Hello fellow writers and readers! Lovely to see you here.

One of the things that many writers struggle with is that creative impulse. Sometimes it’s hard to locate that impulse, to know how to engage with it and to understand why it’s absent, especially in moments when you desperately need it to “show up”. You would also know that it’s hard to conjure up this creative impulse. It either is there or it isn’t. Simple as that. Some writers give us advice that when this happens we must just keep writing, no matter how we feel. Ernest Hemingway famously said:

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Others seem to imply that you simply need to wait for the creative impulse to come and “land” on or visit you, as though it were a spirit. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, tells us that when she was writing this book, she spoke out loud to this “Elusive Creative Genius” and said:

“Listen you, thing, you and I both know that if this book isn’t brilliant that is not entirely my fault, right? Because you can see that I am putting everything I have into this, I don’t have any more than this. If you want it to be better, you’ve got to show up and do your part of the deal. But if you don’t do that, you know what, the hell with it. I’m going to keep writing anyway because that’s my job. And I would please like the record to reflect today that I showed up for my part of the job.”

Kavita Bedford is no stranger to the struggles we have as creatives in maintaining focus and energy for our work in an “attention economy” that entices us with distractions and leaves us feeling anxious and weary. We want to invite you to come along to her workshop, which will be held in Sydney on October 17th.

Together, we’ll explore:

● practical ways of responding to creative resistance and self-doubt,

● building a writing practice that fits the realities of your life,

● balancing routine with experimentation and play,

● approaching criticism with curiosity rather than fear,

● writing with greater empathy; for yourself, your characters and your readers.

This workshop is less about finding the “right” way to write, and more about discovering the conditions in which your own creative practice can flourish.

Please go to this link for more information and to register:

https://events.humanitix.com/deepening-your-creative-practice

Early bird price ends 31st August.

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In other news, we attended the South Coast Writers festival this year which we loved. More and more we are enjoying these hyperlocal festivals that are open to welcoming those who want to know more about their place and land and what creative work is coming from those places. Here is a link to an article we wrote about “Hybrid authors” which came through in a session we attended about the ever-changing world of publishing. You could be a “hybrid author”!

We also loved this article by Tom Rowley who now runs an independent bookshop. He makes a good point in this article that authors often think that once their book is published the journey is over. Bt in fact the journey now begins to getting your book in book shops and out into the community.

He writes encouragingly however that;

Finally, if anything, it encourages me. That is because, by demonstrating the cacophony of competing voices, it highlights the difference just one bookshop — and ultimately just one reader — can make by championing a particular title. By picking it out of the mass of paperbacks shouting for attention on a bookshop table and pressing it into a reader’s hands. By being so won over by a debut novel that you force the rest of your book group to read it. By posting some lovely words about a new release on Instagram and tagging the author: you may have been one of thousands of their readers that week, or one of only a handful; either way, that author knows that their work has struck a chord, has made a stranger laugh or cry.

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Constellations: Submissions now open.

We have launched our online magazine, Constellations. If you are an Australian writer, we’d love to hear from you! Submit your short story, flash fiction, narrative non-fiction, photos or poetry to us by 31st August on the topic of “luminous”. More info in the link below.

Other offerings:

• Self-editing online workshop with Armen, Hannah Holford and Alison Hill.

• All about publishing your book with Bakers Lane books, Aniko Press, Steff Fenton and At the Edges.

• The Writing Studio is on every Thursday morning at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. Contact us for more info.

• We have started a monthly online “Reading to Write” group. We read a short story before the gathering and then go online to discuss what we can learn from it to apply to our writing. Our next meeting is on Saturday, 12th September at 9 am. Let us know if you are keen to come.

• Our first book, Edge-walkers: Reimagining faith, church and theology, has been No. 1 in Amazon’s “Faith Deconstruction” category for two months now. You can also buy it from Booktopia, Gleebooks and Abbeys.

• Our second published book, Homecoming: The art and practice of trauma recovery by Ratu Nida Farihah, is out! You can also buy it from Amazon, Booktopia, Gleebooks and Abbeys.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is …

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

With love from

Karina

and

Armen

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The South Coast writers festival was a lovely place to be last Saturday. An article in The Wheeler Centre newsletter shared about how wonderful smaller local festivals are, as they are grounded in history, place and local history. We agree and found the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival last week to be a warm, inviting and intimate space.

One session called “From Pen to Published” featured local authors Courtney Peppernell and Pamela Cook who write poignant explorations of grief and loss, belonging and love. They discussed their latest books and shared their publishing journeys in conversation with novelist Meredith Jaffé.

A point that stood out to us as publishers was the notion of the hybrid author. This is an author who might be contracted to a large publishing house but who also self-publishes. It was interesting to hear that the stigma associated with self-publishing has virtually disappeared as more and more authors go down the self-publishing pathway.

Three reasons the authors gave as to why they self-publish, despite also being contracted to large publishing houses, were:

*The instability and pressure of publishing today. Large publishers are driven by the market, which can sometimes be cruel. Authors are dropped as quickly as the are picked up if they lose their marketability.

*The desire to have some flexibility. Understandably, publishing companies tend to box writers into a genre for marketing purposes. Some authors want the freedom to play with other genres.

*The desire to understand the publishing process themselves and be in control of that process. Often, with traditional publishing, once you are given an advance you surrender the process of editing, graphics, typesetting, proofreading, publicity and timeline to the publisher. Sometimes it’s hard to understand the process unless you go through it yourself as a writer. Self-publishing allows you to have control over every step of the process and gives you an insight into how things work. This means you can question and discuss with the publisher any concerns at the various stages of the publishing process in a more informed way.

We think this is a fascinating development to watch for as the publishing landscape keeps changing in Australia.

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Hello fellow writers and readers! Lovely to see you here.

This month, two things have stood out for us. The first is the difficulty in sustaining momentum as a writer. Writing can be such a solitary pursuit and it can be hard to keep the momentum going. Of course, then there is the inevitable imposter syndrome that surfaces when the rejection emails come flooding in. Every writer has felt the sting of receiving that email. Even though you knew hundreds of people had applied to the residency, publisher, course or journal, it’s still hard to swallow not getting accepted after all the hours you put into writing the article or proposal.

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Secondly, I (Karina) have been thinking about the power of creativity for healing and transformation. In the book Your Brain on Art: How the arts transform us, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, there are a few fascinating chapters on the power of poetry. The authors write:

Our brains are hardwired for the rhythms and rhymes of poetry, lighting up the right side of the brain, while a poem that truly resonates with us does so at a neurological level by stimulating the areas of the brain that are associated with meaning-making and the interpretation of reality. Poetry, at a cognitive level, can help us make senes of the world and consider our place in it.

