Formerly Flash Fiction Fun Weekend Festival

Cancellation Notification
15th August 2021

It is with a heavy heart that the time has come to cancel this festival until further notice. Of course this will not come as a surprise to anyone, given the state of the nation right now in terms of lockdowns. I have postponed the festival twice now and I feel that it is no longer viable to hang on any longer given the current climate. And we are not the only ones either. The whole Creative Arts industry is affected and artists of all kinds, including writers, have retreated to online presentations.

I have taken the decision not to have this festival online, as I think that we will be pretty well zoomed out over the next little while and I don’t believe it’s as valuable as face-to-face events in person.

From an organiser’s point of view, cancelling festivals which have been growing in popularity, like ours has, and which are much needed networking and educational events for writers in a lonely profession, is very sad. Not to mention, the work that went into preparing it. This not only includes the administrators, but also the wonderful work in preparing for the festival, put in by the invited writers. who were keen to present to us. They have always been generously sharing with us, passing on the baton, so to speak, on the lessons they have learnt in their very successful careers so far.

I am hopeful that one day soon, (maybe in 2022?), it will be safe and predictable once more to hold in person literary festivals.

Meanwhile, we will be refunding all ticket holders for this event and keeping our fingers crossed that this too will pass, you all stay safe and healthy and one day you will be able to attend the WriteOn festival once more to share the craft of writing.

Suzanne Kiraly
Festival Director

August 15th, 2021

Featured Talks & Speakers

If you’re an aspiring writer, an emerging writer, or an established writer, then this weekend is for you. Unlike the regular readers & writers festivals, this event is specifically designed for writers, so you can rub shoulders with the most successful writers in Australia as they teach you how to hone your craft.

Felicity Packard

Screenwriter & Producer

Toni Jordan

Novel Writer

Nigel Featherstone

Literary Fiction

Sulari Gentill

Crime Writer 

Wendy Orr

Children’s Author

Ché Baker

Screen Writer

Gab Journey Jones

Performance Poet

Paul Bisset

Screen Writer

Josh Donellan

Performance Poet

Matt Rogers

Self-Published Writer

Marian Halligan

Veteran Novelist

Susanne Gervay

Children’s Author

Suzanne Kiraly

Festival Director

About Write On Festival!

Canberra’s Write On Festival (previously Flash Fiction Fun Weekend) brings edutainment and opportunity to emerging and established Aussie writers. Rubbing shoulders with our best-selling Australian authors, all of whom are high-flyers in their chosen genres, is the best professional development you can do in 2020.

Become a Published Author this weekend!

Every year festival attendees have an exclusive opportunity to compete in a writing competition. The winning entries are selected for publication in our next anthology to be launched at our 2021 festival.

Last year we launched Impact! It was a resounding success and the entries comprise an excellent anthology of short stories for those with little time. Short in length, but big in impact. Come along and enter this competition. You might just be featured in our next publication!

Who Should Come?

Formerly known as the Flash Fiction Fun Festival, the Write On festival is aimed at all writers, no matter what genre they specialise in or if they are emerging, mid-career, or established writers.

We have some of the most successful writers in a variety of genres sharing their expertise, their experiences, secrets and hot tips, as well as targeted workshops for writers to hone their craft.

The weekend is energising and highly motivational for writers, going on past attendees. It is set in one of Canberra’s unique boutique hotels, for an unforgettable experience.

Learn About: 

  • writer’s craft
  • writing for the screen/television
  • writing novels
  • writing short stories
  • writing historical fiction
  • writing for YA
  • self-publishing
  • earning massive passive income (eg $30,000 per month!)
  • wordsmithing
  • performance poetry
  • writing humorous fiction
  • writing books that people want to read
  • distributing your book
  • marketing your book

…and much more!

Keynote Presentations

Our keynotes go for half an hour and all speakers have been given the brief to tell the story of their writing journey, the lessons learnt along the way, and any hot tips to benefit your writing journey. 

Writing Workshops

These are the practical “hands on” sessions in which you are guided into writing activities where you can practise what you have learnt and get valuable professional personal feedback.

Q&A Panel Discussions

Our popular, informative panel discussions will feature once more. These will focus on audience questions as well as responding to some of the bigger questions pertaining to their writing practice/routines.

Tales AfterDark | Write On Festival

Do Something Different! Have Some Fun! Be Entertained!

PITCHFEST

Speed Dating Event with Publishers 

This is your  opportunity to pitch to several publishers in a 5-minute scheduled pitch of your book idea.

Receive valuable feedback on your idea and (in the best-case scenario) get a contract. It’s happened before. But you’ll need to book in quickly as spaces are limited due to time restrictions. Only 20 spots available.

