How lockdown provided the opportunity for budding writers from Australia's famed book town, Clunes, to become published authors.
Members from the group were locked down like just about everyone else in Victoria, with little to no opportunity for face-to-face contact.
Over the next two years, Unmasked grew into a collection of 150 individual pieces. Some are stories of 1,000 words or more. Others are poems with fewer than 20."We wanted the opportunity to put it down in black and white, so we felt like we were really authors of our own work. "It was also to recognise so many people's experiences [during that time] … their stories are interesting to other people."The Clunes Writers' Group includes well-known Melbourne poet Ken Smeaton and Castlemaine Poetry Readings prize winner Gail Oliver."This bunch come from so many different backgrounds and from so many different places," Ms Skinner said.
"We have people who have moved [to] Clunes in the past few years from the big cities, from other states, but we also have people who have lived in Clunes all their lives and like to write about the great environment we live in. "There are writers like Ken Smeaton who has been in the Melbourne poetry scene for many years, but there are also writers who have come along to the group with no experience and who are very unsure about it."For a moment I thought I couldn't write anymoreOr put into picturesFound something to write about"He is a writer who can put his words and thoughts down very quickly. Quite often, he will compose a poem in a matter of minutes," Ms Skinner said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The book that tore publishing apart: ‘Harm has been done, and now everyone’s afraid’Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?
Read more »
The book that tore publishing apart: ‘Harm has been done, and now everyone’s afraid’Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?
Read more »
Dom Phillips knew risks but was committed to his work, sister saysBritish journalist whose body was found in Brazilian Amazon believed book he was working on was ‘urgent’, says Sian Phillips
Read more »
Literary experts find John Hughes’ plagiarism defence unconvincingScholars respond to author’s explanation for his new book appearing to copy some parts of classic texts
Read more »
Literary experts find John Hughes’ plagiarism defence unconvincingScholars respond to author’s explanation for his new book appearing to copy some parts of classic texts
Read more »
Greens dump new convenor over trans commentsThe newly elected convenor of the Victorian Greens, Linda Gale, has been ousted from the role for written statements she made in 2019 about trans issues.
Read more »