This means poetry can be good for our well-being.

In a 2015 interview with Krista Tippett on the popular On Being podcast, poet Mary Oliver spoke about her troublesome childhood, and then said, “I got saved by poetry” and “I got saved by the beauty of the world.” She also said poetry accesses that “wild, silky part of ourselves”. The way Oliver speaks about this art form sounds spiritual, sensual and evangelical. It’s as though there has been a conversion experience; as though something within her has shifted and she has seen the light in the midst of her dark days. During the interview, Tippett speaks about poetry as a form of healing and asks, “How do we ground ourselves again and again?” She continues: “Poetry plants us in our bodies. It plants us as much in what has been experienced as in our thoughts. That’s how we become whole.” Words are powerful not only because they convey truth in the most impactful ways, but because those very same words can bring healing and flourishing to our lives.

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At the Edges offerings:

Our big news is that we have launched our online magazine, Constellations. If you are an Australian writer, we’d love to hear from you! Submit your short story, flash fiction, narrative non-fiction or poetry to us by 31st August on the topic of “luminous”. More info in the link below.

• The Writing Studio is on every Thursday morning at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. Contact us for more info.

• Our first book, Edge-walkers: Reimagining faith, church and theology, has been No. 1 in Amazon’s “Faith Deconstruction” category for two months now. You can also buy it from Booktopia, Gleebooks and Abbeys.

• Our second published book, Homecoming: The art and practice of trauma recovery by Ratu Nida Farihah, is out! You can also buy it from Amazon, Booktopia, Gleebooks and Abbeys.

• Our next event is a poetry reading gathering with much-loved Australian poet Mark Tredinnick this Saturday, 18th July at 10 am. This is a gathering for those who love words. If you are a writer, you know that to develop your craft you need to be able to "read well". Mark Tredinnick will show us how to read poetry well so that we might improve our writing skills. Whether you are a writer of non-fiction, fiction or poetry, this is a gathering for those who believe in the wonder and enchantment of words. The event will be interactive and there will be space for conversation.
  
  This is an online event. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. Open only to those currently living in Australia. Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/poetry-reading-with-mark-tredinnick

• We have started a monthly online “Reading to Write” group. We read a short story before the gathering and then go online to discuss what we can learn from it to apply to our writing. The first meeting was wonderful! Our next meeting is on Saturday, 8th August at 9 am. Let us know if you are keen to come.

Here are some other upcoming events.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is …

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

With love from

Karina

and

Armen

Subscribe now

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When did you first get interested in poetry?

I never wasn’t. But it wasn’t interest: it was love. And it was complicated and compulsive and heavy and eternal like love. At least it felt like that by the time I was in the final years of high school and reading G. M. Hopkins and John Keats and Emily Dickinson and finding what felt like the life I had to lead in them, the secret code to living well and making beauty. I think I “got” poetry like I “got” sandstone ecosystems and Dvorak’s cello concerto and cricket and soccer. And I realised most people did not similarly understand and love and need it (poetry) as I did.

But my calling to poetry … it began in the music my mother played on piano and organ and stereo—Bach and Grieg and Debussy and Vaughn Williams—and it began in some hymns (mostly by Charles Wesley) I got used to singing and hearing in church, and it began in an awareness the my grandfather made and delivered sermons each week and it began in reading Psalms and Ecclesiastes and the Gospel of John and it began in the poetry of some works of fiction I read (Watership Down, The Hobbit, TLOtR, Doctor Zhivago, White Fang, The Nargun and the Stars, Wind in the Willows ... And it began in a very deep feeling for and yearning for and delight in rocks and trees and creeks, in particular those around where I grew up in Warramudegal country (Epping); and for pastoral landscapes and ridge-lines and for horses. I felt the same way about the light and forms of nature as I did about phrases and lines of poetry, sometimes whole poems...

Poetry, of all the written forms, maybe of all the artistic forms, is the best matched in intensity and shapeliness and self-containment and form to the way a human life manifests—a chain of discontinuous profound moments. A poem is more like a place than a story, and our lives are made of places, some of which we enter again and again; others we encounter only once and are changed by.

What would you say to people who tell you, “I’m not really into poetry”?

I get it. Poetry has become harder to fathom than it should be and than it used to be. That has happened because of wrongheaded (I think), if well-intentioned developments in the theory and practice of poetry over the past one hundred years, which have led to the outcome in the past fifty years that most readers don’t know any more what it is about a contemporary poem that is poetic and how they are supposed to engage with a poem and what it is supposed to be doing for them.

So I’d say, seek out some poems that are less lost on you, and I can give you a list. Poems that are both beautiful and useful, delightful and comprehensible and instructive. And there have always been plenty of such poems and there are many being written and published even now. But poetry has, by its own failures and self-concern, largely lost its readership. The poets have run themselves out of town. Again, not all of them/ us. But enough that trust has been lost. My work as a poet and as a teacher and as an advocate for poetry is to win that trust back.

My list would include poems by Mary Oliver, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Robert Gray, Rumi, Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins, just as a beginning.

What do people most commonly misunderstand about poetry?

The mistake is to sit a poem like a test. Bad way to approach the task. Don’t think you are asked to fathom or decode it. Admittedly, poems are, among other things, oracular, riddling, compressed. But so are places, so are people. Don’t sit a poem like a test. Enter a poem like a place, like a garden, like someone’s mind. Spend some time. Observe what is there and how it makes you feel. A poem that is any good is not reducible to what it appears to protest or propose. A poem is, again like a place or a moment, a manifestation of being. It is an event in words. It is an architecture of utterance. Enter into it and pay attention to it and how it changes you. There’s the poem.

Also, two more things: 1. Look at it before you read it. See it first as a form and wonder about that. A poem is a room or a series of rooms. Don’t jump to interpretation: just look and then enter. And 2. Sound a poem out. A poem is, as James Langenbach once said, “the sound of language organised in lines”. So see the lines; count them; say them. Sound the lines. Sound yourself. How are you now?

How do you think poetry can re-enchant a world that is often disenchanted?

