COMP CLOSED: ‘Why We Sing’ by Julia Hollander

“A memoir about the power of singing to make connections, to heal and expand our lives…” This week’s giveaway book is Julia Hollander’s Why We Sing – a memoir celebrating the power of song to lift our mood and restore our sense of connection to other people and the world.

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Q&A: Where does “bingo” come from?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, bingo was its name-oh… Q:

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Furious Fiction December 2022 winner and shortlist

For the final month of 2022 (the 12th month, if you will), Furious Fiction entrants were set a curious collection of criteria. Here they are now: Each story had to begin with a 12-word sentence. Each story had to include the sale of a second-hand item Each story had to

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COMP CLOSED: ‘The Shards’ by Bret Easton Ellis

This week’s giveaway book is a sensational new novel from Bret Easton Ellis – the bestselling author of Less Than Zero and American Psycho. The Shards tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city. His first novel in 12 years,

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VIDEO: Katie McMahon on her novel ‘The Accident’

Katie McMahon is a medical doctor and author of The Accident. Her first novel, The Mistake, was published internationally in 2021. Katie has also written articles for The Age and The Quarry. She grew up in Frankston, and now lives in Hobart with her family. Katie chats to Valerie Khoo,

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VIDEO: Lee Kofman on her memoir ‘The Writer Laid Bare’

Dr Lee Kofman is a Russian-born Israeli-Australian author, editor, writing teacher and mentor based in Melbourne. Her works include The Writer Laid Bare, Scars, I Will Love Christina, and the memoirs Imperfect and The Dangerous Bride. In the past she had sampled many different occupations, including party organising and university

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Q&A: The origin of “bane of my existence”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, a bane threshold… Q: Hey

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Writing Podcast Episode 521: All your questions answered!

You asked some pretty personal and deep questions – and Valerie went there! She’s answered them here. You can listen to the episode below, on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or add the podcast RSS feed manually to your favourite podcast app.   Links mentioned in this episode WIN Et tu, Brute? by

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VIDEO: Belinda Murrell on her novel ‘The Silver Sea’

Belinda Murrell is an award winning, internationally published author with a history of writing in her family that spans over 200 years. Belinda has written more than 35 books including ‘The Silver Sea’ and ‘The Golden Tower’, a time slip fantasy series set in a Renaissance Italian inspired world, The

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Q&A: The origin of “showing someone the ropes”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we are roped into it…

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5 top tips for writing commercial fiction

What does it take to write a book that sells to a wide audience? Is there a secret to creating popular, accessible stories? We’ve curated this selection of writing tips direct from authors who have been featured on the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast – click the

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COMP CLOSED: ‘Blurb Your Enthusiasm’ by Louise Willder

A dazzling dictionary of book blurbs, filled with writing tips, literary folklore and publishing secrets… This week’s giveaway is a joyful celebration of books – the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who’s ever wondered, ‘should you judge a book by its cover?’ The book is Blurb Your

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Authors you loved listening to this year

2022 has been another big year for the So You Want to be a Writer podcast. This year, there have been 55 episodes (and 55 words of the week!) and Valerie has interviewed 58 writers. Not only did we celebrate our 500th episode, we’re at over 2.3 million downloads. Wow!

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Top 10 Q&As of 2022

Q: Is it that time of year again? A: It certainly is. Q: It was a very eventful year. A: A lot happened, yes. But every week, we somehow kept turning up with something new to explore. Q: I know, right? The English language is the gift that keeps on

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Woman with suitcase and passport

7 signs you’ll be a great travel writer

Keen to explore new places near and far – and get paid for it? It is possible: travel writing is a great way to set up an extra income stream without having to quit your day job, and it can help scratch that creative itch too. Read on for 7

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