Authors Presenting | Write On Festival

Felicity Packard

Over a career spanning more than two decades she has written hundreds of hours of television drama including for Janet King, MDA, GP, Blue Heelers and Home & Away…

Nigel Featherstone

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer who has been published widely. One of his novellas THE BEACH VOLCANO (Blemish Books, 2014), which was described as ‘Elegant and original’ (Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Accomplished – an intense fiction range’ (Canberra Times), ‘Utterly enthralling’ (Newtown Review of Books), and ‘Unforgettable’ (Verity Lane…)

Toni Jordan

Toni Jordan’s debut, the international best-seller Addition was longlisted for the Miles Franklin award and won the Indie Award for best first book. Fall Girl was published internationally and Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards and was named in Kirkus Review’s top 10 Historical Novels of 2013….

Sulari Gentill

A reformed lawyer, Sulari Gentill is the award-winning author of the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, the Hero Trilogy, and a number of standalone novels. She lives on a small farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, where she grows French Black Truffles and writes about murder and mayhem…

Wendy Orr

With a string of awards and accolades, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature, With a string of national awards including the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature and CBCA Book of the Year, Wendy Orr has written over 40 books and been published in 27 language….

Gabby Journey Jones

Gabrielle has shared her poetry at local, national and international events for over 20 years. Her first collection of poetry “Spoken Medicine” (2017) was published by Ginninderra Press. Gabrielle is inspired by creative communities which celebrate diversity, ativism and inclusion….

Ché Baker

Ché is an experienced author, film and video producer with 20 years in the industry. Working on projects from Dawson’s Creek to ‘The Hobbit’, as well as writing, producing and directing his own Feature film ‘Blue World Order’ (Billy Zane, Jack Thompson, Jake Ryan), Ché writes regularly for the screen in many formats…

Paul Bissett

Paul Bissett is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker who loves to write stories about time travel and warped realities. His TV comedy pilot, ABOVE THE ANGELIC, won the Page International Screenwriting Awards….

Josh Donellan

His debut novel A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India was the winner of the 2009 IP Picks best fiction award. He scripted and voiced the internationally popular Pocket Hipster iPhone application, even though he doesn’t have an iPhone. Josh was a state finalist in the 2012 and 2014 Australian Poetry Slams and a national finalist in 2015…

Matt Rogers

Matt Rogers is an author of page-turning action-thrillers from Melbourne. Over 700,000 copies of his books have been collectively read, borrowed, or sold on Amazon since beginning his career in 2016 without the advantage of a traditional publisher and building a considerable fanbase from scratch…

Marian Halligan

Marion Halligan has published more than twenty books. She has been short-listed for most of the prizes on offer, and has won some. She has regularly reviewed books, and likes to write essays.

Susanne Gervay

Susanne was awarded the Social Justice Literature Award for her body of works by the International Literacy Association. She has also been awarded an Order of Australia for youth literature, is a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Award 2020 and a writer ambassador for Room to Read with its affirmative action for girls in developing countries.

Suzanne Kiraly

As a writer, publisher, editor, bookseller and teacher, Suzanne has over 20 years of experience in all facets of the publishing industry. As a book coach she’s worked with talented Australian writers to teach them how to self-publish and make a passive income online…

FRIDAY 2nd October 2020

Location TBA

7:30pm – 10:00pm

 

TALES AFTER DARK

“Tales After Dark” is a unique form of entertainment. You will hear from talented local actors who will read aloud stories to amuse, delight, and entertain you. They’ll make you think; they’ll make you laugh; sometimes they may even make you cry; but generally, you’ll recapture the joy of being read to – just like when you were a child. These stories are more sophisticated, however, as they were designed for adults.

We select our short stories carefully, based on how well they are written and how they are suited to public performance. This is our most popular show and you can be assured that you will be entertained. Every show, we bring you exciting guest raconteurs, and this show includes one of the best in performance poetry, Josh Donellan from Brisbane. He’s a cut above the rest…

SATURDAY 3rd October 2020

East Hotel Canberra
69 Canberra Ave, Kingston ACT 2604, Australia

SATURDAY SESSIONS

Writing novels; performance poetry; YA historical fiction; and children’s books. We also have a 20-year-old author who is making $30,000 per month on Amazon! Find out how he does it. Saturday also includes the pitch-fest – a speed dating event with publishers which might just land you a book deal.

SUNDAY 4th October 2020

East Hotel Canberra
69 Canberra Ave, Kingston ACT 2604, Australia

SUNDAY SESSIONS

Writing for the screen, winning awards, marketing, using social media, distributing your books and more on the craft of writing and publishing your work. We will also have our popular writing competition book launch! This is an anthology of last year’s competition winners’ stories. Check out the book and enter for your chance to be included in next year’s publication. 

