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Writers’ society treating Goldfields authors to weekend of creative workshops

Headshot of Madeleine Clark
Madeleine ClarkKalgoorlie Miner
Society of Women Writers WA chair Helen Iles.
Camera IconSociety of Women Writers WA chair Helen Iles. Credit: Andrew Ritchie/Community News

The Society of Women Writers WA will conduct a marathon writing competition and six two-hour writing workshops on August 20-21.

Held at the John Forrest Room, Quality Inn Railway Motel Kalgoorlie, the workshops will be run by experienced, award-winning writers Helen Iles and Maria Bonar.

The society makes the trip to Kalgoorlie-Boulder every couple of years for events for members and local writers.

Iles said the weekend of workshops would be a great opportunity for regional authors to connect with others and have their work critiqued.

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“We have a good weekend together as a group as well as mingling with the local writers,” she said.

“The local talent in Kalgoorlie-Boulder is very good.

“One year we came up to run the creative writing workshops and some students from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder high school attended.

“The students produced some really fantastic work. There are definitely some authors coming out of that group.”

The marathon writing competition will take place on August 20 from 10.30am to 4pm.

Society of Women Writers WA vice-chair Maria Bonar.
Camera IconSociety of Women Writers WA vice-chair Maria Bonar. Credit: The Society of Women Writers WA/Supplied

Participants will be given a series of writing prompts — a word, a phrase, an image or a song to generate ideas for writing stories, poetry or articles.

There will be 10 challenges, each lasting 20 minutes, and the overall winner will receive a trophy and certificate.

Society chair Iles said the aim of the marathon was to produce first drafts and fresh new material for writing projects.

“Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation or spelling. Let the words spill out on to the paper. You will be surprised at how much writing you can produce,” she said.

Alongside the competition, a series of workshops will take place during the weekend.

On Saturday, writers can attend Plotter or Pantser from 8am to 10am and Writing Murder and Mayhem from 6pm to 8pm, both run by Iles.

Run by Bonar on Sunday, Life Writing/Memoirs takes place from 8am to 10am, Turn Prose into Poetry from 10.30am to 12.30pm, Colour Meditation for Writing from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and Erotic Fiction for Women from 3.45pm to 5.45pm.

Each workshop costs $35 for society members, or $40 for non-members. The marathon tickets cost $30. Both men and women are eligible to attend.

For bookings, information or membership inquiries, email swwwabookingofficer@gmail.com or call 0429 116 395.

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