Inspired by the life and history of John Curtin, writers are invited to attend a workshop and networking event about writing history.
Before he was Australia’s 14th Prime Minister, John Curtin was under the tutelage of none other than Norman Lindsay. Inspired by his early life the National Trust of Western Australia and Writing WA invite emerging and established writers to attend our 2023 Curtin Family Home Lecture: Writing History.
Author Josephine Wilson will discuss her process, learnings and time taking part in the National Trust INSPIRE Writers in Residence Program. Following this, author Melinda Tognini will lead a writer’s workshop designed to help ignite passion, find purpose and connection – INSPIRing and guiding West Australian writers with an interest in Writing History. Refreshments will be served.
Josephine Wilson bio
Josephine Wilson is a Perth-based writer and academic. Her novel Extinctions (UWA Publishing, 2016) won the inaugural Dorothy Hewett Award, the 2017 Miles Franklin Award, the Colin Roderick Award, and was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literature Award. Her first novel was Cusp, (UWA Publishing, 2005). Her creative output includes performance, poetry, essays and reviews. She lectures in English and Creative Writing at Murdoch University
The Topic is “A Drought of Ideas.” My talk discusses the beginnings of a creative project, which I identify as an historic artefact (a letter) written in the period of John Curtin’s Prime Ministership. I propose that all creative projects which are ostensibly fictional exist in tension with ‘the real’, and how my brief residency in Curtin’s former home influences my project.
Writing History workshop
Do you have an historical event, person or era that fascinates you but are not sure how to convey that on the page? Whether you are writing fiction, non-fiction or even poetry, join author Melinda Tognini for a workshop that will help you ignite passion, find purpose and develop connections between the historical past and the story you wish to tell.
Melinda Tognini bio
Melinda Tognini’s creative work has been published in magazines and anthologies in Australia and the US. Her first book, Many Hearts, One Voice: the story of the War Widows’ Guild in Western Australia was published by Fremantle Press in 2015. She teaches life writing and family history at Sheridan Institute of Higher Education, works part-time for Writing WA, and is currently a PhD candidate at Curtin University.
Upswell Publishing and Terri-ann White bio
Terri-ann White was Director and Publisher at UWA Publishing 2006–2020 and in that time published around 450 books: fiction, poetry, narrative non-fiction, scholarly, and art and natural science monographs. Terri-ann is also a writer of fiction and non-fiction. In 2021 she founded the new Perth-based publisher Upswell Publishing, with an interest in writing that sits outside of mainstream trends: narrative nonfiction, fiction and poetry. She is interested in books that elude easy categorising and work somewhat against the grain but contribute to our literary and cultural heritage. Terri-ann runs publishing workshops regularly because there are few ways to source information about this puzzling and alchemical work. Plus, these days there are far too many writers and not enough readers to sustain ambitious writing in the book market (ie don’t give up your day job!).
Ticket options
If you have any access requirements that we should be aware of, please let us know during the registration process or get in touch with National Trust of Western Australia via phone (08) 9321 6088 or email engagement@ntwa.com.au.
With thanks to:
- Presenting Partner, Writing WA
- Supporting Partner, Lotterywest