Full Program | Write On Festival

About Our Authors

Felicity Packard

Screenwriter & Producer

Felicity is a freelance screenwriter, script editor and producer. She is one of the creator-writers of the 2018 Netflix political/spy miniseries Pine Gap, which she also produced. Felicity is one of the creator-writers of the commercially and critically successful Underbelly true-crime drama franchise: Underbelly; Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities; Underbelly: The Golden Mile; Underbelly: Razor; Underbelly: Badness, and Underbelly: Squizzy, associate producing the last four. She was lead writer and co-producer on the ABC’s award winning ANZAC Girls, and adapted, wrote and associate produced Wolf Creek S1 for the SVOD Stan.

Felicity has won multiple awards for her screenwriting, including the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award (screenwriting) for episode 7 of Underbelly, Wise Monkeys. She also has won five Australian Writers’ Guild Awards for Underbelly, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, Underbelly: Badness and ANZAC Girls as well as being nominated on several other occasions. Over a career spanning more than two decades she has written hundreds of hours of television drama including for Janet King, MDA, GP, Blue Heelers and Home & Away.

Toni Jordan

Novel Writer

Toni Jordan has worked as a molecular biologist, quality control chemist, TAB operator and door-to-door aluminium siding salesperson, and is the author of five novels. Her debut, the international best-seller Addition was longlisted for the Miles Franklin award and won the Indie Award for best first book. Fall Girl was published internationally and Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards and was named in Kirkus Review’s top 10 Historical Novels of 2013. Our Tiny, Useless Hearts (2016) was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Toni has been published widely in newspapers and magazines. She holds a bachelor of science in physiology and a PhD in creative arts. Her most recent novel is The Fragments (2018). tonijordan.com

Wendy Orr

Children’s Author

With a string of awards and accolades, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature and CBCA Book of the Year, Wendy Orr has written over 40 books and been published in 27 languages. Her books include Nim’s Island, the first Australian children’s book to become a Hollywood feature film, the much loved YA novel Peeling the Onion, as well as the more recent and highly acclaimed Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance. Wendy believes that every child deserves to find the books that fuel their passion for stories, encourage empathy and connection, and empower them for the future. https://www.wendyorr.com

Nigel Featherstone

Literary Fiction

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer who has been published widely. His war novel, BODIES OF MEN, was published by Hachette Australia in 2019 and was shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards and received a 2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award. His other works include the story collection JOY (2000), his debut novel REMNANTS (2005), and THE BEACH VOLCANO (2014), which is the third in an award-winning series of novellas. He wrote the libretto for THE WEIGHT OF LIGHT, an adventurous and highly regarded contemporary song-cycle that had its world premiere in 2018. He has held residencies at Varuna (Blue Mountains), Bundanon (Shoalhaven River), and UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He is represented by Gaby Naher at Left Bank Literary, Sydney. opentopublic.com.au

Sulari Gentill

Crime Writer

A reformed lawyer, Sulari Gentill is the award-winning author of the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, the
Hero Trilogy, and a number of standalone novels. She lives on a small farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, where she grows French Black Truffles and writes about murder and mayhem. Sulari has won and been shortlisted in many awards including: the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Australian Book Industry Award, the Davitt Award, the Ned Kelly Award, and the Scarlett Stiletto Award. She was the inaugural Eminent Writer in Residence at the Australian Museum of Democracy. Most recently she won the 2018 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel and was awarded a 2019 Create Grant by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. sularigentill.com

Ché Baker

Screen Writer

Ché (Scott) Baker is a writer and film-maker who has recently returned from middle earth, on ‘The Hobbit.’ Scott was a storyteller from a young age, making up elaborate reasons why he wasn’t able to tidy his room – shifting the blame onto his older brother.
  Scott grew up in the Blue-mountains learning martial arts, reading novels and watching movies. He teaches film and lives somewhere on the highway between Sydney and Canberra in a little red Hyundi Excel….
‘The Rule of Knowledge’ is Scott’s first novel. His second novel ‘Blue World Order’ is due out later this year. Ché has produced a film version of ‘Blue World Order ‘ with co-creator Dallas Bland.  ruleofknowledge.com · bwomovie.com · fullpointfilms.com

Gab Journey Jones

Performance Poet

Gabrielle has shared her poetry at local, national and international events for over 20 years. Her first collection of poetry “Spoken Medicine” (2017) was published by Ginninderra Press. Gabrielle is inspired by creative communities which celebrate diversity, ativism and inclusion. She is completing her second poetry anthology this year with a focus on the courage to share personal truths and experiences through spoken word. poeticpercussion.com.au 

Paul Bissett

Screen Writer

Paul was the Director of the ACT Writers Centre 2018/19, responsible for Centre and staff management, and stakeholder liaison. Paul is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker who loves to write stories about time travel and warped realities. He is currently the Co-Artistic Director of The Australian Voice Collective, and is also an assessor for the Stowe Story Labs in Vermont USA. His TV comedy pilot, Above the Angelic, won the Page International Screenwriting Awards. His first feature film, In Search of an Ending, is going into production this year. Paul is an avid advocator for writers and their craft, with admiration for the way people use words to invoke emotional responses.

