Tuesday, 25 February 2025

Time to renew your Booranga Membership for 2025 

Booranga Writers Centre suspended taking new memberships and membership renewals during 2024 due to our funding situation which prevented the production of our annual anthology of new writing fourW

Loss of funding means we no longer have our paid employees and have been obliged to offer a reduced program of activities run by volunteers.

Our AGM is now imminent (see below). To be eligible to vote and stand for committee membership you will need to be  a financial member. Accordingly we are reinstating membership at reduced rates to reflect our current operations. 

The new membership rates are $40 (concession $30).  

Benfits of membership:

·         Access to monthly writing workshops at Booranga Writers’ Centre  at member rates

·         10% discount at Collins Booksellers in Wagga Wagga

·         Invitations to writing events and get-togethers

·         Reduced rates at monthly writers’ readings

·         Access to a network of writers, book enthusiasts and other writers’ centres

·         Mentoring & editorial assistance from established Booranga Writers members

Membership payment may be made via any of the methods outlined on the form - follow this link.

Upcoming Events

Writers' Reading and Open Mic - Sean Mackel & Suzanne Stich


Seán 

Originally from Belfast, Seán has lived in Donegal, in the north west of Ireland for 25 years. His creative work has involved graphic design, fine art and creative writing. His poetry has appeared in Cuirt Journal, Cyphers, fourW, HU, Poetry Ireland Review, Waterford Review and as a chapbook, Strangled Laughter, Lapwing Publications. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre, QUB. Since completing his MA he has concentrated on fiction. His short story collection The River, Guildhall Press, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Prize. He has twice been shortlisted for the RTÉ Short Story Prize. A finalist in the Irish Writers Centre, (IWC) Novel Fair in 2013 and 2017, he has received Literature Bursaries and Awards from the Irish Arts Council, Donegal County Council and Offaly County Council. He has received a number of residencies including a fellowship with Varuna/IWC International Lamplight Residency in 2024. Currently working on a novel set in 1850s Melbourne, Seán was a former Senior Lecturer in Design at CSU Wagga and UU Derry. A member of the Society of Authors, London, and the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, Seán lives with a disability and identifies as an underrepresented writer.

Susanne

Originally from Nürnberg, Germany, Susanne has lived in Donegal, Ireland for many years. Her creative work has involved writing, film-making and photography, but in recent years she has concentrated solely on writing. Her work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, The Pig’s Back, New Irish Writing, Ambit and other places. She was shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize, the RTÉ Short Story Prize and a finalist in the Irish Novel Fair. She has received Bursary Awards from the Irish Arts Council, Donegal County Council and the John Hewitt Society. She holds an MA in Literature and Film Studies from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen, a PhD with creative practice from Ulster University, Belfast and has worked in the arts and educational sector as a lecturer, curator and facilitator. 

Friday, March 21, 6.30 pm, The Curious Rabbit,  44 Johnston Street, Wagga Wagga

TICKETS  


Monthly Writers' Workshop


Saturday, March 22, 2 - 4 pm, Booranga Writers Centre, Mambarra Drive, Charles Sturt University campus, Estella.  $10 members; $15 non-members. See Facebook page for more.

Annual General Meeting


5 pm, Wednesday, 26 March, upstairs at Romano’s Hotel, Fitzmaurice Street, Wagga Wagga. 

NOTE: You must be a financial member to vote and/or to stand for the Committee.






Sunday, 9 June 2024

Booranga Literary Prizes: Winners and Shortlists 2005 - 2023

 

Booranga Literary Prizes

Past Winners and Shortlists


2005: fourW sixteen – Inaugural Booranga Prize

Poetry

Keri Glastonbury – anti-suburb

Prose

David Orchard – Midnight Snow

No Short Lists

 

 

2006: fourW seventeen

Poetry

Alison Eastley (2 poems) –

Dead To The World My Body Was Sleeping

If you want to know the difference

Prose

Daniel King (2 stories) –

Nothing Contemplates Nothing

Driving Wheel

No Short Lists

 

 

2007: fourW eighteen

Poetry

Jill Jones – The Beautiful Anxiety

Prose

Daniel King – Heaven and/or Hell

No Short Lists

 

 

2008: fourW nineteen

Poetry

Alicia Sometimes – This Machine Kills Fascists

Prose

Alicia Sometimes – Artist. 2008

No Short Lists

 


