This could be you | Australian Writers' Centre

Children’s author Victoria Mackinlay releases two remarkable picture books

Picture book author – and AWC alumna – Victoria Mackinlay has had an extraordinary month. She has published not one but TWO new picture books, The Lion Who Came To Stay and The Bark Book. As if that wasn’t achievement enough, her first picture book Ribbit Rabbit Robot has been listed for both the Speech […]

CJ Fentiman discovers her perfect career path writing about pets

After taking several courses at the Australian Writers' Centre, CJ gained the confidence to write a book about her experiences of living in Japan and the cats she met along the way.

“These courses provided me with the skills I needed to develop my writing further and to meet like-minded people, so we could grow and nurture our creativity together,” CJ says.

CJ's uplifting memoir The Cat with Three Passports is out now with Silver Vine Press, and it was an award-winning finalist in the Animals/Pets: Narrative Non-Fiction category of the 2021 International Book Awards.

Writing Podcast Episode 420 Meet Sam Buckerfield, co-author of ‘Generation Alpha' [My journey]

In this episode, Valerie Khoo sits down with Sam Buckerfield, who has co-written a book called Generation Alpha. Now what’s interesting is that this is a nonfiction book – but Sam’s passion has always been in fiction. But as you’ll hear, Sam was able to use his fiction skills to create a compelling and very […]

Congrats to the AWC alumni shortlisted for the 2021 $10,000 Text Prize

This week, Text Publishing announced the seven shortlisted manuscripts in the running for the $10,000 Text Prize for young adult and children's writing – and we were thrilled to spot some familiar names on the list! Australian Writers' Centre alumna Jacqueline Mohr has been shortlisted for her children’s story The Curious Case of the Cocoa […]

AWC alumna Deborah Mackie wins the Wild Atlantic Writing Award

We were beyond excited to hear that Australian Writers' Centre alumna Deborah Mackie has won the Wild Atlantic Writing Award for her short story “A Letter to Her Husband’s Girlfriend”. As an active member of the AWC, Deborah shared details about the competition in our So you want to be a writer podcast community on […]

Author-illustrator Mandy Foot shares the creative process behind her gorgeous picture books

Mandy Foot has illustrated dozens of picture books with Hachette Australia. But when she decided to write her own story, she knew she had to gain new skills. After completing the Writing Picture Books course at the Australian Writers' Centre, Mandy published her debut picture book as an author, Joey and Riley. Mandy’s second picture […]

Craig Sheather reinvents his career to become a picture book author with ‘The Incredible True Story of Sparky the Wonder Puppy’

Craig Sheather is a freelance writer and journalist specialising in the great outdoors. But when travel restrictions limited his writing opportunities, he decided to reinvent himself – taking the Reinvent Yourself course at the Australian Writers' Centre. Feeling inspired, he went on to do two courses for writing for kids: Writing Picture Books and Laugh Out Loud. Craig has now published his debut picture book The Incredible True Story of Sparky the Wonder Puppy, about a puppy who survived the bushfires.

Writing Podcast Episode 412 Gabrielle Tozer discusses her latest novel ‘Can’t Say it Went to Plan' [Story Sessions series]

This ‘inbetweenisode' is part of our Story Sessions series and features ‘Can't Say It Went to Plan' by Gabrielle Tozer. This is the latest young adult novel from the fabulous Gabrielle Tozer, author of ‘The Intern', ‘Faking It' and ‘Remind Me How This Ends'. This time, Gabrielle is taking on schoolies – that infamous break […]

Graci Kim becomes a published children's author with her middle grade adventure ‘The Last Fallen Star'

Graci Kim has worked as a diplomat, cooking show host and even made kids toys – but it was when she sat down to reread her favourite childhood novels that she discovered her passion.

“It hit me – none of the books I read and treasured as a child had people like me in them. All the books I'd loved were about white people. I had been invisible on the page my whole life,” Graci says. She signed up for a course at the Australian Writers' Centre and started writing books about Korean diaspora kids having magical adventures.

Graci's debut middle-grade novel, The Last Fallen Star, has now been published by Disney Hyperion (Rick Riordan Presents) and the trilogy has been optioned by the Disney Channel for a live action television series.

Writing Podcast Episode 401 Kaneana May's ‘All We Have is Now' [Story Sessions series]

This ‘inbetweenisode' is part of our Story Sessions series and features ‘All We Have is Now' by Kaneana May. This is Kaneana’s second novel, following her incredible debut ‘The One'. Kaneana has once again weaved together the story of three different women who run a wellness centre together. It’s a beautiful novel full of compassion, […]