Interviews with writers | Australian Writers' Centre

Alumni/Student success stories

Stef Gemmill’s debut picture book finds a home

Stef Gemmill used the few minutes she had each morning before her family woke up to work on her creative writing. With a background in music journalism, Stef was no slouch at writing, but knew that she needed guidance to really hone her picture book manuscripts. After signing up for the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Writing Picture Books course, Stef got the valuable feedback she was looking for. Her first picture book, A Home for Luna, has now been published by New Frontier Publishing and it won the 2020 International Rubery Book Award (children’s category).

7 November 2019

Alumni/Student success stories

Laura Waters’ trek into travel writing success

Laura Waters walked over 3000 kilometres across New Zealand to conquer her anxieties and find her true passion: writing. After finishing the Australian Writers’ Centre Travel Writing course, Laura turned her hobby into a profession and now writes travel articles fulltime. She is also a published author with Bewildered, the incredible story of her extraordinary hike, out now with Affirm Press.

28 October 2019

Fiction writing

13 Australian authors share their creative rituals

Some writers swear by their creative rituals. And, we get it. Once you get into a creative routine, it can be hard to break – especially if it provides you with inspiration and motivation. We asked Australia’s top authors, poets and illustrators – nominees for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary

11 October 2019

Furious Fiction

Furious Fiction turns 21 and fans sign the card

Furious Fiction this month celebrates 21 months of fantastic flash fiction fun! So to get into the party spirit, we bought one of those huge novelty cards and passed it around some of our biggest fans for them to each say nice things (sniff… you GUYS!… now we’re getting all

4 October 2019

Interviews with writers

AWC EXCLUSIVE: Interview with ‘Anonymous’

Anyone who has ever worked in a corporate office will know the awe-inspiring power that a framed black-and-white wall picture of a kitten saying “hang in there” can have. In fact, motivational and inspirational quotes can be found everywhere from greeting cards to coffee mugs, notebooks to T-shirts. “If you

10 July 2019

Alumni/Student success stories

Sandy Barker: How her dedication and online presence led to published novels

Sandy Barker’s goal for her novels was always to get a publishing deal. Two self-published novels and years of determination later, her debut novel, One Summer in Santorini, has just been published by HarperCollins.

26 June 2019

Alumni/Student success stories

Kaneana May: From TV scriptwriter to published author

When Kaneana May, a stay-at-home mother living in regional NSW, took a trip to Sydney to do Popular Women’s Fiction with the Australian Writers’ Centre she came away inspired, motivated with new ideas and a new direction. Today she is a published author and her debut novel The One, published by Harlequin hit the bookshelves in July 2019.

21 March 2019

Interviews with writers

‘So you want to be a writer’ live event in June

Dreaming about ditching your day job so you can become a fully-fledged writer? Then come along and learn how at Vivid Ideas Exchange on Saturday 8 June 2019 from 11am-1pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and be a part of the live event of So You Want To

20 March 2019

Alumni/Student success stories

My top 10 interviews… out of one million downloads!

By Valerie Khoo Our podcast, So You Want to be a Writer, has now hit over one million downloads! When my co-host Allison Tait and I started out on this journey we never even considered this magic number. We were too busy loving the fact that we got to present

5 March 2019

Interviews with writers

‘So you want to be a writer’ top 10 podcast episodes for 2018

It seems like yesterday that we kicked off 2018 with Episode 218 of the popular podcast series So you want to be a writer with our CEO, Valerie Khoo and children’s’ author Allison Tait. And now, within the blink of the eye and 45 episodes later we find ourselves knocking

18 December 2018

Fiction writing

10 out of 10 – meet the Furious Fiction superfans!

Back in February 2018, the Australian Writers’ Centre introduced Furious Fiction – a brand new short story writing competition where your 500-word story could win $500AU cash every month – with no entry fee whatsoever! Needless to say, the competition (open to anyone 17 years and over, anywhere on the

5 December 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Frances Chapman’s successful transition from freelance writer to published author

The “loneliness of the solitary pursuit of fiction writing” led Frances Chapman to AWC’s Novel Writing Essentials course and her subsequently winning the Hardie Grant Egmont 2018 Ampersand Prize for her ‘vibrant’ debut YA novel, Stars Like Us, published by Hardie Grant Egmont.