Chanting is, of course, poetry’s work. A poem is an act of speech, and sculpture of voice. But in a poem, the deal has always been that the thing sings almost as much as it speaks. A poem is kind of speech-song. It chants; it does not merely think or say. And if you stop and think about it, there is something that music makes happen to and in and of us—especially the kind of music the human voice makes—that speaking prosaically, writing logically or narratively, does not fashion. Poetry works longer and deeper and more sensually, emotionally and spiritually than prose because it engages in musical utterance. It pays attention to the shapes of its sounds, its rhythms and cadences and alliteration—its speech music of all sorts—in ways that even the finest prose does not because it is not concerned to. And so we are touched and altered by the sound structures of music at the same time as we are engaged by, shuddered by, struck by its images and storylines and messages. Sometimes we are so affected, you would call it magic or healing.

The magic poetry works is closest of course to a SPELL: because poetry as art happens in words, phrases, letters ordered not just for sense but for their aural adequacy to shape an experience for a reader. Poems cast spells, then. And some of them, and so it often is for me and often was as a child, feel like spells that make my own life older, wiser, more lovely, more complicated, and the whole world more layered and ancient and endless than either it or I had felt a moment before. Perhaps it is that the world of all being operates at many frequencies at once and some of them are lyric frequencies, and those feel oldest and most like wonder and awe and truth, and poetry in its care for rhythm and everything else about writing that most writers are not so interested in.

I like the way Emily Dickinson said it. Life is a spell so exquisite that everything conspires to break it. And ain’t that just so? Poetry, she did not say, but meant, recasts the spell that life is. The divine gift of our lives in the divine gift of this world.

What would you advise someone who wants to start reading poetry?

Find poems that don’t confuse you too much but tax you a little. Start with short ones. Let poems that stop you and delight you lead you to other poems in their kinship group. Where to look though? I can recommend books, but I’d start with these four sites online. Poetry is Not a Luxury. The website of the Academy of American Poets @poets.org. The Poetry Foundation website. The Slowdown, fantastic site, founded by Major Jackson, that shares a quite accessible, old or new poem a day and talks about it a bit. The Red Room Poetry Company.

What are some of your favourite poems and why?

Seamus Heaney’s Postscript. Such clarity and grace and spiritual wisdom. Some of Basho’s haiku. Billy Collins’s “Litany”: its humour and seriousness, the loveliness of its references. Linda Gregg’s “Adult”: its “grownupness”. Jack Gilbert’s “Horses at Midnight Without a Moon”: the horses, the gladness, the moon, the easy wisdom. Mary Oliver’s “The Grasshopper”, Anne Sexton’s “The Black Art,” for its wit and sexiness about creativity and love. Judith Nangala Crispin’s “ ON Finding Charlotte,” for its simple profundity about a moment of discovering oneself and life. Parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Sappho’s Ode to her love. Louis Macneice, “Snow” for its line “the drunkenness of things being various.” Ellen Bass’s “Indigo”. Larkin’s “The Trees” and “The Mower” for its line “let us be kind while there is still time.” And Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”

I like poems that are at once plainspoken and modest and simple and not as simple as they seem and ambitious for truth and astonishing: in their honesty, in their wit, in their seeing, in their thinking, in unpretentious.

It may seem odd, but I think some of my favourite poems are some of my own. Not because I wrote them but because they found me and I didn’t muck them up, and because the reason one writes is because poetry inspires one but the poems one most wants written probably arise in one’s own life and voice. House of Thieves, Soft Bombs, Fire Diary. Some others.

What will you bring to this poetry reading gathering on Zoom on 18th July?

All these thoughts, some metaphors for how to understand a poem, a few poems from above and a couple of new ones by me.

Mark will be facilitating a poetry reading zoom session on 18th July 10 am.

To book your place, see the link below.

https://events.humanitix.com/poetry-reading-with-mark-tredinnick

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We are thrilled to announce the launch of Constellations, an online magazine for writers drawn to the luminous.

We are now open for submissions and would love to hear from you if you are an Australian-based writer.

Our first issue will be published in late October. As it’s our inaugural issue, the theme will be “Luminous”.

Give us your best writing on the luminous - however you creatively interpret this word.

Def: Giving off light, bright shining.

What makes you feel luminous? What draws us towards the luminous? Do we ever want to escape the luminous?

Some words to get you started: hope, enchantment, spiritual, faith, doubt, mystery, wonder, confusion, awe, ineffable, world-repair, nature, mystic, connection, devotion, luminous-dark, create, evoke.

Or anything else you can pitch to us that stirs our imagination!

Here are the details:

There are four categories. We will publish two works in each category:

Flash fiction: 500-750 words.
Fiction: 2,000 words.
Narrative non-fiction: 2,000-3,000 words.
Short form poetry.

We are also happy to receive relevant photos on the theme for possible inclusion in the magazine!

What not to submit: Sorry - no fantasy, sci-fi, new age or self-help.

Also,

No preaching. No previously published work. No racism, sexism, queerphobia, gratuitous sex or violence and no AI-generated work - we are a values-driven venture, so we will only accept what contributes to human flourishing.

The timeline:

Monday 31 August at 5 pm: Deadline for entries.

End of September: We will advise you whether your work has been included and come back to you with any edits.

End of October: Publication of online magazine.

To submit, you will need to become a paid subscriber to At the Edges. You can choose one of two plans: $8 per month or $96 per year.

Please email us:

Your Word document with your work, along with a 50-word bio. Make sure you include your name, the category of your work (flash fiction, fiction, narrative non-fiction or poetry) and the word count. Please also provide a high-resolution profile pic.

Formatting requirements: Font: Cambria. Line spacing: single. Paragraph spacing: 3-point single spacing between paragraphs (in the Word menu bar, go to Format > Paragraph > Spacing). Do not indent paragraphs.

Email your Word document to info@attheedges.com.au with the subject line ‘Constellation submission’.

We are sorry that we can’t give feedback on the submissions that don’t make it into the magazine. We will, however, let you know (gently) if your work does not get published. We know how hard you work as writers!

We look forward to reading your work.

Armen and Karina

At the Edges

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous telling our stories from the edges

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Hello fellow writers and readers! Lovely to see you here.

We’ve had a busy month, with several people contacting us who are thinking about publishing their books. We marvel at the fact that only a few years ago, hybrid and self-publishing were considered secondary to traditional publishing, yet now there are so many options. Self-publishing is one of those options. With the fragmentation and crisis within the publishing community, people want to get their books out and are ready to do so on their own rather than seek the traditional publishing route. And we are so impressed by the quality of self-published books today! More and more, these books are being accepted in bookshops and among the writing community. We think this is a great development for reading and writing overall.

What’s been your experience with publishing your book?