2009: fourW twenty

Poetry Winner

Nicole Zdeb – Casual Hills Surround Me

Poetry Short List

Ivy Alvarez – from The Everyday Dictionary: A, M, X

Sam Byfield – Shipping

Brett Dionysius – The Diesel Age

Caroline Reid – A Ceremony to Commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth ll

 

Prose Winner

Kate Rotherham – HM

Prose Short List 

Daniel King – Your Pain is My Pain

Helena Pastor – Rubbing

Yasmin Sumner – The Last Bird

 

 

2010: fourW twenty-one

Poetry Winner

Brett Dionysius – Flight

Poetry Short List 

Ivy Alvarez – Chamuel

Alison Eastley – A Parcel

Jill Jones – A Time to Refrain from Embracing

Graham Nunn – Roadside Grave

Scott-Patrick Mitchell – our heaven will betray us

Andrew Purches – The Corpse Eaters

Laura Smith – Clinton’s Cunt

 

Prose Winner

Kirk Marshall – Bear vs Plane

Prose Short List 

Belinda Campbell – The Fowlers

Daniel King – The Spider in the Wind Chimes

 

 

2011: fourW twenty-two

Poetry Winner

Jane Joritz-Nakagawa – from Blank City

Poetry Short List

Ivy Alvarez – Cento Quattro

Matt Hall – Through Haul

Mark O’Flynn – Kate Moss

Goro Takano – That Thing: A Noh Script

Prose Winner

A.S. Patric – Guns ‘N Coffee

Prose Short List

Daniel King – The Quarry

Lara S. Williams – Penny for the Short Step

 

 

2012: fourW twenty-three

Poetry Winner

Michael Farrell – The Structuralist Cowboy

Poetry Short List 

Brett Dionysius – Calf Puller

Stu Hatton – a book of buddhist monks

Patrick Jones – Noxious

Vlanes – Homage to Camoens

 

Prose Winner

Beverley Lello – Especially to Women

Prose Short List

Mark O’Flynn – Dictation

Maryanne Khan – When the Boat Comes In

Daniel King – The Purloined ‘Purloined Letter’

 

 

2013: fourW twenty-four

Poetry Winner 

B.R. Dionysius – Mundgatta (Bunyip)

Poetry Short List

Christopher Barnes – Filming Blood-Shot Silk: Deleted Scenes

Rory Harris – Avoca

Jules Leigh Koch – The Affair

Scott Patrick Mitchell – slum fun

Corey Wakeling – Fake Cheese (Pont Mirabeau)

Chloe Wilson – Agent Gabriel

 

Prose Winner

Broede Carmody – Wet Season

Prose Short List 

Jane Downing – Millionaires

Daniel King – Train of Thought

Andrew Kirby – The Great Bear

Beverley Lello – Sleeping Diagonally

Sean O’Leary – Going all the Way

 

2014: fourW twenty-five

Poetry Winner  

Mark O’Flynn – Six Lipograms

Poetry Short List

Rory Harris – Grace

Alana Kelsall – no sure footing

Rosanna Licari – All Hallows’ Eve

Derek Motion – Winter Collation

Les Wicks – Atlantis

 

Prose Winner

Beverley Lello – Writers’ Retreat

Prose Short List

Jane Downing – Killiney Beach

Daniel King – This Room is not Me

Dorothy Simmons – Sight Unseen

Lara S. Williams – Losing Cooper

 

 

2015: fourW twenty-six

Poetry Winner

Derek Motion – Density

Poetry Short List

Adam Day – Dead Fresian in Winter

Jules Leight Koch – Port Melbourne

Julie Maclean – Prize Collection

Ron Pretty – Plans

Gail Willems – Today I Write These Sad Lines

 

Prose Winner

Maryanne Khan – An Inconvenience

Prose Short List  

Nadine Brown – Drowning

Jane Downing – As Time Goes By

Sean O’Leary – Nowhere

Mike Tager – Where the Dead go to Disco

 

 

2016: fourW twenty-seven

Poetry Winner

Julie Maclean – 41 North 50 West

Poetry Short List

Bronwyn Lang – Mind the Gap

Les Wicks – Riding the Heatwave

Mark Young – Les Colchiques

 

Prose Winner

Beverley Lello – Sounds Like rain

Prose Short List

Daniel King – Coign of Vantage

Sean O’Leary – Prince of the City

 