23 November 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Jo Hartley’s life-changing leap from recruitment to successful freelance writer

When Jo Hartley took Australian Writers’ Centre’s Freelance Writing Stage 1 course it totally changed her life. Today she calls herself a freelance writer and says she can’t imagine her life without writing.

7 October 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Margaret Morgan: Author of ‘The Second Cure’

Thanks to the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Write Your Novelcourse, and the subsequent publishing of her first novel, The Second Cure (Penguin Random House), Margaret Morgan now proudly calls herself an author.

3 October 2018

Fiction writing

Our amazing Pamela’s ‘Amazing Australian Women’

Pamela Freeman, Director of Creative Writing Faculty at AWC has been busy and published another book this year, a children’s book, Amazing Australian Women (Hachette Australia). This bright and colourful book looks at 12 incredible Australian women who have helped shape our country, from politics and the arts, to Indigenous

18 September 2018

Interviews with writers

Bestselling author Natasha Lester loved Scrivener so much she created a course about it!

Perth author and AWC presenter Natasha Lester’s love affair with Scrivener has been going on for many years. In fact she loved it so much she created AWC’s self-paced course 2 Hours to Scrivener Power. Natasha is the award-winning author of five novels The Paris Seamstress, Her Mother’s Secret, A Kiss

4 September 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Catherine celebrates her second children’s book published this year

AWC alumna Catherine Pelosi is kicking goals again with the publication of her second book this year. Something for Fleur is Catherine’s first picture book and it comes hot on the heels of her first junior fiction novel, Quark’s Academy.

So it’s been a big year for the author who completed the course How to Write for Children and Young Adults at the Australian Writers’ Centre.

3 August 2018

Fiction writing

From illustrator to author: Giuseppe Poli

Giuseppe Poli began his career in the picture book industry as an illustrator. However, with a keen interest in writing the words as well as creating the images, he’s now released his first book Young MacDonald as an author. Tell us what Young MacDonald is about If Old MacDonald has

25 June 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Ingrid Alexandra fulfils a lifelong dream to be a published author

Ingrid’s tenacity and stubbornness to keep at it no matter how many rejections were thrown at her have paid off with the launch of her psychological thriller The New Girl published by HarperCollins imprint Avon Books UK.

18 May 2018

Alumni/Student success stories

Brad Kelly: From history teacher to full-time freelance writer

After a 15-year career as a history teacher, Brad Kelly was ready for his next challenge. With a keen interest in the world of writing, he completed a course at the Australian Writers’ Centre. “I had always been drawn to long form journalism and features, and I wanted to learn the nuts and bolts of the trade,” says Brad.

5 February 2018

Category: Interviews with writers

Stef Gemmill’s debut picture book finds a home

Laura Waters’ trek into travel writing success

13 Australian authors share their creative rituals

Furious Fiction turns 21 and fans sign the card

AWC EXCLUSIVE: Interview with ‘Anonymous’

Sandy Barker: How her dedication and online presence led to published novels

Kaneana May: From TV scriptwriter to published author

‘So you want to be a writer’ live event in June

My top 10 interviews… out of one million downloads!

‘So you want to be a writer’ top 10 podcast episodes for 2018

10 out of 10 – meet the Furious Fiction superfans!

Frances Chapman’s successful transition from freelance writer to published author

Jo Hartley’s life-changing leap from recruitment to successful freelance writer

Margaret Morgan: Author of ‘The Second Cure’

Our amazing Pamela’s ‘Amazing Australian Women’

Bestselling author Natasha Lester loved Scrivener so much she created a course about it!

Catherine celebrates her second children’s book published this year

From illustrator to author: Giuseppe Poli

Ingrid Alexandra fulfils a lifelong dream to be a published author

Brad Kelly: From history teacher to full-time freelance writer

Browse posts by category

Courses starting soon