On Friday, November 1st 2019, Underground Writers held a birthday party at PICABar in Perth to celebrate 10 years supporting Australian emerging writers. Our full team of editors were in attendance, and we were joined by a large crowd of supporters. What follows is the speech given on the night by our Editor-in-Chief, Jemimah Halbert…
Category: Announcements
Writing Opportunities for September 2019
Image from Canva free stock images 2019 Deborah Cass Prize “Early career writers of migrant background are invited to apply for the 2019 Deborah Cass prize. The winner receives a cash prize of $3,000 plus a three-month mentorship with an established writer. The winning manuscript is presented to Black Inc. publishers for consideration, with the winning excerpt…
Issue 27: Case
Cover by Jess Gately Issue 27: Case is here On page 6 you’ll find this issue’s book review by yours truly, then our fabulous fiction begins on page 8, continuing with our Case theme until you reach the bumper selection of opportunities for writers down on pages 22-25. We hope that this issue will help…
Issue 25 is here!
It’s a new year and we’re happy to be presenting issue #25 of the Underground Writers zine, featuring more fantastic work by a selection of creative writers from around Australia. Our work this issue includes poetry from Ion Corcos, Jasmin Seabrook-Benson, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Wendy Lichtenberg. Our short stories comes from Christos Sevastidis and Paul…
Issue 24 has arrived!
Issue 24 has arrived! The cover this issue was designed by WA-based artist Jonathan Park, whom you can find on Instagram at @fresh_kb Our Editors shone throughout this year, and they’ve worked hard on the short stories and poems you’ll find within the pages of issue 24. Download the issue for a fresh assortment of short…
Bedtime Story Project winners!
We are very excited to announce the winners of our Bedtime Stories competition in collaboration with the Kaleidoscope Festival! Congratulations to: Sioban Timmer with ‘It’s Hard to Hug with Wings’ Kaitlin Pradhan with ‘Finding Courage’ Chris McRae with ‘Thieving Thackeray’s Toffee Turmoil’ Sioban, Kaitlin and Chris have won a $50 book voucher each to Underground…
TAG Hungerford Award Shortlist announced
Congratulations to this year’s TAG Hungerford Award Shortlist! These six WA writers are in the running for $12,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press! Yuot Alaak, Zoe Deleuil, Alan Fyfe, Holden Sheppard, Julie Sprigg and Trish Versteegen came out on top after the award’s most competitive year ever. Past winners and shortlistees include Gail…
Underground Books is now open for all your Australian debut reading needs
Underground Books, the new online bookshop from Underground Writers, officially launches this weekend. The online store will only stock debut titles from Australian or Australian-based authors with all profits from the sales going towards funding the group’s projects to support emerging Australian writers. Operations Manager and Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert Brewster said the store had ‘already…
Issue 23 is here!
Issue 23 is here! This issue features our first ever visual storytelling piece: South Pacific by Louise Falconer. Our short stories are from Bayveen O’Connell with The Sun on the Snow Grave and Tea With a Bun by Margaret Pearce. Our poetry comes from repeat author Allan Lake with Winter Sunshine, and newcomers Wendy Lichtenberg with how beauty feels, Sara Morgillo’s Bugs Taught, and…
Underground Writers announce bold new initiative to support debut Australian authors
Underground Writers have announced that they will launch an online bookstore called Underground Books which will only stock debut Australian titles. All profits from the store will go towards supporting the group’s projects which provide information, education, and encouragement to emerging Australian writers. Underground Operations Manager and Editor-In-Chief, Jemimah Halbert Brewster, said the bookstore will…
Issue 22 release!