Josh Donellan

Performance Poet

J.M. Donellan is an author, podcaster, poet, and teacher. He was almost devoured by a tiger in the jungles of Malaysia, nearly died of a lung collapse in the Nepalese Himalayas and once fended off a pack of rabid dogs with a guitar in the mountains of India. He has performed at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, TEDxBrisbane, the Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Festival and some very prestigious basements. 

His writing spans a range of genres and formats in a manner that is either highly impressive or, in the words of his accountant, ‘irritatingly convoluted and frankly quite annoying.’ His recent works include the poetry collection Stendhal Syndrome, the Kirkus Prize-nominated novel Killing Adonis, the dance/spoken word collaboration Inter, and the podcast series Six Cold Feet. His children’s poetry collection 19½ Spells Disguised As Poems was released in January and is already being hailed as ‘the worst recipe book of all time.’ 

Matt Rogers

Self-Published Writer

Matt Rogers is an author of page-turning action-thrillers from Melbourne. Over 700,000 copies of his books have been collectively read, borrowed, or sold on Amazon since beginning his career in 2016. He turned a lifelong hobby and passion into a career by utilising the new age of publishing, marketing his work independently without the advantage of a traditional publisher and building a considerable fanbase from scratch. His novels tap into the timeless appeal of vigilante justice, centralising on two larger-than-life heroes — Jason King and Will Slater. mattrogersbooks.com

Marian Halligan

Veteran Novelist

Marion Halligan has published more than twenty books: some eleven novels, including Spider Cup, Lovers’ Knots, The Golden Dress, The Fog Garden, The Point, The Apricot Colonel, Murder on the Apricot Coast, Valley of Grace, and Goodbye Sweetheart, collections of short stories including The Hanged Man in the Garden and The Worry Box, and most recently Shooting the Fox; books of autobiography, travel and food, including Eat My Words, and a children’s book, The Midwife’s Daughters. The Taste of Memory: An Autobiography in Food and Gardens, was published in September 2004. She has been short-listed for most of the prizes on offer, and has won some. She has regularly reviewed books, and likes to write essays.  Currently she is writing small memoir pieces. She has received an AM for her services to literature. Valley of Grace, Allen & Unwin, March 2009 won the ACT Book of the Year and was long-listed for the IMPAC Prize. Her most recent novel is Goodbye Sweetheart, published in April 2015.

Susanne Gervay

Children’s Author

Susanne Gervay’s books address all ages from pre-school to young adults, and empower young people to engage in feminism and human rights. You’ll find Susanne at the Istanbul Literary Festival speaking to thousands of young adults about women’s rights when Turkey is facing terrorism and threats to democracy. You’ll find her in remote indigenous communities empowering women elders and children through her stories. Her powerful speech at the World Burn Conference in New York on her novel Butterflies addressed feminism and disability. In a juvenile detention centre, Susanne shared her books inspiring teenage girls who deserve a future.

She was awarded the Social Justice Literature Award for her body of works by the International Literacy Association. She has also been awarded an Order of Australia for youth literature, is a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Award 2020 and a writer ambassador for Room to Read with its affirmative action for girls in developing countries. When the Museum of Australia asked Susanne to write a story for young people from 7 to 10 on the second rise of feminism, she wrote Daisy Sunshine. Her young adult novel Shadows of Olive Trees lays bare feminism. This makes Gervay the first writer to reinterpret the lived experience of young women in the seventies for an audience of young readers today. Susanne is a national and international speaker, ambassador for literacy and social justice organisations..

Suzanne Kiraly

Festival Director

As a writer, publisher, editor, bookseller and teacher, Suzanne has over 20 years of experience in all facets of the publishing industry. Previously, as a book coach, she worked with talented Australian writers for nine years, teaching them how to self-publish and make a passive income online.

Since 2010, Suzanne’s passion project has been aussiewriters.com.au which is a not-for-profit organisation entirely focused on discovering, exposing and promoting talented Australian writers. Through her events, social media and publications she has exposed numerous talented writers who also pay it forward by exposing others. She believes, as Aussie writers we are all in this together!

In 2020 Suzanne has been appointed as a judge for Reedsy (UK) blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests and runs writing courses / workshops / literary events (including this one). Her greatest claim to fame is that she can recognise writing talent in others.

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