Issue 3 - May/Jun 2011

Welcome to the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre

The Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre is a full-time centre that provides resources, information and literary activities for writers and readers. The Centre offers a year-round program of workshops, seminars and events as well as the annual Byron Bay Writers' Festival. Find out more.

What's New

Young Writers on Safari

tristan web Looking for ways to keep the kids entertained at the tail end of the January school holidays? How about a 2 day Writing Safari workshop with popular children’s and YA author, Tristan Bancks? Having written several books for children and teens – including the brand new Galactic Adventures, First Kids in Space, My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up, the Mac Slater and Nit Boy series (the latter currently being developed for television), and the YA novel it’s your life – Tristan is also highly sought after for his workshops. Kids love him because of his enthusiastic approach to writing and his use of a range of media to tell stories; parents and teachers love him because of his encouraging and inclusive manner, and the way he inspires kids to have fun with their imagination. With Writing Safari, Tristan has designed a fun and active two-day writing adventure where young participants (aged between 9 and 13 years) will be encouraged to use nature, their own lives, and the world around them for inspiration.
Day one will involve fully supervised walks along the beach and through local parks, tracing Tristan’s own regular writing paths and teaching kids how they can use the world around them to inspire their stories.
Day two will see kids taking the characters and ideas they discovered on safari and spinning them into stories. Kids will also be encouraged to use a range of tools to structure their story, including Tristan’s new Story Scrapbook app.

The two day Writing Safari takes place on Thursday and Friday, 19 and 20 of January, from 9am to 1pm each day.
The cost for the workshop is $80 for NRWC members and $95 for non-members.
Tristan’s previous workshops have booked out fast and this one promises to be especially popular with aspiring young writers. Bookings are essential and can be made by calling NRWC on 02 6685 5115 or emailing Siboney Duff on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Be sure to register early to avoid disappointment.