Williamstown Literary Festival

VU have a close association with the Williamstown Literary Festival as sponsors, but also through associations with various courses, ours being one of these. Each year we encourage our students to attend the festival, and indeed this forms part of our Industry Overview subject for our on-campus students. (We also run this subject online, but as many of the students who do it online are remote, we can't use this festival as part of our coursework for these students.) I know last year's students had a great time, and many will be returning again. Our Novel 2 class work as shortlisting judges for the Ada Cambridge competition, and past students have worked on placements with the festival committee or as volunteers. It's a great festival -- and I know feedback has often been about how friendly it is compared to some of the other festivals that are around.

For more information about the festival, including the program, have a look at their website -- you can download entries there for the Seagull Poetry Prize and for the Ada Cambridge Prize for short biographical writing. Entering competitions is a great way of beginning to build your writing CV -- you never know what you might win. Last year three of our students -- Lucia Nardo, Hugh Deacon and Denise Hughes -- either won prizes or were shortlisted (and published) in these competitions. (Remember, we have competition entry forms for both competitions in the office (10.248). Closing date is 1 March, so if you're interested, you'd better get onto it quickly.

Tracey Rolfe

Poetry Bus

The Poetry Bus was another Rotunda event that proved popular last year. Here's what Bruno says about this year's event:

Our poets (Kristin Henry, Tom Petsinis, Lisa Gorton (if available)) take you on a mystery ride in a red double-decker bus to gorgeous, serene city places. All you have to do is lay out your picnic rug, pour your wine and smear dips on your crusty bread and the poets will read to you and lullaby you in the mild autumnal air.

And further information about the event.

ROTUNDA

IN THE WEST

by popular demand

Twilight Poetry Bus

with poets
Kristin Henry
Tom Petsinis
Lisa Gorton

Friday 26 March
5:30 pm until after dark

Our poets take you on a mystery ride in a
red double-decker bus to gorgeous city places.
Just lay out your picnic rug, pour your wine and
smear the dips on your crusty bread while they
will read to you in the mild autumnal evening.

Pick up/drop off at VU Footscray Nicholson campus,
cnr Albert & Austin streets Footscray.

$10 or $5 concession
RSVP essential: bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au
0422 29 86 43
presented by
Professional Writing & Editing TAFE
(School of Creative Industries, VU)
www.creativeindustries.vu.edu.au

Helen Garner and Hannie Rayson come to Rotunda

Here's some information about our first Rotunda events. Rotunda is open to students and the general public and is proving very popular with everyone, so make sure you book early. (And if you're a student, remember there is always space reserved for PWE students, so even if you've heard an event is full, please come along if you're interested!)

Helen Garner and Hannie Rayson
in conversation with Bruno Lettieri
Thurs 11 March
6:30 pm, VU Footscray Park campus
Ballarat Road, Footscray
RSVP essential $10 or $5 concession
bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au, 0422 29 86 43
Presented by
Professional Writing & Editing
in the School of Creative Industries
Supported by
Office of Community Engagement & Office of Vocational Education
ROTUNDA
IN THE
WEST
WWW.VU.EDU.AU/CREATIVEINDUSTRIES

Platform launch

Platform isn't actually a PWE venture, but Bruno who runs the show is one of our teachers, and two of our students last year did placements with Platform, while another two worked as editors, so we have a close association with this magazine. (And that's before we consider our staff and students who have been published in Platform! If you're not one of them yet, what are you waiting for? We know Bruno loves receiving submissions from our students.)

Youth, VCE and Community Education
Victoria University
Invites

teachers, VU students, secondary students, staff, welfare folk, and our community friends interested in writing
to
LAUNCH of PLATFORM (Edition 5)

Writers include: John Marsden, Michael Hyde,

Lisa Gorton, Julie Bourne, Clare Boyd-Macrae,

VCAL students and much more

Special Guest: John Marsden

Thursday 18th March
3.30pm (drinks and nibbles)

Auditorium T134 (Telford Building)
Footscray Nicholson Campus
Victoria University

Come and hear John Marsden launch Platform 5 and take questions too.
Come collect your personal and class copies of Platform.

RSVP(essential): bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au 0422298643

SEED looking for submissions

Okay, I've grabbed this information of the SEED flyer, so here it is . . .

Attention all VU Writers and Artists!
SEED

The magazine for students by students

We invite you to publish your work, opinions, thoughts and ideas!

We are now taking submissions for Issue Two.

(Deadlines: articles/artwork – March 23rd , advertisements – April 2, 2010).

The theme is OPEN SLATHER on any subject, so send us your submissions.

Submit your essays, reviews, fiction/non-fiction pieces, poetry, artwork, etc to: seedmag@live.com.

Guidelines are as follows:
Any picture you wish to submit with articles will be considered and should conform to the artwork requirements.

Submissions
All email submissions must have a title and author name in the subject field. In addition, title, author name and contact details must be included in any article, review, poem or artwork. Writers/illustrators will be notified via email as to whether or not their work has been selected for publication. Submissions will be edited, and an editor may contact you throughout the process.
SEED wants to hear from students from all VU faculties. What do you want to read about?

Write about:
Your letters and opinions: respond to previously published work, comment on a current issue or just have a good whinge about something (not a waxing rant though—about 200 words).
Around Uni: Write about VU—events, services, faculties, internship programs, history, anything.
Student Successes: know anyone who’s taken off from the VU launch pad? Interview them—let us all know what they’re up to and how they got there.
Reviews: give us your take on a record, book, live performance, festival, venue, sporting event, etc. You can either snatch the material we tee up (email your interest—first in best dressed) or bring your own gear to the party.

For any and all enquires, suggestions, questions and submission pitches, please contact us at seedmag@live.com

We look forward to working with you.

Articles
Format: Times New Roman, 12pt, single space.
Word count: 1500 word (thereabouts).
Reviews, Letters and Opinions: word count between 200-250 words.

Artwork
High resolution digital photo or scan minimum of 300 dpi, TIFF and JPG file format.
File title to include a brief description of work.

Plenty happening in PWE

Welcome back to all our existing students, and a big welcome to all of our new students. All the staff at PWE hope you'll have a productive, exciting and challenging year studying here with us.

Whew! Is it only Week 2? Classes are under way, and already my head is spinning with all the different things that are happening, especially in the office. Our online classes are beginning this week, or in some cases (Picture Books) began last week. Bruno's got Rotunda up and rolling. Students are settling in to their new classes. News is coming in of current and past student successes: Tarryn Reid, Fiona Browning and Remo Pitisano are the new editors of SEED magazine and are calling for contributions; Matthew Naqvi has been appointed editor of Offset. Well done, everyone. It's really exciting for us to see you all doing so well.

In the meantime, six members of our Novel 2 class have just volunteered to be part of this year's Ada Cambridge Prize (for a short biographical or autobiographical piece of information), which is part of the Williamstown Literary Festival. Past students who have done this will tell them what a rich and rewarding experience this will be. (And if you'd like to enter either the Ada Cambridge or the Seagull Poetry Prize, we have entry forms in the office.)

All I can say is that I'm excited to be here as part of such a dynamic course!

Tracey Rolfe