary magazine, Dyst. Literary Journal, Maximum Felix Media, the Australia Times), as well as Pan Macmillan (Second Glance, 2006). Alexandra’s main goal is to break the shackles of reality by sharing her creations wherever they can inspire someone.
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Poet/author Alexandra Neumann will be discussing poetry and its benefits on mental health.
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Lalitha Ravindran
Before her avatar as a Literary Agent, Lalitha worked in general insurance and information technology in a career spanning over three decades. “I quit on a whim, unable to put up with a lot of the stupidity around and few months later felt I’d really die of boredom’. Luckily for her she met an author at a Literary festival, and one thing led to another and she wrote a review for his book and at his groading tried promoting his book in colleges, litfests and book events. The Karmic connection with books and authors only grew with the suggestion she got to become a Literary Agent. “And well, that’s kept me away from boredome and premature death I guess,’ she concludes. Lalitha is the founder of the First Forays Literary Agency which helps fiction and non-fiction books be published in India. Right now they have over 30 authors from all over the world.
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Michael Hyde
Michael Hyde has been writing for over forty years with about 36 publications. Mainly known for his YA novels which deal with young men on the edge. Recently, he wrote a ‘choose your own adventure’ sports books for kids entitled: ‘Girls Change the Game’ with his partner, Gabrielle Gloury which sold very well and are writing a sequel.
His new novel ‘Morrison and Mr Moore’ about an improbable friendship between17 year old rebel with a crap past life and a retiring school principal, whose wife has Alzheimer’s. Patricia Edgar (founding director of Australian Children’s tv n film foundation) has called it a profound coming of age story. It’s a bit of a homage to over forty-five years of teaching and lecturing in schools and lecturing writing students.
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Mrinal Rajaram
Mrinal Rajaram is an independent writer from Chennai, India. His fiction has appeared online and in print in The Madras Mag, The Madras Mag Anthology Of Contemporary Writing, Sahitya Akademi's Indian Literature and The Bombay Review. His nonfiction can be accessed from the pages of The Times of India, The Economic Times, The New Indian Express and Firstpost.
He was longlisted for The Bombay Review’s inaugural Creative Writing Awards for Fiction in 2021. Mrinal is currently in the process of looking for agents and publishers interested in his first collection of stories.
A cross section of his work may be viewed at mrinalrajaram.wordpress.com
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Stephanie Forrest
Stephanie Forrest is a historian specialising in the medieval Middle East and Byzantium. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in Classics in 2013, completed her MPhil in history at Oxford in 2018, and was part-way through a PhD at Cambridge when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. She has also been writing fiction from a young age, and her current work in progress is a historical novel inspired by her research. While in Cambridge, she co-founded a writing group—‘Failed Novelists of Cambridge’—which provides feedback and support to aspiring writers of all kinds.
Academia page: cambridge.academia.edu/SForrest
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