Varuna is the name of the beautiful writers’ centre located in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Truly a national centre, Varuna was instrumental in assisting me along the path to publication.
The house and gardens of Varuna were originally a gift from Mr Michael Dark to the writers of Australia in memory of his mother Eleanor Dark.
Varuna’s Executive Director, Mr Peter Bishop has been a mentor and friend to many new, inexperienced writers over the years.
Varuna has a number of different programs designed to assist writers of all experience levels and geographic location.
Scattered throughout the country are also various State Writers’ Centres which provide various kinds of resources and support for writers of all experience level. I have included links to them below.
For those writers who already have a completed work or works The Australian Literary Agents’ Association is a useful site. It provides a list of Australian agents who may be suitable to represent your work.
Hachette LivreMy publisher, of course!
Curtis Brown Literary AgentsMy Australian agent.
The “Write 2 Space” NewsletterA regular newsletter I put out.
For those writers who are interested, I have included below the potted history of my road to publication. From the writers I have come to know over the years it seems that each of them has a different story. Reading mine might provide you with some ideas, it might also give you some hope – if that is what you need – for the path from inspiration to publication took me many years!
No matter what the journey, however, I believe that at the basis of the success of every writer lies only one thing:
The ability to write consistently, write well and to have faith and enjoyment in the work that you do.