Bob Dylan’s house in Malibu is sure to be gorgeous, apparently looking out over the sea. But when a reporter asked him where he composes his music, he replied, ‘In a hotel room.’ Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities) was rumoured to have locked himself in a hotel at his editor’s insistence to finish The … Continue reading Going Away to Write
Author: Margaret McCaffrey
Margaret McCaffrey is a Melbourne-based writer whose current project looks at the effects of war on her father, a prisoner-of-war in Germany during World War II.
His death in 1976 prompted her to explore his past and how this might have affected their father-daughter relationship.
In 2011 Margaret was awarded a scholarship to the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, Provincetown, USA to further her memoir. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, USA.
Lily Campbell’s Secret, by Jennifer Bryce
Elwood Writers founding member, Jennifer Bryce, last year published her first novel Lily Campbell's Secret. This Australian story is set post World War One, at a time when Australians were putting their lives back together again after their men had fought in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. With war as a backdrop, newly married … Continue reading Lily Campbell’s Secret, by Jennifer Bryce
Broken Rules and Other Stories, update — Barry Lee Thompson
Barry's book Broken Rules will be released by Transit Lounge on 1st September. Barry is a friend and colleague from Elwood Writers and this is his first collection of short stories. Some early reviews have appeared. There’s a write-up in Westerly, here, and one from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, here. The book’s release … Continue reading Broken Rules and Other Stories, update — Barry Lee Thompson
Upcoming Anthology from Elwood Writers
‘But if a book has brought you from one place to another, so that you see something you didn’t see before, you’ve arrived at another point.’ James Baldwin, The Paris Review 1984. My writing group, Elwood Writers, is to release its anthology in November of this year. Every Second Tuesday is a collection of fiction, … Continue reading Upcoming Anthology from Elwood Writers
Winter
From the website of Elwood Writers, news of a forthcoming program on Vision Australia Radio.
Here in the room, the fire crackles, and in the distance, the clatter of the roller-coaster.
So This Is Winter, Jennifer Bryce
In our corner of the southern hemisphere the weather is turning colder and the nights are drawing in. And so, a year on from its first broadcast, our special wintry edition of Cover to Cover has been scheduled to hit the Vision Australia Radio airwaves again on 10 & 12 July.
We hope you’ll be able to join us, wherever you are, and whatever your season. We’ll provide listening information closer to the broadcast date. In the meantime, stay safe and sound.
Writing in Bed
One original bad boy of American literature, Thomas McGuane, (Ninety Two in the Shade, The Missouri Breaks) tells us that these days he writes in bed. He’s in his seventies now and as a successful novelist is past caring what anyone thinks about him. His admission raises the question: Where do we do we write? … Continue reading Writing in Bed
Ten Good Sentences
Ernest Hemingway advises writers: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." We all know this is harder than it sounds. Secretly, of course, we are looking for more than one. So was he. But one good sentence is a place to start. A while back … Continue reading Ten Good Sentences
It’s Back to School for Elwood Writers
The Elwood Writers will feature on the ‘Back to School’ edition of Cover to Cover for Vision Australia Radio on Friday 26 January 2018. Our group has collaborated with producer and presenter, Tim McQueen, to compile a program comprising poetry, fiction and memoir on multifaceted notions of school. I look forward to sharing my two … Continue reading It’s Back to School for Elwood Writers
Plumbline
I was half way through my MA thesis, or so I thought, when my teacher asked: “Margaret, what is your plumbline?” I had no idea - a) what my plumbline was, or b) what a plumbline was. I knew I wanted to write about my torn relationship with my veteran father who’d died in 1976. … Continue reading Plumbline
The Good Mentor
It’s said that writing can’t be taught. But why not? Tobias Wolff taught George Saunders at Syracuse University, and look where that got George. All the way to the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2017. Saunders speaks admiringly of Tobias, who once warned him not to lose “the magic.” Early in his career, George’s … Continue reading The Good Mentor