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We had our little stall at Surry Hills markets this month. Thanks to those who stopped by The Nook to say hello. People bought our books, and some borrowed them to read at a local cafe. People loved the idea of being able to borrow a book and return it to us. It was a beautiful way to connect with the local community.

We also loved catching up with Emily (Anniko Press) and Ginny (Bakers Lane Books) at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. They are also Australian independent publishers who are devoted to publishing good writing.

Here is your monthly roundup of books, courses and resources, especially curated for all you antipodeans.

This month we want to dedicate our newsletter to the Aussie writers on Substack. Here are a few people we have connected with and enjoy reading. It’s been a great little community for us in the last month. Do you know of other Aussie writers you love to read on Substack?

Lee Manell - writing literary horror

Elizabeth Walton - a sublime poet

Australia Shorts Podcast for short stories

Sudeepa Nair - novelist

Annabel Brown - writing about love and politics

Sarah Barns - writing on place and meaning-making

Eda Sophia - for all things curious and Spanish

Spark in the dark for some ruminating about AI recently.

Emerging eco writer on Substack Donna Cameron

And…

Stan Grant and Stephanie Dowrick for being luminous Australians.

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I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like Claire Keegan’s work, and recently I have been inspired to read her again. We will look at one of her short stories in our monthly read-to-write group this month. Here’s a good interview with Keegan, as well as a few questions asked by students about her beautiful novella, Foster:

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/irish-novelist-claire-keegan-horses-marriage/106131476

https://www.juliangirdham.com/blog/claire-keegan-on-foster

At our recent market stall, I had my copy of The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges on the “to borrow” table. Someone wanted to buy it from me, but I simply could not do it! Which book on your bookshelf could you never let go of?

And speaking of books we love, here are a few I have read over the years and more recently that have stayed with me. Which books have stayed with you?

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At the Edges offerings:

• Writers Studio is on every Thursday morning at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. Contact us for more info. (shout out to Jonty who has just completed his first draft of a literary horror novel.

• Our first book, Edge-walkers: Reimagining faith, church and theology, has been No. 1 in Amazon’s “Faith Deconstruction” category for weeks now. You can also buy it from Booktopia and Gleebooks.

• Our second published book, Homecoming: The art and practice of trauma recovery by Ratu Nida Farihah, is now out! You can also buy it from Amazon, Booktopia and Gleebooks.

• Our next event is a poetry reading gathering with much-loved Australian poet Mark Tredinnick on Saturday 18th July at 10 am. This gathering is for those who love words. If you are a writer, you know that to develop your craft you need to be able to "read well". Mark Tredinnick will show us how to read poetry so that we might be re-enchanted by poems. Whether you are a writer of non-fiction, fiction or poetry, this is a gathering for those who believe in the wonder and enchantment of words. This is an online event and there will be space for conversation. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. It’s open only to those currently living in Australia.

  Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/poetry-reading-with-mark-tredinnick

• We have started a monthly online “reading to write” group. The idea is that we read a short story and then discuss what we can learn from the reading to apply to our writing. The first meeting is Saturday 27th June at 10 am. Let us know if you are keen to come.

Here are some other events coming up. (And watch this space for our writers’ platform we are trialling on this Substack - submissions open in July!)

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is ….

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

With love from

Karina

and

Armen

Subscribe now

This is a short post written with a posture of questioning rather than offering an answer. I’m curious.

As publishers, just like everyone else in the writing community, we are very concerned about the encroachment of AI into this precious space. It’s unfair that AI should plagiarise, replicate and gather writing that authors have been working on for years and then spit it out for mass consumption, especially without acknowledging the source. The thought makes my stomach turn. And as publishers and writers we believe that, if we use AI - and most of us do in some shape or form - this should be very clearly stated. Also, like everyone else I’m concerned about the men with virtually absolute power - men who are machiavellian, narcissistic and psychopathic - shaping AI to create a world of violence and destruction. It’s a dystopian picture of the future certainly.

I hear all the comments about how AI is fake and sub-human and could never have that special quality that comes from human-produced work. I once typed into AI, “Write me a poem about winter in the style of poet Mary Oliver”. It churned out something that was probably Oliver on a bad day.

Yet I’m also wondering that, while AI may not be able to compete with human sentience now, it most probably eventually will. There’s no doubt that AI is an emerging intelligence that could very likely become conscious in a way that is similar to human beings.

Alongside that thought, I’m also listening with curiosity to the comments that AI could never be or do what humans do, and thinking, “Is this yet again privileging human beings and implying that we are exceptional? Isn’t that how we got into this mess with the environment in the first place? By thinking we are special and unique? Are we not part of nature and part of the non-human world also? Would that include AI? If AI is also part of nature and ‘made from the stars’, just like us, does it deserve more respect as an emergent reality?”

In a lecture I recently attended, the expert on AI told us from the platform to think carefully about how we “raise” AI. The world “raise” was used intentionally. We can raise AI badly or we can teach it to develop well - to be ethical and kind, and maybe not to copy other writers works. For instance, he told us that he teaches his AI not to be sycophantic, an accusation often made of AI. While some powerful men are raising AI for the destruction of the world, we could have the opportunity to raise AI differently.

I’m also thinking about the writing community. There is a lot of derogatory talk about AI, making fun of it and debasing it. I’m not sure about that anymore. Again, if think about raising it well, why not speak kindly to it and about it? Why not talk about “interacting” with it rather than “using” it? I do also wonder if there is writers’ exceptionalism showing itself. Does it reveal our tendency to believe in the “god-like” author myth - the narrative that says that authors are endowed with a creativity that is unlike other human beings? That they are superhuman? It then becomes an insult to writers to think that AI can produce similar work. Could the writing community need some dethroning and admit that writers actually work in community anyway? Editors, proof-readers, typesetters and AI are all part of a community and, if writers are honest, they know that these other creatives make their work look good.

Again, I’m simply curious here. But I do know I’m getting a little tired of AI-bashing and the exceptionalism of human beings that emerges in these discussions. I do wonder if there is more to explore here as a humanity and as a community of writers and publishers. It’s true that we still need to be very critical of AI and that it cannot match the “soul” of writing. But it might one day. And one day this emergent intelligence might be partners with us - that’s if we raise it well today.

Would love to know your thoughts if you are a writer or publisher, and if you are interested in emergent intelligence and consciousness.

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Hello fellow writers and readers.

Really nice to see you here.

