Image from Canva Free Stock Images Let’s say you have an idea for a story but you don’t know where to begin with planning the nitty gritty of character profiles, thematic influences, subplots, and so on. This is very common, particularly when starting out on a novel-writing journey, but can also apply to short stories and…
Category: Jemimah Halbert Brewster
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…
The Right Way to Organise a Bookshelf by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Part One of my 2019 TBR shelf, alphabetised by author’s first name One of the greatest joys in life is organising and re-organising one’s book collection. The heady rush of excitement when you think of a new system that you can spend a whole weekend applying to every book; the joy as you take each…
Review: My Name is Revenge by Ashley Kalagian Blunt, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Issue 27’s Review Review by Jemimah Halbert Brewster (this review can also be read in the Underground zine, issue 27: Case) Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s work My Name is Revenge is a novella just over fifty pages in length followed by three essays: Writing Violence, Arousing Curiosity; The Crime of Crimes; and Life After Genocide. The…
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…
Writing Opportunities for June 2019
Image from Canva free stock images BREW: Bush Retreats for Eco-Writers residencies The Bush Retreats for Eco-Writers (BREW) network offers free 10-day residencies for writers, poets, students and artists exploring ecological themes. There are five properties across NSW, Victoria and Queensland. More information at their website. Wombat Books accepting unsolicited children’s book manuscripts ‘We are looking for…
Writing Your Author Bio, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Whether you enjoy or loathe writing them, an appropriate author bio is essential when presenting yourself to your audience as it orients you within the writing canon, and educates others on your particulars. Some authors use their bio to denote what genre or format they work in (e.g. poetry, essays, etc….
Issue 26: Ashes
Cover by Ari Moore Issue 26: Ashes is here for your reading pleasure. This month we bring you a tasting plate of short fiction, flash fiction and poetry by writers from around Australia, including Sophie Roberts, Elaine Mead, Nadia Kim, W.D. Farnsworth and Ash Leonard. Editor Shelley Carter gives us a run-down of Gus Henderson’s…
Writing Opportunities April 2019
Image from Canva free stock images Red Room Poetry: School Poetry Object 2019 “Victorian primary schools are invited to register – FOR FREE – in the first-in-the-nation primary school poetry slam competition, in 2019, with OutLoud primary finalists to appear at the Melbourne Writers Festival. Registration would usually be $275 per primary school team but the free…
Writing Opportunities March 2019
Image from Canva free stock images Yirra Yaakin Writers’ Group “Yirra Yaakin invites established and aspiring Aboriginal playwrights to participate in an intensive playwriting program that guides writers through craft and writing sessions aimed at turning ideas into scripts. At the culmination of the workshop program, six writers are selected for one-on-one assistance to help them prepare…
Review: Wraith by Shane and Alex Smithers, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Wraith Author: Shane & Alex Smithers Genre: YA Sci-fi Favourite Part: When they’re sneaking around a ship Wraith, by Shane and Alex Smithers, is the story of James Locke, a sixteen your old boy living with his parents in rural New South Wales. Who can fly. His best friend Darren is training him to…
Writing Opportunities January 2019
Image from Canva free stock images Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize for Young Indigenous Writers The prize will be awarded to the best short story by an Indigenous writer who is 30 years or younger at the closing date of the competition. Overland ‘future sex’ edition Overland are currently seeking submissions for a special…
What We Learnt in 2018
2018 was a big year for learning, and our editors were happy to discuss and share as much as they could. This post pulls together everything we learnt over the year about writing, reading and publishing. Take a look and check out the posts you may have missed or the ones you might want to…
Aussie Titles Reviewed in 2018
2018 was a huge year for reviews with our editors covering a range of genres, themes and authors. Take a trip down memory lane to see all the great Aussie titles we reviewed in 2018! Defying Doomsday edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench, reviewed by Jemimah Halbert Brewster Grace Beside Me by Sue…
Writing Opportunities for December 2018
