Writing Residencies
Thanks to The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, we’re proud to announce the creation of a communal writing residency at our Community House, with acclaimed novelist Peter Polites as our lead-resident artist—along with up to 8 other Western Sydney writers as well! Each resident will have up to $1K available in financial support over the course of the program.
On Saturdays, 1-4pm*, residents will be in our space: we have desks, WiFi, a kitchen with tea and coffee, and best of all, if you need to bounce ideas around or get help with a troublesome chapter, you will be with plenty of other writers.
We envision this as a space for community, conversation, and making art. We want to make the writing road a little less lonely, and more accessible.
There will be regular opportunities for our resident writers to perform, publish or engage in our other programs, and we’ll have special guest appearances from other authors to provide you with plenty of tips and inspiration to keep going.
Applications will be assessed on an ongoing basis until allocation is exhausted so get in now!
*NB: This timeline may change if a better time suits the majority of residents.
If you can’t make it on Saturday, we’re also open to providing you another time to make use of our space. Don’t be afraid to get in touch to discuss your needs!
“I have never ceased to be amazed by the brilliant sparks that rub off at language contact points, creating a new language.”
The Writers’ Room 2022-2023
In 2022-2023, we ran a fortnightly multilingual writer’s workshop group with award-winning novelist Peter Polites called The Writers’ Room, funded by The Copyright Agency.
The Writers’ Room was about cultural democracy - who gets to read, write and share stories, and cultural innovation - how those stories are told.
The Writers’ Room is an invitation to join a supportive group for writers in Greater Western Sydney who write in languages additional to or other than English.
This program runs for a year (during school term time) and offers emerging writers the opportunity to work with an established writer.
Peter Polites
For the 2022-23 program our mentor is Peter Polites.
The Writers’ Room creates a space for people to be free to write regardless of form, language or publication history, and to gain the support of peers and insights into the craft of writing from experienced writers.
The Writers' Room is an affirmation of linguistic plurality, and an exploration of what the creative domain of multilingualism can enable.
Our starting point is creative play and experimentation, including an exploration of the exciting possibilities that the mixing of language can create.
The Writers’ Room is developed for writers living or working in Greater Western Sydney regardless of the language(s) in which they write.
We invite writers interested to join The Writers’ Room to complete an expression of interest by clicking on the button below.
To find out more, please make sure you join our newsletter here and follow us on social media here and here.
The Writers’ Room began at the end of May 2022. We meet on the first and third Tuesday of the month, during school term. Applicants will be provided with further details upon selection.