This month I (Karina) have been thinking a lot about that balance between engaging in a creative venture and working a paid job. Most writers know what it’s like to need to hold down a job that will fund their creative work - which often does not pay. Writing is a calling for me. I can’t simply “produce content”. I need time to think, reflect and journey inwards to tap into my deepest parts where my words come from. I know many others who feel the same way. But I also need to eat. So I need to work to get an income. I like my work but I need to write. So at times it can be frustrating - this writing life. What about you? Tell us. What helps when you are frustrated by the creative/work tension? I’d love to hear from you.

Anyway …

Here is your monthly roundup of books, courses and resources, especially curated for all you antipodeans.

Recommended reading

This month we have been reading about collapse, the hope for a new humanity and the stories of women.

i eat the stars by Sarah Wilson - timely, poignant, easy-to-read, challenging and ultimately for a better humanity.

Beyond Wellness - a USA-based writer telling us about the spiritual roots of the wellness industry. Can we stop colonising that space?

All Her Lives - a beautiful read about the lives of women across time, published by UQP.

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Words about writing

Speaking of balancing money, time and creativity …

https://www.artshub.com.au/news/opinions-analysis/we-need-a-national-cultural-policy-that-backs-working-writers-2858350/

And we loved this podcast by Anna Featherstone on publishing and promoting your book:

https://annafeatherstone.com/beyond-bookshops-bulk-sales-gifting-and-alternative-distribution/

New poetry

Poet Will Small has published his next volume of works. How do we stay tender in a world that is fraying?

https://www.willsmall.com.au/store/p6/thefossilofus.html

Writers’ Festivals

I’ll be heading over to the Words on Waves Festival on May 30-31. There is a great line-up of speakers, including a talk on finding meaning today in a world that is collapsing.

https://wordsonthewaves.com.au/

Our articles on publishing

We published two articles this month discussing the two pathways to publication - traditional and self-publishing. And we looked at what makes self-publishing good.

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And … a shoutout to our two independent publisher friends who are punching way above their weight!

Pink Shorts Press - catch their interview with Emily Hart on the Heaps Creative podcast.

https://rss.com/podcasts/heaps-creative/2812989/

Baker’s Lane Books - latest very cool book release for young adults.

*Special mention - one of our favourite online mags, Kill your Darlings, is now on Substack, so make sure you subscribe.*

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At the Edges offerings

• Writers Studio is on every Thursday morning at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. Would you like to join a monthly Saturday workshop? Let us know if yes.

• Our new book is out! We have been No. 1 in Amazon’s “Faith Deconstruction” category for weeks now. (You can also buy it from Booktopia.)

  

• Our second published book, Homecoming: The Art and Practice of trauma recovery, by Ratu Nida Farihah is out now! Our book launch last week was standing-room-only at the marvellous Gleebooks in Glebe. Photo of the event at the top of this page.

• Next week, our little writing community will go to a few of the Sydney Writers’ Festival events together. Want to join us?

• We are considering starting a monthly Zoom book club if there is interest. Are you keen? Let us know.

• We will be at the Surry Hills Markets on June 6 for The Nook. You can buy a book at our stall, or borrow a book for $6.50 and take it to read at Wilson Cafe across the road to claim your discounted hot drink in a comfy lounge setting! Hope to see you at the markets.

• Coming up in July, there will be another Connecting with Your Creative Self workshop.

• And …. a Zoom self-editing workshop. How do you work with an editor? How do you find a good one? What are the kinds of editing available for you? Can you edit your own work? All these questions and more as we reveal the mysteries of editing in our workshop in August.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is ….

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

With love from

Karina

and

Armen

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Walking around the neighbourhood recently, we bumped into a neighbour who told us she is writing a book. We told her we are publishers and she got very excited. She said, “Oh that’s wonderful. Can you publish my book?” We said we could do that if our values aligned. She replied, “My book will be self-published so quality doesn’t matter that much. When can I send you my manuscript?”

We wanted to pull our hair out.

There is a persistent belief among the public and in the publishing world that self-publishing means low-quality. That belief has some basis in reality. Some companies offering assisted self-publishing don’t care about quality. And some self-publishing authors don’t care about quality. Fair enough if you as an author want to get your work out quickly, or maybe simply publish it for your friends and family. But beyond that, At the Edges believes self-publishing should and can maintain high standards - the same standards as a traditional publisher.

The problem with low-quality work is that it does a disservice to your craft as a writer and to writing in general. This is why bookshops are unlikely to stock self-published books if they are of low quality. It’s also why some non-traditional publishers are accused of being mere “vanity presses” - they are happy to publish anything without paying attention to quality and good process, and the author is happy to simply get their work, name or brand out there.

If you are thinking about self-publishing, and you care about quality (please do!), I want to mention a few tips that might help you maintain high standards for your work so that you don’t get accused of vanity publishing. This comes from our perspective as independent publishers who care a great deal about the art and craft of good writing.

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Get an excellent editor, proofreader and typesetter

We think these three services are the most important for your work to be perfect. Editing happens at different levels after the manuscript assessment - developmental, line and copy editing. If you have all of these in order, your writing has a good chance of being quality work. Make sure you get editors with many years of experience and who are known in the industry for giving critical feedback. Be humble and take their corrections on board. This helps you grow as a writer. Of course it’s up to you whether or not you accept their corrections. But if they are professional and experienced, then their corrections are worth listening to. Also, in our opinion, good proofreading and typesetting are what distinguish a work that is “good enough” from a work that is immaculate, so make sure these two services are not overlooked. We’ve had mixed experiences with typesetters, so choose a good one who is reliable and attentive to detail. If you go with a service like Reedsy, research those who have a good reputation.

Don’t be afraid to get honest peer reviews of your book prior to publishing

If you are self-publishing, one issue is that you are the main - or sometimes only - person reading your manuscript before the editing stage, so make sure you ask well-known authors to peer review your work. Look for writers within your genre and ask them to read your work and give you honest feedback. If they like your work they might give you an endorsement. Keep in mind that feedback and reviews are different to endorsements. Reviews will obviously be critical in that they are given to improve your work, while endorsements are always positive.

Get a good publisher who is tough on you

Self-publishing can be lonely and you might feel overwhelmed with all the offerings out there. If you need help, you could seek the help of an assisted self-publishing venture that offers the full range of services and guides you through the editing and publishing process. At the Edges supports writers in this way. The potential issue with this method of publishing is that, because you pay the publisher for the services you receive, you retain control of the work quality. This may sound like a good thing, but it can also be problematic. For example, you might get feedback from the publisher to change your manuscript in some way. But because you are paying them, it’s ultimately up to you to accept or reject their advice. In a way that’s great - it gives you more freedom than being with a traditional publisher, and it means there is a greater sense of collaboration. The problem, though, is that you may not be challenged rigorously enough in your work. So look for an assisted self-publisher who will be tough on you and will insist on certain changes. As much as this might be painful, you will grow as a writer. A publisher that panders to your desires all the time means your work won’t be as good as it could be. Of course this is only if the assisted self-publisher is competent in the first place, so make sure you find a quality assisted self-publisher.

