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Westerly Writers Development Program 2018

In partnership with Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre and with the support of The Copyright Agency‘s Cultural Fund, Westerly Magazine is thrilled to announce the third group of successful applicants to our Writers’ Development Program 2018!


Introduced in 2016, the Westerly Writers’ Development Program has been instrumental in providing mentoring and publishing support to Western Australian emerging writers. This year we are happy to welcome five new writers to the program where they will gain vital publishing experience that we are sure will lead to future writing success.

With another crop of quality applicants this year, our decision was as difficult as ever, but we’re pleased to announce that Nicole David, Andrew Sutherland, Michelle Symes, Kyle Orton and Skylah McNeair will be going through our Writers’ Development Program over the next year! The successful applicants will be mentored by experienced and award-winning WA authors, will participate in an amazing writing workshop, and will have the opportunity to take a short residence at KSP. At the end of the program, we’ll get to see their work published in print and online! Westerly loves running this program; we’re wishing our participants a wonderful and memorable journey. We can’t wait to see what they produce!

Here are our five successful applicants participating in the program this year:

Nicole David is a writer and musician from Perth with a background in fine arts and internet studies. She currently works in digital learning and design at Curtin University.

Andrew Sutherland is a writer, theatre-maker, and poet working between Perth and Singapore. His theatre works include Unveiling: Gay Sex for Endtimes, Baby Girl, Chrysanthemum Gate, and Ragnarok. He was awarded Overland‘s Fair Australia Poetry Prize 2017 for his work, ‘East Perth [imagined nation]’.

Michelle Symes is currently realising her dream of writing as a PhD student at Edith Cowan University; working on a novel related to themes of compassion and belonging. Michelle has a background in journalism, documentary creation and corporate communications.

Kyle Orton was born in the Gascoyne and raised in the Gascoyne and Pilbara regions and has a deep love of the countryside and the coast, which is where most of his work is born. Kyle now lives in Perth city and writes poetry when time permits.

Skylah McNeair is a first year Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Western Australia. Last year, she completed the Aboriginal Orientation Course through the School of Indigenous Studies at UWA. Skylah is living away from home and has been involved with writing and writing programs since primary school; she is passionate about writing and expression. Skylah hopes to make a career in journalism and writing creative fiction and nonfiction upon graduating university.

This group of talented participants are sure to produce some amazing work over the next year so please subscribe to the magazine and stay tuned!


Westerly would like to thank both the Copyright Agency‘s Cultural Fund and Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre for their support of this program.

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