2009 MWF Professional Development
The Melbourne Writers Festival celebrates the fact that we’re a city of readers and writers, by offering audiences a fantastic range of workshops and seminars with our visiting guests. When bringing writers from around the world (and around Australia), it seems unwise not to utilise their knowledge and thus our program of Workshops & Seminars has been developed to develop our local talents.
In 2009 the MWF is continuing to run both workshops and masterclasses, a seminar series and The Whole Shebang – our very popular day for those seeking to begin their writing career.
Workshops are for all-comers, no matter what their level of experience, while masterclasses are for those with some record of publishing success.
More details will be found on our website when the program is launched.
This year’s workshops include:
Tom Rob Smith (US) on Commerce & Creativity
Lisa Lutz (US) on Giving Voice to Unique Characters
Kate de Goldi (NZ) on Writing Fiction for Children
Wells Tower (Canada) on Writing Short Stories
Jessa Crispin (US) on Being a Critic During the Death of Print
Wayson Choy (Canada) on The Secrets of Memoir Writing – Truth or Consequences?
Our masterclasses include:
John Boyne (UK) on Historical Fiction
M J Hyland (UK) on How to Write Good Fiction – From First Draft to Last
Philip Hensher (UK) on Building Character
Our seminars include:
Aspects of the Novel, with Philip Hensher (UK) & Wayson Choy (Canada)
Aspects of Fantasy with Margo Lanagan (NSW)
Aspects of History with Glen David Gold (US) & Alexander Waugh (UK)
Aspects of Thrillers & Mysteries with Jewell Rhodes (US) and Tom Rob Smith (US)
Finally, to give an insight into the world of publishing, the festival runs The Whole Shebang, our intensive day-long workshop for emerging writers. This is a very popular day and features conversations on the author–editor relationship, grant writing, ways to get published and how to create you own success, in addition to presentations from all the key organisations. This day is an essential starting point for all those wanting to begin their writing career.
Steve
Associate Director
Posted on 22 June 2009, in MWF events, MWF info and tagged Alexander Waugh, John Boyne, Lisa Lutz, M J Hyland, Melbourne Writers Festival, MWF, Philip Hensher, The Whole Shebang. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Melbourne Writers Festival blog 
Can’t wait for those Steve!
Wow, Jessa Crispin is exciting. Hopefully the prices won’t be too ‘professional’ ;)
Anything for the poets? Last year’s Rilke workshop was amazing.
Will definitely be signing up for some of these.
Very keen to see prices for various classes.
Would you advise attending The Whole Shebang if you went last year? Particularly if you had a lazy writing year and didn’t put any of the new skills into practice… I think I just answered my own question:)
Hi Megan, Hacky, Caro, Kathy, Prue & Sarah,
Thanks for your replies; I really appreciate the interest. Good news — prices have not increased since last year!
So all workshops/masterclasses will remain at $195/$175; all seminars will stay at $55/$50 and the Whole Shebang is still $95/$85. Also — included in the price of the Whole Shebang is a month’s free access to the Australian Writers Marketplace online! (Hacky — are those prices too professional? Can you ever be too professional?!)
Will there be any poetry workshop? Hmmm … I am trying my best to find a inter/national poet to run such a workshop but have had no luck as of yet. As you may know Robert Pinsky was a guest until only about a month ago … so he’s out. I’ve also had a few no’s from other potential tutors, but am scrambling to try and find someone appropriate.
Should you go to the Whole Shebang if you’ve gone before? That, Sarah, is all up to you. If you thought the sessions were different enough from last year then I think there would be the bonus of more/new information on top of the possible inspiration. I have tried to create a different event from last year and, for instance, have got three individuals talking about how to create your own success. I think you might just have to wait until it’s all out there and then decide for yourself.
Hope you remain well and both busy and happy with your writing.
Best,
Steve
Stevie (I’m following you on the nicknames)
Prices sound semi-professional, but as a masterclass with limited numbers and real hands-on workshopping it sounds really worthwhile. Not to mention tax deductible.
From now on, I’m going to call you the Hackster, just to protect my own reputation!
Then I’d reciprocate with the Stevester. I’ve always been much fonder of the Brother Grim though that might mean you’d have to call me the Brother Packer which James always has a problem with.
Hey I posted about our first City of Lit today FYI: http://hackpacker.blogspot.com/2009/06/well-readinburgh.html