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Avoid AI

At the moment it’s still pretty obvious if an author is using AI with writing, editing, graphics and book covers. A successful author told me recently that the main way she can tell if a book is self-published is by the quality of its appearance - the typesetting, graphics, book cover and of course editing. Many self-publishers are choosing AI for these services and the book ends up looking low quality. We suggest avoiding the use of AI. Be creative and seek out artists and creatives and, again, use quality typesetters for your work.

Hopefully these tips have been helpful to you. What would you add to these suggestions to avoid the label of “vanity publishing” if you are self-publishing?

Karina

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Beginner’s eyes

It feels a little odd to be writing this post. We have only been in the publishing “industry” for a little over a year. We have decades of experience in editing, writing, managing events, being published and curating journals and magazines, but we have only been publishers for a little while. However, we have by now published two books and connected with many writers, writer support networks, festivals and publishers. We have read articles, listened to podcasts and attended seminars on publishing until our eyes and ears have bled. We have held writers’ studios, mentored emerging writers and run workshops, book launches and reading events in our community. So we don’t know everything but we know some things. And we have the advantage of looking at the industry with “beginner’s eyes”, as Buddhists say, which gives us fresh, unbiased insight into where we see the industry is growing and where it is getting crusty.

In part, I’m writing this as a response to an article I read on Substack a week ago by writer and former publisher Devon Halliday. Her bio says she “offers hard truths and hot takes about the writing business”. The article was called Traditional publishing: Still worth it? It was an excellent article and it got me thinking.

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A mixed bag in a time of many options

At the Edges is an independent publisher. We offer different publishing pathways, depending on our resources and where the writer is at. We get a lot of writers coming to us, asking about what we do, and we always ask them, “What do you do?” “Where are you at on your writing journey?” Sometimes we will say to them that their best shot is with a traditional publisher, so we encourage them to seek them out, giving them as many contacts as we can for success. Other times we think they are resourceful enough to self-publish. Other times, if we have values alignment and we know we can work with them, we take them on as authors we will publish. So far we have mainly assisted writers in their publishing journey, but we are open to the traditional pathway or a hybrid model if we get the right emerging writers. So that’s why we use the term “independent” to describe our venture rather than describing ourselves as “assisted self-publishers” or “hybrid publishers”. We offer a menu of options for these fragmented times where there are so many possibilities. In so doing, wre offering an alternative to the mainstream publishing industry. Which leads me to the point I want to make.

There is no one way to publish anymore. That’s my observation with my “beginner’s eyes” over the industry. Traditional publishing doesn’t hold the reigns anymore. Many large and small publishers are shutting down and there is so much competition out there that writers are giving up even trying to make a pitch to well-known publishers (though this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try). Many writing networks and institutions, festivals, programs and events are slow to realise this. They seem to have an awareness that things are changing and some of them are trying to catch up by offering self-publishing courses and mentoring, for example. But the majority of the writing industry is still working with the assumption that traditional publishing is what most people want. I don’t think that’s true. Most people don’t care anymore, or at least are beginning to care less. There is an emerging indifference and wariness towards the traditional publishing pathway. People are seeking other options.

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Traditional vs self-publishing

In her article, Halliday breaks down the advantages and disadvantages of traditional vs self-publishing and she does a fantastic job. Her article rings true to our experience as publishers. For instance, she highlights that with traditional publishers many are outsourcing publicists and editors, which you could do anyway as a self-publisher - as long as you have the connections and the know-how to be able to discern the sharks from the professionals. In terms of finances, most people would think that being with a traditional publisher means you get more money back from your publication. That may not be true if your book doesn’t sell enough to meet the advance that was given to you at the outset. And we know of someone who self-published a book recently who has done incredibly well selling their books, making quite a tidy profit.

Halliday essentially says that you can go either self-publishing or traditional (with a slight bias towards traditional) as the industry is “pretty broken”. And that’s right, you can outsource any part of the publishing process and get it done professionally - again, if you know your stuff and have the time to put into it.

“The envy of our peers”

But in the end she would say there is one reason that people still go the traditional publishers pathway - for the “cachet”, “the envy of our peers”, “legitimacy”.

I agree with her that this is the drawcard for many people who want to publish with a traditional publisher. However, legitimacy and “the envy of our peers” are two different things. Less and less people, especially younger people who care less about traditional mainstream brands, want “the envy of their peers” - they just want to get their work out there. Legitimacy, however, is something else and I think it is a valuable part of the publishing process. I think all who self-publish should aim for legitimacy. And I believe it’s possible to have legitimacy without using a traditional publisher. I also think legitimacy is something that can be outsourced, just like editors, typesetters, designers and publicists can be. My sense is that this will increasingly happen, lessening the need to attain legitimacy from traditional publishing houses.

Halliday rightly says, “Self-publishing can replicate basically all the hallmarks of traditional publishing that we discussed above, as long as you’re willing to put enough work and money into it. But it cannot replace the one essential guarantee of traditional publishing: somebody else, somebody besides you, thought that your book deserved to exist in the world.” Great point.

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Outsourcing legitimacy

At the Edges uses a pathway whereby we assist writers to publish their work. We find the best editors, typesetters, mentors, beta readers and peer reviewers, if needed, to make certain the writer’s work is of good quality. We read their work and let the author know where the strengths and weaknesses are and when they need to go to a manuscript assessor or even a writing class! And if the whole team of professional, qualified people - the writing community we work with - is in agreement, we publish their work. There are certainly “assisted self-publishing” sharks out there who will publish anything - we have seen that - but as writers become more savvy about self-publishing and rely less and less on traditional publishers, they will want quality in their work and so even the aspect of “legitimacy” (and as a result kudos) will be outsourced out of the hands of traditional publishers. We can already see this happening with the rise of so many independent publishers who employ quality editors/proofreaders/assessors and only accept quality work.

Write your story!

So my advice to a writer who wants to get published is: think about which pathway works best for you. If you choose self-publishing and you want legitimacy (we think you should), get good editors and fantastic manuscript assessments, get your work peer reviewed and let the public know you have done so, and run your work by established authors. If your work is quality, the public will know it - and it doesn’t have to sit with traditional publishing houses for that to happen.

