Coffs Harbour Grassroots
Writers’ Weekend
17 – 19 May 2019
Workshop Facilitators
Roby Aiken
Roby
Aiken is the author of The Traders Series, an epic fantasy trilogy. She has
written many short stories, and is currently working on a suspense thriller set
in the Australian Outback. She has been a member of the Nambucca Valley Writers’
Group for twenty years, and is proudly their current President.
Greg
Barron
Crime,
terrorism, history, international politics and the wide open spaces of outback
Australia are all passionate interests of author Greg Barron. He has lived in
North America, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. His books, published
by HarperCollins Australia and Stories of Oz Publishing, are gutsy page turners
that tell the truth about the world, then and now. Rotten Gods was long listed
for the prestigious Ned Kelly awards, and has been lauded as "one of the
most sophisticated geopolitical thrillers ever written." Savage Tide was
described by ABC Radio reviewer Rob Minshull as: "Both supremely
intelligent and written at breathtaking pace."
Camp Leichhardt is the first of his Australian Stories , and was serialised in 2016 to wide acclaim. Rotten Gods, Savage Tide, Voodoo Dawn and Lethal Sky all feature Marika Hartmann, the Australian intelligence agent who won the hearts of readers all over the world.
Camp Leichhardt is the first of his Australian Stories , and was serialised in 2016 to wide acclaim. Rotten Gods, Savage Tide, Voodoo Dawn and Lethal Sky all feature Marika Hartmann, the Australian intelligence agent who won the hearts of readers all over the world.
Elizabeth Bond
Elizabeth
Bond is the copywriter behind Whirlybird Words, and she’s on a mission to grow
innovative business in regional Australia, one word at a time.
As a
self-confessed word nerd and marketing junkie, she enjoys crafting engaging,
strategic and search-engine-optimisation (SEO)-friendly content that helps
businesses genuinely connect with their ideal customers.
She’s been
writing professionally since 2003, and has qualifications in media, journalism,
marketing and training. She lives on a property by the beach with her two dogs
(office managers) in the spectacular Nambucca Valley, NSW.
Michael Burlace
His workshops are fun and full of useful tools and techniques for writing, editing, publishing and promoting works.
Laurel Cohn
Laurel Cohn is an
editor passionate about the power of stories to communicate. As a developmental
editor she has been helping writers since the 1980s prepare their work for
publication. She spent five years with one of Australia’s top literary agents
and four years as Consultant Editor to the NSW Writers’ Centre before turning
freelance. She works with individual writers, publishers and self-publishers,
and is a popular workshop presenter. She has a PhD in Literary and
Cultural Studies. www.laurelcohn.com.au
Graeme Gibson
Graeme Gibson has a background in
adult learning, principally in the environmental and community
services sectors. His approach to learning is that that people learn from and
with each other, not just from a teacher. He also works as a group facilitator
and mediator, getting close to people’s core concerns. Most of his writing is
non-fiction with a focus on nature, community,
politics and their intersection. He has published essays, contributed to
and edited a number of short story collections, and self-published Beyond
Fear and Loathing: Local politics at work. This account of local politics
and community activism is based on personal experience.
Graeme has been presenting writing
workshops, including life story and writing
about place, since 2013. These have been mostly in regional areas – he
likes to get around. Another interest is Little
Literature, poetry or prose responding to or interpreting art, place or
events, real or imagined. Graeme and his partner relocated to the NSW northern
rivers in early 2016.
Leonie
Harrison
Leonie writes mainly short stories and flash fiction across a range
of genres with a number of publications to her credit. She has also had success
in the competition sphere with several winning and highly recommended entries.
Leonie enjoys sharing her love of writing and encouraging others to create
their best work.
Wendy Haynes
Wendy Haynes
has been learning the craft of writing for over ten years and has completed a
Diploma in Creative Writing at Southern Cross University. Her writing focuses on middle-grade fantasy and contemporary stories for children, picture
books, and YA.
Her first
picture book Hayden’s Bedtime was published
in March 2019, and she is working on a children’s fantasy series, with Book One
due out in August 2019.
She believes
that having a regular writing practice, and understanding the device at your
disposal, is the key to not only completing a story
but in building the skills required to produce a
worthy manuscript.
She was a judge for the Port Writer’s In-house
competition for the creative non-fiction category in 2018, and one of the
judges of the fiction category in 2019.
Wendy won
first prize for her short story Going
Nowhere, at Port Writers In-house competition 2018, and enjoys helping and
motivating writers and has developed a mentorship program to help writers tell
stories. Armed with a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, she conducts writing workshops on and offline through
her business. http://writingforkeeps.com.au/
Being part
of a writing community Wendy has volunteered for both roles of the President and
Treasurer of Port Writers Inc., a not for profit local writing group, bringing
writing workshops, presentations and writing exercises to the group.
You can find
Wendy at https://www.facebook.com/wendyhaynesauthor/
Leonie Henschke
Leonie
Henschke is a freelance journalist and writer with a background in book
publishing, newspapers and magazines.
She was
Managing Editor of Angus & Robertson Publishers based in Sydney and London
and worked closely with well-known Australian writers including Peter Carey,
Frank Moorhouse and Michael Leunig.
Leonie also managed the extensive Australiana backlist that included
works by Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, Miles Franklin, Thea Astley, C.J.
Dennis, and Xavier Herbert.
She began
her career as a feature writer, sub-editor and editor with Sir Frank Packer’s
Australian Consolidated Press after a degree in English and politics from the
University of Sydney. She was on the staff of a number of the company’s
newspapers and magazines.
Following her time with Angus & Robertson Publishing,
Leonie was Managing Director of UNE (University of New England) Partnerships,
using her communication skills in the management of corporate education and
training, both within Australia and overseas.
