Please note:
Starting with our April Workshop and Literary Event and until further notice, we will be meeting in the Michael Crouch room in the State Library of NSW. This room is on the first floor, accessible by stairs or a lift at either end of the building.
The Library is commencing major renovations which will continue into 2026, hence our slight change of venue.
Workshop – From Idea to Publication: creating a picture book
Time: 10:15 am to 12:00 pm
Place: Michael Crouch, State Library of NSW
Cost: Members $40, non-members $55
Release the picture book waiting inside you! Join Ursula to discuss her experiences in this field and her own writing practices. The session will include written exercises to explore the intensely felt possibilities of very few words.
Ursula Dubosarsky was born in Sydney and wanted to be a writer from age 6. She is now the author of over 60 books and has won many prizes, including the NSW, Victorian, South Australian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. She has been nominated internationally for the Hans Andersen and Astrid Lindgren awards, and served as the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2020-2021. Her most recent book is Ethel the Penguin, illustrated by Christopher Nielsen.
https://ursuladubosarsky.squarespace.com/
Literary Event
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
Place: Michael Crouch Room, State Library of NSW
Cost: Members $25, non-members $40
Member Spotlight – Val Clifford: The challenges of writing a novel set in New Zealand in the 1980s
Changing genres from memoir writing to fiction presents many challenges. Choosing a setting, a sprinkling of characters, a challenge for the protagonist and an outcome looked easy and fun. However, Valerie’s characters had different ideas and continually confronted her with who they were and the decisions they were going to make.
Valerie Clifford, a Londoner, travelled to New Zealand for one year and stayed for twenty. There she worked in education and women’s health research and raised two children. Seeking further work experiences she moved to Canberra, then Fiji, Melbourne, and Oxford, and now lives on the Central Coast of NSW.
After years of formal research writing, she turned to writing memoir and fiction. Her first book is a memoir about her two years working in Fiji when a coup erupted around her. This received a Highly Commended Award in The Society’s Members’ Book Awards 2022. Her new book is a novel.
Guest Speaker – Leesa Hamilton: Balancing life and writing
Leesa Hamilton is a mum of three kids aged under seven who writes as therapy whenever she gets the chance. Prior to getting absorbed into corporate/mum life, Leesa’s writing won awards through the Poetry Institute of Australia, the Banjo Paterson Poetry Festival and ABC’s Heywire writing competition. Her debut novel, Special Delivery, is an enemies-to-lovers rom-com with some hilarious side characters, steamy love scenes and a snarky, highly relatable protagonist.
Leesa is an author, tea-drinker and dancer from Orange NSW. She grew up on a farm in Central West NSW and used schoolwork as an excuse to avoid sheepwork. Luckily, her parents indulged her ‘commitment’ to her studies, which sparked her lifelong love of words and an enduring fear of hard labour.
After studying Media & Communications at the University of Sydney, Leesa worked in magazines before pivoting to corporate communications with all the grace of a D-grade netballer.
Book and pay:
Members, you can book for yourself and a friend at member pricing, if purchased at the same time.
Workshop: Members $40, non-members $55
If you have a Workshop Voucher, please email Julie Thorndyke, Workshop Coordinator, to advise your intention to attend.
Literary event: Members $25, non-members $40
Discount for full program (Workshop and Literary Event) when booked together:
Members $60, non-members $85
By Credit card: https://www.trybooking.com/CYAJC
or by Direct debit:
The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc
BSB: 062 018
Account: 00950433
Code: VM
Email Amanda and include
your name, receipt number and date of event
Zoom ($10) will be available for this function – please click here to book: https://www.trybooking.com/CYAIW