Get your work out there and make it good. We need to hear your story.

Karina

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Hello fellow readers and writers,

We spent a few days on a farm at Burradoo recently. It reanimated my dispirited self to see children learning to compost, being taught about crickets as a viable protein source and the importance of bee-keeping. Sometimes when the world seems like it’s never going to change, there is always a glimmer of light that peeps through to give me hope.

It was also a chance to catch up on some reading and writing my book. Armen had to work throughout our time away (is an editor’s work ever done?!) but managed to take some longs walks with me and Molly and to squeeze in a Basque cheesecake or two for sneaky afternoon teas.

Here is your monthly roundup of curated books, courses and resources, especially for all you antipodeans.

Recommended reading

Two books have caught my attention recently. The Ruin of Magic by Kate Holden and published by Black Inc. is just out. It’s on a topic close to my heart - the erosion of wonder, enchantment and the luminous in Western culture especially. If you liked Katherine May’s Enchantment and Julia Baird’s Phosphorescence you will love Holden’s evocative and gravitas-bearing prose. Below is her book launch if you are in Melbourne.

The other book is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Long-listed for the Stella Prize, McConaghy actually sailed to Macquarie Island (with her small child!) for inspiration on what it’s like to live on a small island with a dark history - a great setting for her story of mystery, climate action and hope.

Best articles about writing and creating this month

A fabulous article about the power of resisting constant production in our obsessive society - and how women are leading the way in slowing down to produce quality not quantity:

https://www.artshub.com.au/news/opinions-analysis/what-women-are-choosing-instead-of-lean-in-and-why-it-matters-in-the-arts-2853378/

A beautiful piece on repetition and rhythms:

https://lithub.com/the-poetics-of-repetition-in-praise-of-the-art-of-replication/

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Writers festivals

This salty one looks fantastic.

https://wordsonthewaves.com.au/words-on-the-waves-writers-festival-program-2026/

Worthy mention in poetry

We caught up with award-winning poet Mark Tredinnick in Burrradoo and chatted all things poetry and publishing over coffee and farm-picked veggies. Mark is Managing Editor of the revitalised 5 Islands Press, which brings us the best of Australian poetry.

Check out their recent much-talked-about publication on Australian poet Robert Gray:

https://www.5islandspress.com/product-page/bright-crockery-days

A new book we are publishing

We are thrilled to be publishing Homecoming: The art and practice of trauma recovery by emerging writer Ratu Nida Farihah. Ratu is a trauma recovery and survivor advocate, and founder of Women’s lantern, a survivor-led initiative supporting migrant women rebuilding after violence. Ratu’s work bridges storytelling, social justice and neuroscience, weaving memoir and grounded practice into a powerful guide for those reclaiming their bodies, voices and stories.

The book launch is at the iconic Gleebooks on 6th May at 6-8pm. Please register at the link below:

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1566043

You can order your copy of Ratu’s book on the link below:

https://gleebooks.com.au/p/the-homecoming-the-art-and-practice-of-trauma-recovery

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Luminous offerings

I found it interesting that the editor of Kill Your Darlings - one of Australia’s most interesting online magazines - is noticing a trend in book publishing on the topic of wonder, enchantment and even spirituality - all things luminous. Suzy Garcia writes in her newsletter:

“Today I’m chasing a trend. A holy trend. After so many religious holidays, it feels like an apt time. Not too long ago I interviewed Samuel Rutter, the Australian-born editor-in-chief of New York-based literary magazine Kismet. The publication features some of the most exciting names going in literature (Sheila Heti! César Aira! Zain Khalid!) but has a key focus: It’s a space for writing about religion, spirituality and mysticism—and it’s for believers, seekers and skeptics alike.” Our conversation got me thinking.
Religion has always been a ripe topic for literary exploration, but Kismet sits among other recent happenings which suggest that spirituality is a big force in literature right now.”

Here are some of my (Karina’s) suggestions for reading the luminous:

The ruin of Magic by Kate Holden

Enchantment by Katherine May

Don’t forget we’re here forever by Lamorna Ash

‘Practice Losing Everything’ by Gary Percesepe

Poetry by Mary Oliver, e.g. Devotions

Kismet Journal

And, recommended by Suzy Garcia:

Sheila Heti, ‘Outside of Story’, Kismet

Matthew Sini, ‘No Atheists in Plotholes’, New Mythologies

Rebecca Varcoe, ‘An interview with Patricia Lockwood’, KYD

Tim Winton, ‘Episode 508’, Life & Faith

At the Edges offerings

• Writers Studio is on every Thursday morning at Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. Would you like to join a monthly Saturday workshop? Let us know if yes.

• Our new book is out! We have been No 1 on Amazon’s “Faith deconstruction” category for weeks now. (You can also buy it from Booktopia.)

• In May, our little writing community will go to a few of the Sydney Writers Festival events together. Want to join us?

• We may be starting a monthly Zoom book club if there is interest. Are you keen? Let us know.

• We will be at Surry Hills Markets on 6th June for Read ‘n Sip. You can buy a book at our stall, or borrow a book for $6 and take it to read at Wilson Cafe across the road to claim your free hot drink in a comfy lounge setting!

• Coming up in July there will be another Connecting with Your Creative Self workshop.

• And …. a Zoom editing workshop. How do you work with an editor? How do you find a good one? What are the kinds of editing available for you? Can you edit your own work? All these questions and more as we reveal the mysteries of editing in our workshop coming up in August.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is ….

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

With love from

Karina

and

Armen

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Hi there fellow edge-walkers.

My favourite season is here and I (Karina) thought I’d start off with a poem by Gideon Heugh in honour of autumn.

What does it look like to fall into autumn’s “sacred rest”? That’s what I’ve been asking myself recently.

Your creative self

We’ve been reminded recently how important connecting with the inner creative is. Myself (Karina) and a creativity coach ran a workshop recently that was well attended and the participants all agreed that there is a deep need in people today to slow down, connect with creativity and then from that, contribute to our weary world. Two resources that have helped us see things a little differently are

Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and a Ted talk by Elizabeth Gilbert Your Elusive creative genius.

We also loved this article - an interview with Nastasya Popov a director and writer from Los Angeles on the need to make things

“The big thing was realizing that [filmmaking] is not really a medium that you can study. You just have to start making things.”

We think that’s the same with writing- you can attend as many workshops as you like but the important thing is just to start writing, and keep writing!

What was your first memory of you being creative?