Earth Island Journal – currently open for article submissions We cover the entire spectrum of environmental issues, including, wildlife and lands conservation; innovations in science and technology; public policy and the politics of environmental protection; climate and energy; animal rights; public health; environmental justice and cultural survival; and environmentally related film, music, and books. ACMI…
Writing Opportunities for October 2018
Wollongong Writers Festival Short Story Prize 2018 Seeking short stories up to 2,500 words on the theme ‘Feeding Time’. Entry is $15, closing 15th October. 2018 Glen Phillips Poetry Prize – Peter Cowan Writers Centre Open theme, $10 per entry, maximum of 50 lines. Includes a Youth category for 12-17 year olds which is $5…
Jemimah’s Character List
A Character List by Jemimah Halbert Brewster Warning: this post contains some spoilers of the books and series mentioned Tiffany Aching, from several Terry Pratchett books Picture from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Imaginarium by Paul Kidby First introduced in The Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching is a 9-year-old who has lived her whole life on the Chalk,…
Writing Opportunities for September 2018
Writing Opportunities for September 2018 Big Sky Publishing Big Sky Publishing is currently accepting unsolicited non-fiction manuscripts in the genres of history, military history, true crime, current affairs, self-help, health, business, autobiography and biography, humour, and lifestyle. Bloodhound Books Bloodhound Books is currently accepting submissions of crime and mystery thriller manuscripts. Manuscripts must be at…
Review: How To Be Held by Maddie Godfrey, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: How To Be Held Author: Maddie Godfrey Genre: Poetry Favourite quote: ‘oh kneecaps, you equator of ankle and thigh/you who feel the breeze through torn/windows of my dungarees’ Favourite part: the poems Porcelain, Past Self, Halsey and I Shave Our Heads in the Dark, and Ode to My Kneecaps How To Be Held is the…
Review: Stay Well Soon by Penny Tangey, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Stay Well Soon Author: Penny Tangey Genre: Australian Middle-grade fiction Favourite part: The times when Stevie is playing imaginative games and her friends come to join her. Favourite quote: ‘[Mum] can’t stop me going to the toilet, it is against the Geneva Convention.’ Stay Well Soon by Penny Tangey is told through the eyes…
Writing Opportunities July
Writing Opportunities for July 2018 Windfall: Australian Haiku A small annual print publication which seeks to publish fine examples of contemporary Australian haiku. Submissions are welcome in July each year. The Next Chapter The Next Chapter is a scheme presented by the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne to support writers by giving them time 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…
7 Books That Celebrate Books, by Jemimah Brewster
I’m a book person: I read them, I write about them, and I like reading about how great they are. Deep meta. The following are novels that have, as a central theme, the importance of books, stories, reading, and writing. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Annie Barrows & Mary-Ann Shaffer I’ve written…
Writing Opportunities for June
Writing Opportunities June 2018 Girls Will Be Girls submissions GWBG is currently open for submissions for their winter-spring issue. ‘Accepting words, art, comics, music, videos, feminist ponderings – anything creative!’ Work is prioritised from women of colour, trans, binary and gender non-conforming individuals, women with disabilities, sex worker women, queer women, working class women, and…
You Don’t Have to Finish the Book, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
I’ve been seeing a lot of articles and posts recently about not finishing a book once you’ve started reading it, and I feel it’s time to share my journey with this issue. There are many reasons a reader will resist giving up on a book, and for me they looked something like the following: “I…
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…
Review: Bird Country by Claire Aman, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Issue 22’s review Bird Country (2017) by Claire Aman A review by Jemimah Halbert Brewster (this review can also be read in the Underground zine, issue 22: Pop!) Bird Country is Claire Aman’s first book, a short story collection featuring works that have previously been published by Black Inc., Griffith Review, Spineless Wonders, Margaret River Press,…
Writing Opportunities for April
Writing Opportunities for April Australian Storytellers Festival Sunday 8th April at the Literature Centre in Fremantle Monash Undergraduate Prize in Creative Writing This prize seeks entries of 1,500-3,000 words of creative writing, including fiction, creative non-fiction, and short stories on any theme. Open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in Australia or New Zealand –…