 

2017: fourW twenty-eight

Poetry Winner

Daniel King – King Henry X

Poetry Short List 

Adam Fieled – Nights I Staggered Drunkenly

Elanna Herbert – Road to Gallipoli: between Cappadocia and Pamukkale

Matt Hetherington – Seidel’s

Kit Kellen – Practice of disappearance

Andy Kissane – Caught

Derek Motion – Birds Poem

Graham Rowlands – Absolutely

 

Prose Winner

Mitchell Grabois – Stinky Cheese

Prose Short List  

Maryanne Khan – Sideways

Alison Lesley – Weightless

Julie Maclean – Joel and Jess on the Verge

Dorothy Simmons – In Your Face

 

 

2018: fourW twenty-nine

Poetry Winner

Andy Kissane – Sacrifice

Poetry Short List  

Christopher Barnes – (2 poems) Decorative value & Move-On Industries TM Breakout

Gary Langford – River Sheep

Wes Lee – The Split

Derek Motion – Glamping

Prose Winner

Dorothy Simmons – Opposable Thumbs

Prose Short List

Natalya Lowndes –as far as a clean white page

Jessica A. McMinn – The End is Where We Start From

Bev Smith – Late-Night Thursdays



2019: fourW thirty

Poetry Winner

Hugh Crago – Equal Rights for Gay Whales

Poetry Short List

Jenny Blackford – Snow

Jennifer Compton – Walking Distance

Elanna Herbert – East…West…East…West…East

Andy Kissane – Aubade for Johnno

Denise O’Hagan – Vermeer in Boston

Gail Willems – Lines of Light

 

Prose Winner

Rachel Mead – The Bouncer and the Blot Clot

Prose Short List  

Alan Fettling – The Balsa Canoe

Daniel King – Our Privacy Statement

Jessica A. McMinn – Touched

Jo Mularczyk – Adrenaline

 

 

2020: fourW thirty-one

Poetry Winner

Tug Dumbly – Fake Billy Collins Poem

Poetry Short List

Jocelyn Freeman – Water

Sarah Rice – Washing

Les Wicks – Misfits

 

Prose Winner

Jane Downing – Buena Vista

Prose Short List 

Jake Dean – Smoko at Pikers Hole

Kristin Hannaford – Someone for Everyone

Jessica A. McMinn – River Boy

Bev Smith – The Honey Bee Table

 

 

2021: fourW thirty-two

Poetry Winner

Damon O’Brien – How to Hold a Knife

Poetry Short List

Jude Aquilina – Beltana to Marree

Lachlan Brown – Prayers for the People

Tug Dumbly – Lychees

Diane Jacono – Before your anger wakes

Michelle Rickerby – Wintering

 

Prose Winner

Rachel Mead – The Bow at Full Draw

Prose Short List  

Tug Dumbly – Bunnings (where ‘lower prices are just the beginning’)

Daniel King – Everything that is Not You is Me

Kate Maxwell – Extra-Existential Angst

Jo Mularczyk – Soul on Fire

Alicia Sometimes – Incompleteness Is All We Have

 

 

2022: fourW thirty-three

Poetry Winner

Lachlan Brown – Underline for Effect

Poetry Short List  

Nathan Curnow – The Hare

Toby Fitch – Poem on Wind and Trees

Kai Jensen – Secular puja

Wes Lee – If you had Died Slowly

Mark Macleod – Blackberry Picking

 

Prose Winner

Jane Downing – Marx’s Pennies

Prose Short List

Raelene Brown – The Purge

Michael Crane – Barossa

Jo Mularczyk – The Empty Page

Sarah Symmonds – Children of the Flood-Plain

 

 

2023: fourW thirty-four

Poetry Winner

Linda Albertson – Some Woman

Poetry Short List

Lachlan Brown – Pneumatic: Eight ‘Sigh-ku’

Cary Hamlin – The Baby Locket

Mark Macleod – Chinese New Year, Gangtok

Neill Overton – Gimcrack

Jena Woodhouse – Midnight Trolleybus

 

Prose Winner  

Christopher Scriven – So much depends

Prose Short List  

Jane Downing – The Thing about things

N.G. Hartland – Carrot

Coco X Huang – Underground

Karla Portch – Down the line

Jennifer Severn – Birthday Girl