Issue 22: Pop! is here! This issue we’re very happy to have our cover designed by the talented Perth-based Alisa Dempster—you can follow her work on Instagram @trexia.art. We have both new and familiar authors this issue, hailing from Australia and further afield: our poetry is brought to you by Pat Tompkins of the San…
Issue 21: Mythological Figures
Issue 21: Mythological Figures is here! This issue is packed full of poetic goodness form MTC Cronin & Peter Boyle, Alys Jackson, Elise Kelly, and Maddie Godfrey; with room to sink your teeth into short stories from Jude Bridge, Sian Tondut, and Antony Millen. There’s a whole lot of re-tellings, re-visitings, revisions, and cheeky adn…
Issue 20: Nostalgia
Issue 20: Nostalgia is here! This issue you’ll find some excellent poetry by Allan Lake, Jan Price and Bradley Baronner, a few delectable short stories by Sarah Widdup, Jane Downing and Caitlin Farrugia, and a whole lot of fond and bittersweet Nostalgia: from places and people to time and things. We’re especially excited about our…
Underground Writers is part of the Digital Writers Festival!
We are excited to announce that Underground Writers is a part of the 2017 Digital Writers Festival! You can read issue 17: The Hitchhiker and a small interview with editor Jess Gately at the link below
Pantser or Planner: 5 Top Tips for Preparing for NaNoWriMo, by Jess Gately
NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month for those of you new to the concept) is the annual challenge that gets writers writing. The challenge, should you choose to accept, is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Now of course the work you produce in that 30 days is not going to be the final…
5 Faux Pas That Will Prevent You Getting Published, by Jess Gately
5 Faux Pas That Will Prevent You Getting Published By Jess Gately At Underground, we deal with a lot of emerging writers, who are submitting their work for publication for the first time. This means that we’re generally pretty forgiving when it comes to some of the faux pas that new writers make when they…
Issue 19: The List is here!
Issue 19: The List has arrived! Featuring a book review by our own Shelley Timms, poetry from Eileen Chong, Genevieve Deeds-Page, Kristin Martin, Anna Jacobson, and Pat Tompkins, an album review by Nick Crameri, and short stories from Ian Adams, Edward Palumbo, Angela Hooks, and Meesh Feraud. Also featuring our June Writing Challenge winning entry: The Road…
Review: Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh, reviewed by Jemimah Halbert
July’s Review is here! Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh A review by Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert Julie Koh’s first full-length collection of short stories, Portable Curiosities, is a strange journey through an unsettling landscape of curious characters in familiar but altered settings. A young girl’s third eye, located in her navel, sees the undetectable and impolite…
Interview: Rory J. Cole, writer & editor, by Shelley Timms
An interview with professional writer and editor Rory J. Cole, by Underground editor Shelley Timms Firstly, tell us about your experiences in editing manuscripts, and your experiences with having your own work edited. I’ll begin with an experience of being edited, which I think has shaped the way I work with clients and their manuscripts….
Jess Gately’s TBR list
At present, my TBR list sits at 16 books and counting so choosing just a few to write about in this list was difficult. It’s always been this way for me. I’m always buying books faster than I can read them, and with a Facebook feed full of recommendations, a Goodreads app that is always…
How to Write the Beginning of a Story, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
How to Write the Beginning of a Story by editor Kate Lomas Glendenning 6 Things to Consider in your Beginning “How do I write the beginning of a story” is nestled within every writer’s Google history. It is almost a shameful struggle, to have an amazing plot in your mind thick with action and…
Writing Opportunities for July
Opportunities for July City of Rockingham Short Fiction Awards “Authors can submit up to three stories. Entered stories must be inspired by, drawn upon, or use the theme of the artwork “Arts Centre Cafe” by Daniela Selir (1994), which can be found on the entry form.” Pieces must be between 1,000 and 4,000 words, categories in Touth,…
Dylan’s TBR List
In this series we are sharing each of our To Be Read booklists, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read on to discover editor Dylan Dartnell’s next three books To Be Read! Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie I have a nasty…
8 Tips for Starting a Blog, by Jess Rae
8 Tips for Starting a Blog by editor Jessica Rae Wilson-Smith Last month, in an effort to build my freelance business, I started writing a beauty blog. If anything it’s become a creative outlet of mine and I have been enjoying it so far. However, the Internet is forever, and with so many blogs out…
Review: A Court of Wings & Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, reviewed by Jess Rae
June’s review is here! A Court of Wings and Ruin, by Sarah J. Maas, A review by editor Jessica Rae Wilson-Smith “It’s a rare person to face who they are and not run from it- not be broken by it.” A Court of Wings and Ruin is the third and last installment of Sarah J….