Now living on the
beautiful north coast she continues to write and undertake workshops for
writers, manuscript assessments and guidance on publishing options. She is also
active in the creative industries networking with local, state and federal
governments for arts funding and support.
Yvonne
Kachel
Yvonne Kachel worked in both community and government sectors across
NSW, Tasmania and the ACT at an executive management level before retiring to
Coffs Harbour over five years ago. Yvonne has an Honours degree in Sociology, a
Diploma in Agency and TESOL and has travelled extensively, speaking at
International Conferences about her work. It is Yvonne’s hobbies that have
drawn her to writing. With two years at Newcastle University pursuing drama,
acting on the stage, playing in television commercials and back up
advertisements for cinema, Yvonne also featured in videos and scenarios for the
Medical Faculty. Yvonne has taught children’s drama and written plays for
children that have been performed at the Jetty Theatre in Coffs Harbour. She
enjoys writing short stories, especially humourous stories with quirky ends, as
well as travel stories. Yvonne has nearly completed her first serious novel and
is currently putting together a travelogue of her travels encompassing
countries as Africa, Europe, Great Britain, South East Asia, China and
Scandinavia. Yvonne has been a member of the Coffs Harbour Writers’ Group for several
years and has contributed to their Anthology and website with some of her
stories as well as presenting workshops. Yvonne now contributes to Nambucca
Writers’ Group and enjoys all writing challenges as Mad Monologues, Furious
Fiction and the occasional nonfiction serious writing.
Wendy Laharnar
Wendy
Laharnar grew up in the central west, NSW, graduated from UNE, Armidale, with a
BA in English Lit., Classical Lit (in translation), and History, both modern
and ancient. She writes historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Her
medieval novel, The Unhewn Stone, won third prize in the 2013 International
Digital Awards for best YA novel and short stories. Wendy lives on the South
Coast of NSW with her husband and mini Schnauzer. When she is not writing, she
creates with fabric and wool and enjoys travel and photography.
Fiona McDonald
is an Australian illustrator, author, publisher and doll maker. Based in
Armidale,NSW, she has had eleven books published internationally, including an
illustrated graphic novel for children, Ghost
Doll and Jasper, and a bestselling history of street art, The Popular History of Graffiti: From the
Ancient World to the Present. Fiona is also the co-founder of the
independent children’s publisher, Christmas Press, and its two imprints, Second
Look and Eagle Books. Her most recent titles include illustrations for the
acclaimed picture books Two Fearsome
Fairy Tales from France (retold by award-winning British author Adele
Geras) and Two Selkie Stories from
Scotland (retold by popular Australian author Kate Forsyth), both books
published by Christmas Press. She is currently undertaking a Master of Arts in
Creative Practice at the University of New England where she is working on a
novella featuring Jenny Wren, the dolls’ dressmaker, from Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend.
http://www.fionamcdonaldart.com/
Lisa Milner
Lisa Milner is an academic, with a
background of production in film, video, radio, theatre and writing. Based on
the mid-north coast, she also works with local groups involved in producing a
range of works. A member of the Nambucca Valley Writers’ Group, her books
include Fighting Films: A History of the Waterside Workers Federation Film
Unit and her recent biography of activist Freda Brown, Swimming against
the Tide.
Desley Polmear
Desley was
born in Brisbane, QLD. Growing up she always had an interest in writing and her
teachers reported that she had a great imagination. She contributed to a local
magazine on the Sunshine Coast, QLD and produced an inspirational verse book in
the 1990s. She ran seminars in ‘mind, body and spirit’ on the Sunshine Coast
and Brisbane.
Desley became
involved in a writing group when she moved to South West Rocks, NSW in 2008 and
began writing seriously. She published in anthologies in the mid-north coast
area and then wrote her first trilogy. In 2014, her second
book of the trilogy, ‘Just before Midnight’ had a review in the New York Times.
She followed that up by
writing about her life, titled, ‘My Early Years.’ She ran a successful workshop
at Grassroots Port Macquarie, 2017.
Desley
writes daily and is working on her next novel. She is a high-energy person
whose interests cover the arts, musicals, writing and travel. She has fond
memories of being in the production of many musicals, but the highlight was to
be in the production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Les Miserables.’ For over
eight years, she has been singing with ‘Sing Australia.’ She believes singing
is good for the soul.
Penelope Pratley
Emerging Illustrator, writer and educator, Penelope Pratley
spends her days creating wonder, one illustration at a time. Using watercolour,
ink, pencil and mixed media her particular focus is creating picture books. She
adores stories for children and owns far too many pencil cases. Penelope made her illustration debut in
February 2018 with The Art Garden, published by EK Books, and
is currently illustrating books to be published in 2019 and 2020. Living
with a surfer, an inventor, a ballerina, three chickens, a rabbit, an ancient
guinea pig, and a rescued cat, her heart is never short of inspiration. She
only emerges from her garden studio to hunt for chocolate freckles, seek
sunshine and take care of her beautiful family.
Carrolline
Rhodes
Carrolline
is a passionate and inspiriting tutor whose courses at Bellingen’s Camp
Creative were booked out during the nine years she was a tutor there. Published
in Australia the UK and Italy, she is a multi-award winning writer across a
range of genres. Her workshops inspire and empower: they take students on a
journey where the ultimate destination is the writer-self.
Gill Goater
Gill’s been involved in writing for many years. She’s especially interested in modern poetry and the breadth of human experiences poets write about. She facilitates a poetry group in Port Macquarie and is a member of a writers group where she presents occasional workshops. Gill’s work has been published in anthologies, magazines, on ABC regional radio and in her book Occupied by Gods.
Rosalie
Skinner
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