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Join us and meet other writers!

In the leafy grounds and hibiscus shade of the Fremantle Arts Centre Café.

Flame Trees in the Courtyard

Take your time to feel the energy of leaf power.

Friendly Fauna

Oh good, a bunch of writers with food!

Always be on the lookout for strange characters

They will make an interesting plot.

Haiku for Joyce

concrete two-seater
come, come, all writers sit on
my hard art

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Winners of OOTA's Spilt Ink Poetry Competition 2012



Competition Secretary Helen Trengrove read out the Judge's report on behalf of Zan Ross who could not attend, but was there at our AGM in spirit.

SPILT INK Judge's report, 2012 by Zan Ross  
First of all I’d like to say that I was pleased to find the overall quality of entries so high.  As anyone can tell you who knows me even slightly, I’m difficult to impress. Among the strengths in the submissions in total was an attention to specific detail which anchored the reader firmly into each piece; unusual ways of describing the commonplace; a boldness of vocabulary; adventures in sensuality; decisive endings; and focus on the smooth scanning of lines. In selecting the finals winners, then, I demanded something more, and found it: depth of meaning achieved through specificity of detail that carried me beyond what I might find for myself or on the surface of words/events; unusual and consistently used metaphors; adventurous juxtapositions; overall jettison of superfluous adjectives; and the avoidance of abstract nouns (such as “soul”, “love”).

First Prize "Senses" by Christopher Konrad
Zan Ross (and we quote from her report)  "What can I say that would be praise enough...The piece had a delicacy of touch that only supported the strength of language used. I was able to enter into it fully, give myself over to its passion, and still feel as if I could return to it again and find more to delight. I can give no higher approbation than to say, I wish I had written it myself.

Second Prize: "Karri Hazel" by Josephine Clarke
Sensuality at its best, I believe. And yet, the poem anchors Nature in the human experience, into celebration and intimacy until the reader literally cascades into the final line, "there are ways of finding light I long to know". As do I.

Third Prize: "Dreams of Detectives lost, lonely and frozen (after Bolano)" by Christopher Konrad
At this point it must seem like some sort of conspiracy - I selected another piece by Chris. Certainly, I didn't intend to - the two poems couldn't have been more different, which just goes to show how versatile the poet is. Anyway, it was the sheer understatement that captured and held. Konrad managed to maintain the metaphor of tragedy that consumes and destroys almost without a false step.

Highly Commended: "The Wardrobe" by Helen Hagemann
A very neat flawless rumination, deftly crafted, on the concrete souvenirs of our past which encapsulate memory and identity. I particularly loved the metaphor of clothing, especially the "little black dress", which framed and delivered the piece into the stunning final lines.

Highly Commended: "Picasso Still Life with Chair Caning" by Rose van Son
How Rose transformed description of a still-life into an experience of a moment in the life of artist and poet is sheer brilliance. The writer is both the narrator and the artist through contemplation. Have read this piece many times for the sheer joy of the journey.

Commended: "Ode to Brel" by Tineke van der Eecken 
Lyrical and lilting, faultless in its rhythm and detail, this poem makes you long for the experience of Brel.

Commended:  "Breathing Flower" by Rachael Petridis
I would have awarded this piece a prize just for the last two lines, “Move your lips./ Move your red lips.” Fortunately they weren’t the only luscious experiences of language here. Read it; hear it; be consumed by the deft use of words and metaphor.

AGM 2012 & NEW COMMITTEE 2013


OOTA Committee October 2012-2013



2012 was a great year for OOTA with many of our members published or winning competition prizes. Even more significant was the response and support from twenty-five members who attended our AGM on Saturday, 20th October. There was much to discuss on the day, and with spirits high, buoyed by our longevity and successes, we resolved our aims and objections for the continuance of a great writing group at the Fremantle Arts Centre. We dispensed with any negativity and heralded in the new team for 2013.

President:  Julie Watts
Vice President: Helen Trengrove
Treasurer: Leanne Searle
Secretary: Lucas North
Membership Coordinator: Leanne Searle
Agenda Coordinator: Rose van Son
Newsletter Editor: Louise Lazer-Wright
Web: Helen Hagemann

Ordinary Committee Members: Carolyn Abbs, Lucy Czerweic, Liz Hearnden, Kamille Roach and Vivienne Glance.

Some Photos of our Happy Group
Committee 2012-2013

Members enjoying AGM Refreshments

Rachael Petridis

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Congratulations Rose van Son! for her article in the Weekend Australian



Congratulations to Rose van Son (our Agenda Coordinator) for her article in the Weekend Australian (20th-21st October) called This (singing) Life.

"THE choirmaster, Martin, had told us to wear black. Black T-shirts and black trousers or skirts for the girls.
Although we were far from being girls, I felt a girlish nervousness come over me for the first concert in my new choir. I had been singing with the choir for only six weeks: one day a week for two hours....."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/this-singing-life/story-fn9n8gph-1226498492775?fb_action_ids=270501553070125&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582


Friday, October 5, 2012

viva la NOVELLA!


Seizure is on the hunt for invigorating fiction and are launching a new novella competition for Australian and New Zealand writers.
If you sometimes think that novels are just obese novellas, then you’re on our wavelength. And since we are theme-lovers this time we are challenging all writers to tackle the theme: ‘Origin’. You can take this as the start of a series, the genesis of a character, a history or a myth.
Closes: 1st November   http://seizureonline.com/projects/viva-la-novella/
 

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Opportunity! The Red Room Company seeks your work.



THE RED ROOM COMPANY is seeking poems about places all around Australia for a nation-wide edition of our innovative new app, The Disappearing.

We're looking for new poems that explore everything that vanishes: buildings, ideas, people and places. To participate, send us a new poem about something in the process of disappearing, and tell us about the place that inspired it. We pay $80 for every poem published.

Send us a single word document with:

- a previously unpublished poem
- a 50-100 word description of the place that inspired it
- a gps location, address or the name of that place
- a short bio and your contact details

Because Sydney is already extensively mapped, we'll be preferencing poems about places elsewhere in Australia. And, if you've already submitted to the Sydney round, we want to hear from you again!

Email your submissions to disappearing@redroomcompany.org

Entries close on Sunday, October 28, 2012.

 http://redroomcompany.org/

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