It was 25 years ago when now-acclaimed novelist Sarah Armstrong attended the first week-long retreat for the Byron Writers Festival (BWF), and she has returned as the mentor for four emerging authors for the BWF Residential Mentorship.
They spent five days at the beautiful The Bank House in Bangalow, writing, reading, receiving feedback and rewriting under Sarah’s guidance.
‘It’s been a thrill working with these four writers. They all have strong voices and compelling stories,’ she said, emphasising the importance of a regional program like this.
‘Emerging regional writers have fewer opportunities than their counterparts in the cities, which is why a program like BWF’s Residential Mentorship is so important.’
The four manuscripts are different genres and span nearly two centuries, from the streets of 1840s London and the Port Arthur penal settlement, to Gallipoli, a family yacht in the 1970s, and the quiet creep of postnatal depression into contemporary domestic life.
Coby Sullivan, from the Sunshine Coast, is working on Milk Fever, a novel about how quietly postnatal depression can creep into a home. At its heart, it’s about control and surrender, and how we define our self worth. “Having time to work on this story, in the company of other writers and with help from Sarah, has been the ultimate gift.”
Leah Ashenhurst, from East Ballina, is writing Storm, a novel about siblings who had an unconventional and traumatic childhood, and the effect this has on them and on the people who come into contact with them. ‘Having Sarah at hand each day to ask questions was invaluable and really helped me focus on what was most important. The accommodation and care Byron Writers Festival showed us through this program was top notch.’
Summer Thurlow, from Lake Macquarie, brought The Wrong Side of the World, a historical novel that threads mystery and fantasy through the lives of those caught in the Australian convict system in the mid 1800’s. ‘I feel so honoured to have spent time with Sarah and other writers, whose insights have helped bring my work closer to my vision. The experience was truly priceless and I walked away with a clearer sense of direction for my story.’
Craig Tobler, a writer and analyst from the Gold Coast Hinterland, worked on Magpie. A work of historical fiction that asks what it cost an Aboriginal man to enlist in an army that did not want him, and come home to a country that wanted him less. ‘Sitting with three writers at the same stage of our work, I stopped seeing Magpie as a draft I was stuck in, and started seeing it as a book I can finish.’
The five-day Residential Mentorship is Byron Writers Festival’s flagship development program for emerging writers.
Its alumni include authors Jessie Cole, Hayley Katzen, Jarrah Dundler, Bronwyn Birdsall, Mirandi Riwoe, Sally Colin-James, Emily Brugman and the late Jesse Blackadder.
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