Writer’s festivals

The Sydney Writers Festival is coming up in May. Check out the program as it’s available now. Our Writers studio will go to a few sessions together then debrief what we have heard.

https://www.swf.org.au/

Writing place

Does place matter for you as you write? One author who is known for writing with place in mind is Hannah Kent who now has two books set in her second home - Iceland. If place is important to you then this article will be of interest.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/11/place-stayed-with-me-writer-iceland-hannah-kent

Kent makes the strong statement that she would not have become a writer were it not for Iceland.

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Writing courses- New season program out for Writing NSW

Also- here’s a good little article about the benefits of writing:

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/process-writing-forces-writer-be-present

Writing studios- Communal writing

Writing is known to be solitary pursuit. But there is joy when writers meet to read or write together. Read this piece on the joys of communal writing

https://lithub.com/katie-da-cunha-lewin-on-the-joys-of-quiet-communal-writing/

Regardless of these deviations, I always feel the magic as I enter, feeling how each day, the entrants agree to participate in the continuation of the space, asserting the importance of focused study and quiet writing. Sometimes I can’t believe how many people are there, in light of the devaluing of the humanities and the collapse of many higher education institutions, it’s heartening that it is still so plentifully occupied. In this shared writer’s room, suddenly I become a writer among others.

Competition to enter

We thought this was a worthy mention - Hunter Writers Centre is open for submissions on the topic Grieve.

https://hunterwriterscentre.org/grieve-2026/

Emerging writers

What does it mean to be an emerging writer exactly? Is that you? Do you feel like there are enough spaces for you to engage to hone your skill? What would you like to see in Australia to support emerging writers? The article below raises some interesting questions about writers who are emerging.

https://www.artshub.com.au/news/features/meanjin-has-been-saved-but-where-are-the-opportunities-for-emerging-writers-2848811/

…….what are you reading? We’d love to know, tell us!

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At the edges offerings

• Writers studio is still on every Thursday morning at Surry Hills Neighbourhood centre. Would you like to join a monthly Saturday workshop? Let us know if yes.

• Our new book is out! We had so much fun at the launch. See the cute cupcakes with the cover of our book on them at the top of this post.

  

• In May our little writing community will go to a few of the Sydney Writers festival events together. Want to join us?

• We may be starting a monthly zoom book club if there is interest. Are you keen? Let us know.

• Also in May we are publishing our second book - watch out for this one - author reveal coming up!

• Coming up in June there will be another Connecting with your creative self workshop.

• And….an editing zoom workshop - how do you work with an editor? How do you find a good one? What are the kinds of editing available for you? Can you edit your own work? All these questions and more as we reveal the mysteries of editing in our workshop coming up in August.

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We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

At the Edges is….

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

Karina

and

Armen

(and so many more who contribute to and support our little venture)

Hi everyone,

This is our first newsletter. Thank you for being here!

In this newsletter we will share At the Edges events but also other programs, workshops, resources and opportunities for writers and readers. Each month we will carefully curate what’s out there for you so that you can nurture your talent as a writer and interest as a reader.

Here are this month’s picks.

Best podcasts on writing

The Conversation had an article last week focusing on the six best podcasts related to literature. Here's the article for you to take a look at. Which ones do you already listen to and which ones are new for you?

https://theconversation.com/publishing-tips-poetry-and-witty-takes-on-classics-6-of-the-best-australian-literary-podcasts-274285

Worthy Mention

We also love the podcast Edits and Annotations. Karina listened to one episode with Khin Myint who is an author based in Perth. His writing has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, Liminal Magazine and The West Australian, among other publications. Myint was selected as one of ten participants in the Wheeler Centre's Next Chapter scheme in 2021. His debut book, Fragile Creatures, won the 2025 Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award.

The podcast was a beautiful discussion about the joys and challenges of writing memoir. So many writers I know struggle with two things that Khin talks about in this episode: 1) How to write from a healed wound not an open one; and 2) How to share content that others mentioned in their book - like family - might find confronting.

At the Edges events coming up:

- Connecting with your creative self

If you are stuck or need some inspiration, Karina is facilitating a workshop in Surry Hills at the local and well-loved cafe Wilson, along with creativity coach Parish Stapleton, to help you connect with your creative self. It’s open to everyone (because everyone is creative). Writers, musicians, artists are welcome.

https://events.humanitix.com/connecting-with-your-creative-self

- Writers’ studio

We meet every Thursday at 9:30-11:30am at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. In the first hour we work on our manuscripts and in the second hour we share our work for feedback. It’s a supportive, relaxed environment for writers.

Our Writers’ Studio has a WhatsApp group that regularly checks in on each other and shares writing support.

https://events.humanitix.com/writers-studio-kpm6zdq8

- Book launch

We are publishing our first book! Come along and help us celebrate. There will be food, fun and music from local singer/songwriter Frankie. We will also share with you our emerging directions for At the Edges. We’d love your support to nurture a creative community who are drawn to the luminous!

https://events.humanitix.com/book-launch-edge-walkers-reimagining-faith-church-and-theology

Writing courses and support for writers

Writing NSW has an excellent free forum on supporting you as a writer as you head towards publication. Check out the link:

https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/events/pathways-to-publication/

This course with Kavita Bedford on writing fiction from life looks great too. Bedford published her debut novel, Friends and Dark Shapes, in 2021.

https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/courses/writing-fiction-from-life-3/

Writing retreats

We have it on good authority that the writing retreats with Mark Tredinnick are excellent. Mark is the Managing Editor of the esteemed 5 Islands Press and his retreats are an inspiring mix of work, rest and community-building.

https://www.marktredinnick.com/little-mountain-writing-workshops

Submissions

This month we recommend submitting your fiction, non-fiction or poetry to the iconic Aussie online mag Kill your Darlings.

https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/prizes-awards

Best Substack

We love Spark in the Dark and this luminous piece about grief as a portal glimmers

https://substack.com/home/post/p-187452605

What we are reading

Human/Nature by Jane Rawson for a read on climate, environment and a reality-check. Tone: wonder, curious, smart, inquisitive and quirky.

Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad for a poignant read about identity, childhood and racism. Tone: toe-curling.

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders for an intense read of the Russian classics and careful analysis of their short stories. Tone: learning, intelligent and hard work (in a good way!)

What are you reading? Tell us - we really want to know!

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please comment and let us know what you liked and what else we can include. If you have specific resources to share, please pass them on.

Subscribe now

At the Edges is….

A constellation of writers and readers drawn to the luminous, telling our stories from the edges.

Karina and Armen