Westerly Magazine

04/07/2025

The Perth Comic Arts Festival is back for 2025 on Saturday 12 July and Sunday 13 July at State Library of Western Australia!

Westerly is proud to be partnering with the Festival this year! Come and see us on Sunday at the Market Day to pick up a copy of Westerly: Graphic Narratives (our comics issue!), and chat to us about the process of submitting comics to Westerly Magazine and literary magazine publishing in general!

It's going to be a wonderful weekend, with free talks, workshops and events. Learn more here: https://shorturl.at/H1qka

02/07/2025

ICYMI: Our latest book review on the Editor's Desk is ready and waiting to be read!

In 'Monument', author Bonny Cassidy 'considers Tasmania’s genocidal colonial past and her own family history; she reckons with a genealogy of settlers and migrants who, she writes, "walk in the ruins that invasion has created for them" (47)'.

Reviewer Aden Curran writes: 'Cassidy accomplishes something very special, and timely, in this book. In resisting presenting a neat view of the past, she accomplishes an emotional, precise, sometimes devastating, and always intriguing work. 'Monument' is a complex contribution to the project of truth telling about Australia’s colonial past, and a sweeping insight into the histories of our colonial past, understood on a familial scale.'

Read it on our website here: https://shorturl.at/DqG2U

27/06/2025

Find our latest book review on the Editor's Desk!

This week Aden Curran takes a deep dive into 'Monument' (Giramondo Publishing) by Bonny Cassidy, an important literary memoir which views white settler family history against the impacts on the Indigenous people with whom they interact.

Aden writes:

'Oscillating through the genres of poetry, microhistory, memoir, travel writing and speculative prose, this book traces a finger along fractures in the history of colonial settlement in Tasmania. In using such a wide range of approaches, Cassidy is able to come at the history from many different angles, giving a complex account of the resonances and remnants present in our lives.'

Read the review on our website here: https://shorturl.at/tCaTo

26/06/2025

State Library of Western Australia has announced the shortlist for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards 2025!

An independent judging panel of readers, writers, book sellers and story lovers have selected their top picks across six categories. Featuring graphic novels, cosy crime, high sea shenanigans and gothic coastal mysteries, the shortlist is a celebration of the breadth of talent in Western Australian storytelling.

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all who have made the list, including Westerly's own General Editor, Daniel Juckes, who has been shortlisted under the 'Emerging Writers' category for 'The Moment of the Essay: Australian letters and the personal essay'. 🎉

The 2025 shortlist presents an excellent opportunity to update your 'to be read' list! Take a look and let us know what your favourites are in comments.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors! See the shortlist here: https://shorturl.at/RwA4V

25/06/2025

The 32nd annual Sisters in Crime Australia Scarlet Stiletto Awards now open for entries!

Prize money of $13,050 is up for grabs across twelve awards in eleven categories for this women’s crime and mystery short story competition.

Entry fee $25, or $20 for Sisters in Crime members.

Maximum length 5000 words. Closing 31 August 2025.

Find out more here: https://shorturl.at/Gdq4Q

25/06/2025

Huge congratulations to Julie Janson and Magabala Books!

Julie Janson's 'Compassion' (2024) has been shortlisted for the 2025 Miles Franklin Award! We want to give a big congratulations to Julie and her incredible historical fictional novel.

In response to this shortlisting, Julie said, "‘I am very honoured to have my Indigenous Historical novel Compassion shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Many writers come from a struggling background like myself. Having parents who were forced to leave school at thirteen years of age to help support families. Our journeys are shared through writing extended prose. I am grateful to the brilliant Magabala for seeing my novels as worthy of publication."

The winner will be announced on 24 July 2025.

Read more on our website: http://bit.ly/4njdo18

23/06/2025

Head to Lum's Wine Bar on the last Wednesday of every month for a writing session—with wine!

Expect a kind and supportive environment and three thirty-minute writing sprints with room for social interaction, wine and cheesecake in between.

Writers With Wine is a welcoming space for aspirational, emerging and established writers.

Next session is Wednesday 25 June. Learn more and secure your spot here: https://shorturl.at/nu5eg

20/06/2025

Applications are now open for the 2026 Established Writer-in-Residence at the KSP Writers' Centre in the serene Perth Hills.

From fantasy to memoir, romance to poetry—if you're an experienced writer ready to dive into your next big project, this is for you.

This opportunity includes:
✨ A tranquil, heritage-listed setting.
✨ A $2000 stipend.
✨ Time and space to write and connect.

Eligibility:
You must be a published Australian writer and a current KSP member.

Applications close 17 July 2025.

Learn more here: https://shorturl.at/yWEgS

19/06/2025

Entries for the Australasian Association of Writing Programs and Westerly Magazine Life Writing Prize closing soon!

You have until June 30th to submit your work.

Open to writers at all stages of their journey; emerging and established writers are welcome to enter. The Prize recognises excellence in nonfiction, creative nonfiction and hybrid modes of storytelling. Hybrid storytelling is broadly conceived as storytelling that crosses traditional boundaries of nonfiction and creative nonfiction and/or is experimental in form.

Submissions up to 3500 words accepted.
The winner will receive a $500 cash prize, a one-year subscription to Westerly, and conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP, where they will be invited to read from their work.
The winner’s work will also be considered for publication by Westerly.
Entry: $20.

Learn more and submit here: https://shorturl.at/7CpN0
Need some inspiration? Read inaugural winner Suzanne Hermanoczki's 'Doors' here: https://shorturl.at/Wt3ee

16/06/2025

The next 'Hem: a night of response' is coming up this Thursday, June 19th!

Featuring Caitlin Maling, who will be supported by Catherine Noske, Aditi Arun and Anna Schneider.

Head to Fremantle Buffalo Club Inc. this Thursday from 7pm.

13/06/2025

It's been a while since we've checked in with some Westerly news!
We've just sent out our latest newsletter. If you're not subscribed (or in case it went to your spam!!), you can read it here: https://shorturl.at/oeg8Z

06/06/2025

The Nedlands Library Service are hosting a free author talk with Emily Paull - Writer on Tuesday 10 June!

'The Distance Between Dreams', Paull's latest work, is a heart-wrenching romance set around WWII that was shortlisted for 2023 Fogarty Literary Award.

Open Book will have pop-up book sales on the night.

Tuesday 10 June from 6:15pm at Nedlands Public Library. Get your free ticket here: https://shorturl.at/d8WXE

Emily Paull is a Western Australian librarian, author and book reviewer. In 2019, her debut collection of short fiction, 'Well-Behaved Women', was published by Margaret River Press.

The distance between dreams