Writing Challenge Day 7
Writing Challenge Day 7 *Here is a list of story genres: romance, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, children’s book, comedy, murder mystery, western. Feel free to add any others that you like to the list.* Look at a story you’ve written this week and re-write it in the above styles. How does changing the style change your…
Writing Challenge Day 6
Writing Challenge Day 6 *write a list of your favourite characters/historical figures/celebrities.* You invite them all to dinner. What is the dinner conversation like?
Writing Challenge Day 5
Writing Challenge Day 5 *Google “weird news”. Write a list of the kooky headlines that come up.”* Imagine you wake up one day in an alternative universe where those headlines are normal. What is this alternative world like? You discover that you know one of the people involved in one of the news stories. How…
Writing Challenge Day 4
Writing Challenge Day 4 *Following on from yesterday’s challenge, write a list of places you or your character want to go.* Why do you/your character want to go to each place? What do those places have in common? How would you get to each place? What do you think would happen at each place?
Writing Challenge Day 3
Writing Challenge Day 3 *Write a list of places you or your character have been. They can be as far ranging as countries or as close to home as the local shops.* Try to link these places. What does each place say about you/your character? What did you learn in each place? What happened in…
Writing Challenge Day 2
Writing Challenge Day 2 *Look at a person that you’ve never met before. Write a list of things you notice about them.* What do these things tell you about this person’s personality? What do they do for work? What is happening in their life write now? Use your list to write a story about this…
Writing Challenge: Day 1
Writing Challenge Day 1 *write a list of things that are around you right now (objects, people, weather, sounds, smells…)* Write a story that incorporates them all. How far out of your space can you make those objects reach? How different can you make the space around you become?
Writing Challenge June 2017
Underground is proud to present the 2017 mid year writing challenge! In honour of upcoming issue, The List, this challenge utilises lists to help us develop settings, characters, plots and style. The rules are simple. Each day this week (Monday 12th – Sunday 18th June) at 5am (AWST) we’ll post the day’s list challenge. You’ll…
Writing Opportunities for June
Writing Opportunities for June 2017 Grieve Writing Competition In honour of Grief Awareness month (August), the Hunter Writers Centre is seeking submissions of short stories, up to 500 words, or poetry, up to 36 lines. For writers over 18 years, theme is to express grief and loss. Closing 9th June. hunterwriterscentre.org/grieve-project.html Overland special winter issue…
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert If you haven’t already read last month’s blog post I suggest you read it now. It covers the basics of defining where and how you write, and without knowing those elements it will be difficult to make any of the following tricks work. All…
Review: Rubik by Elizabeth Tan, reviewed by Jess Gately
May’s Review is here! Rubik, by Elizabeth Tan A review by editor Jessica Gately I was lucky enough to be introduced to this book at its launch at Beaufort Street Books in Mt Lawley. I joined a throng of other local literature lovers as store reps served wine and nibbles and Tan signed copies of…
Interview: Marianna Shek, author of ‘The Stolen Button’, by Jess Gately
This Month we talk to author Marianna Shek about her picture book for adults The Stolen Button, which Marianna is currently funding for self-publication through Kickstarter. You can donate to her fund here. Hearts are stolen every day, but a stolen belly button- well, that has consequences! When willful Mei Ling wheedles her mother Lady Lin…
Kate’s TBR list
In this series we will be sharing each of our TBR books, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read on to discover editor Kate’s next three books To Be Read! One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey I confess I started to…
Issue 18: Black Hole is here!
Issue 18: Black Hole is here! Featuring a review by our very own Jessica Gately, poems from Anthea Yang and Jan Price, and short stories from Carmenn Alexander King Kocznur, Nerissa Marcon, Mai Nguyen, and our feature piece from Fleur Brown-Beeby, as well as the usual monthly round-up of writing opportunities. Also revealing the theme for…
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert I’ve been an avid reader and regular writer for most of my life. I have kept diaries, journals, date books, notebooks, Word docs and blogs as ways to keep up regular writing, although there have been long stretches when I didn’t write much…