Welcome back to Westerly HQ for 2016. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
We are very excited to share our plans for 2016 with you!
In a first for Westerly, we will be launching two special online issues to go along with our regular print issues. Readers will be able to access these two special issues for free through the Westerly website. The first, coming out in April, will be a collection of essays based on the University of Western Australia’s 2015 Day of Ideas. The second, entitled ‘Westerly: New Creative’, will give emerging writers the opportunity to have their work published and gain exposure within the literary community. It will come out in the second half of the year.
Our print issues will have a different feel in 2016. The July issue will focus on Australian Indigenous writing, under the wing of guest editor Stephen Kinnane. The issue will be centred around the theme of renewal, and submissions will open in January. Our November print issue will be a general issue open to all submissions.
There will be some great events, as well – starting in February, when we will be joining the Perth Writers Festival to bring you something special with the Randolph Stow Memorial Lecture. This year’s lecture, at the Romeo Tent on 4.00 pm Feb 21, will be delivered by Suzanne Falkiner, who will draw on research from her book, ‘Mick: A Biography of Randolph Stow’, to be be launched at the event’s conclusion. The lecture will offer an insight into Randolph Stow’s life and writing, featuring first-hand photographs and letters. This is a free event, and a wonderful chance to hear Suzanne speak about one of WA’s finest authors.
At Poetica, Westerly’s own Lucy Dougan will be joining Dennis Haskell and Peter Rose on Feb 19, 2.30 pm, to share their new poetry with a live audience. Tickets are free, so be sure to come along and see three award-winning poets live in a rich discussion of literary art.
UWAP will also be celebrating the presentation of the inaugural Dorothy Hewett Award, judged by a panel including our own Lucy Dougan, niece of Dorothy. Our local writers will be interested to attend the Dorothy Hewett Award Workshop, a participatory workshop with the judges and winner of the 2015 Dorothy Hewett Award. The judges will be speaking about what they, and other judges, look for in winning manuscripts. Bookings are free, but required.
In February, we will also be launching a crowdfunding campaign through UWA’s CrowdResearch platform. We will be calling on the support of the wider community to see us deliver on all the great initiatives we have planned and continue our mission to showcase WA literary talent to our readers. We at Westerly are proud of the contribution we make to cultural life in WA, and with your support, look forward to publishing this state’s finest creative writing and poetry for many years to come. Look out for the campaign on our social media and at http://crowdresearch.uwa.edu.au/contribute. Please do get involved!
With all this happening, we can’t wait to get going in 2016. We hope it is a good one for you all as well!
Thank you for the continued support,
The Westerly team.