F*CK COVID

As the leading organisation for writing in the ACT region, MARION supports and grows the innovative, diverse, and established writing sector that is a part of our vibrant arts landscape.At MARION, our vision is to elevate not just our writers, but our writing sector to a level that ensures funding and recognition on-par with other art disciplines. By providing the highest quality professional development opportunities, as well as networking and collaborative pathways for writers, we are shaping an environment in which they can build a sustainable creative practice. Through our initiatives, resources, leadership, and facilitation of connection, we play a pivotal role in elevating writers and their art.

MARION

A special initiative of ACT Writers, F*CK COVID: an online literary affair will feature intimate online panel discussions with four of Australia’s most exciting literary voices. Both sessions, which will be live (and not recorded), will include a generous allocation of time for audience interaction. F*CK COVID is a free event. However, donations will be gratefully received and in their entirety will go towards paying the participating writers. We suggest a donation of $50-100.Program1.30pm-3pm: Irma Gold and Mark Brandi talk HARD TRUTHS/RISKY FICTION - facilitated by Nigel Featherstone3.30pm-5pm: Shu-Ling Chua and Sneha Lees talk PAST-PRESENT: NEW ADVENTURES IN NON-FICTION - facilitated by Nigel FeatherstoneBoth sessions will be using the Zoom platform. The link will be provided by email shortly before the event. It is each participant&#x27;s responsibility to ensure they have a stable internet connection and Zoom installed before the event.About the authors and moderator:Mark Brandi’s bestselling novel, WIMMERA, won the coveted British Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year. His second novel, THE RIP, was published to critical acclaim by Hachette Australia in March 2019. Mark’s shorter work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, the Big Issue, and in journals both here and overseas. His writing is also sometimes heard on ABC Radio National. Mark graduated with a criminal justice degree and worked extensively in the justice system, before changing direction and deciding to write. Originally from Italy, he grew up in rural Victoria. Mark now lives in Melbourne and his latest work of fiction is THE OTHERS, also published by Hachette Australia.Shu-Ling Chua is a Melbourne-based (formerly Canberra-based) essayist, critic and poet, whose work has appeared in Peril Magazine, Lindsay, Meanjin, and Asian American Writers’ Workshop, among others. Her debut essay collection, ECHOES, was published by Somekind Press in 2020. Shu-Ling was shortlisted in the 2018 Woollahra Digital Literary Award, highly commended in the 2017 Feminartsy Memoir Prize and selected for the 2015 HARDCOPY manuscript development program. She has completed writing residencies at the Wheeler Centre and KSP Writers’ Centre.Irma Gold is an award-winning author and editor. Her debut novel, THE BREAKING, was released in March and has been receiving critical acclaim. Her short fiction has been widely published in literary journals, including Meanjin, Island, Westerly, Review of Australian Fiction, Award Winning Australian Writing and Going Down Swinging, and her acclaimed collection of short fiction is Two Steps Forward. Irma is also the author of four children’s picture books, most recently Where the Heart Is, which was read by Fergie, Duchess of York, on her Storytime channel. Her fifth picture book, Seree’s Story, will be out with Walker Books in 2022. As editor Irma works for a range of publishers, big and small, and was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra for a decade. Irma is Ambassador for the Save Elephant Foundation, Ambassador for the ACT Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge and co-host of the writing podcast, Secrets from the Green Room.Sneha Lees writes on Boon Wurrung land. Her writing has been featured in The Guardian, ABC Everyday, SBS Voices, South Asian Today and The Big Issue among other publications. Her book GOOD INDIAN DAUGHTER was published by Affirm Press in May 2021 under the pseudonym Ruhi Lee. In 2019, she was a recipient of the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund and her manuscript was shortlisted for the Penguin Random House Write it Fellowship. In 2020, she was commissioned to write for Multicultural Arts Victoria&#x27;s Shelter program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) and Bachelor of Commerce (Human Resource Management) from Monash University and is now studying Screen Production at The Compton School, University of Canberra. She is currently working on a screenplay. Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer who has been published widely. His war novel, BODIES OF MEN, was published by Hachette Australia in 2019. It was longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, shortlisted for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year, shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards, and received a 2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award. Nigel is also a librettist, playwright, and writer of short stories, novellas, and poetry, and has been published in most Australian literary journals as well as the Sydney Morning Herald, Chicago Quarterly Review, and The Millions. He lives on unceded Ngunnawal/Gandangara lands, otherwise known as the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. From 2014-2018 Nigel coordinated ACT Writers’ HARDCOPY program and is currently ACT Writers’ creative producer. Nigel is represented by Gaby Naher, Left Bank Literary.Book sales courtesy of Harry Hartog ANU.If you&#x27;d like to become a member of ACT Writers, please go to https://www.actwriters.org for all the information. We look forward to welcoming you!Please note this event has a capacity of 50.

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F*CK COVID

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