Review: Honey Farm Dreaming by Anna Featherstone, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Honey Farm Dreaming Author: Anna Featherstone Genre: memoir Themes: Australian farm life, sustainability, agriculture, animal husbandry, humour, learning Favourite quote, p. 167: “There’s no chooks or compost within a concrete mile and I can’t believe how much I care. I wonder how tower-dwellers exist and connect, when their feet can’t touch the ground; when…
Jemimah Halbert’s TBR – round 2
In 2018 I’ve challenged myself to read further outside my usual habits, so this To Be Read list features two memoirs, a historical fiction work, a paranormal murder mystery, and a quintet of science fiction novels. A delectable selection of reading material! Honey Farm Dreaming by Anna Featherstone A memoir about a family who moved…
Writing opportunities for March
Writing Opportunities for March 2018 Western Australia Museum – WA in Words What novels, poems, plays or song lyrics paint a literary picture of Western Australia? The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize Open in two categories: prize for best published adventure novel and a prize for best unpublished manuscript by a debut author. Closing 12th…
Review: Small Farm Success Australia, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Small Farm Success Australia Authors: Anna Featherstone & Andrew Campbell Genre: Non-fiction Favourite part: The case study of the farmer in Tasmania who rents tiny plots of land to farm organic rhubarb Favourite quote: ‘Though wineries sell romance to customers, we’re not a romantic industry. We’re in agriculture and you need a strong business…
Review: Defying Doomsday, by Jemimah Halbert
Defying Doomsday is a Pozible-funded anthology of short stories published by the indie publishing house Twelfth Planet Press. Twelfth Planet is an organisation that seeks to ‘interrogate, commentate, inspire or provoke thought’, and to ‘raise the awareness of underrepresented voices in science fiction, fantasy, horror and… crime’. They have certainly achieved that with this anthology. Defying…
Writing opportunities for January
ABR 2018 Calibre Essay Prize Seeking non-fiction essays from 3,000 to 6,000 words, written in English. Entry fees are $15 for current ABR subscribers, $15 for full-time students, and $25 for non-subscribers, plus a further four options if the entrant wishes to subscribe to a print subscription of ABR and resides in Australia, NZZ and…
Australian titles reviewed in 2017!
Below are all the Australian titles reviewed by Underground Writers in 2017! The Other Woman by Kylie Jones, reviewed by Kate, Shelley, and Jess Rae That Eye, the Sky by Tim Winton, reviewed by Kate Lomas Glendenning Rubik by Elizabeth Tan, reviewed by Jess Gately Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh, reviewed by Jemimah…
Books to read if you loved ‘Moana’, by Jemimah Halbert
In the spirit of Summer I recently re-watched Disney’s Moana, one of my favourite Disney movies to date, and it got me thinking about books that centre on strong adolescent or young adult characters who love their island home, embracing the place where they are meant to be and the person they want to become….
Writing Opportunities for December
Emerging Writers Festival 2018 Artist call-out Artists and writers are invited to submit expressions of interest to participate in the 2018 Emerging Writers Festival, including ideas for events, topics and conversations they want to be included in the festival. The festival will be held in Melbourne from 19-29 June 2018. Fill out the expression of…
Interview: Emma Michelle, author of ‘Watching Cartoons with Boys’
Emma Michelle, photograph by Bryn DC An interview by Jemimah Halbert Brewster Become a Patreon supporter of Underground Writers and receive all content before everyone else, as well as exclusive Patreon-supporter-only content such as the extended version of this interview and others! Watching Cartoons with Boys is quite a personal work. Did you know from…
Writing Opportunities for October
You can also read editor Dylan’s blog post for more upcoming literary events local to Perth and Western Australia 2017 WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writers’ Fellowships The 2017 Western Sydney Emerging Writers’ Fellowships offers 3 Fellowships of $4,000 each to emerging writers aged 16 years and over from the Greater Western Sydney region. Closing 9th October….
Jemimah Halbert’s TBR list
I divide my To Be Read lists into roughly long-term and short-term lists. My long-term list is far too long to write about here, but I will say that it includes such titles as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, and Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and…