Hello all! As Australian writers, we are often quite isolated, some of us in more than one way. We are not only isolated from other English-speaking countries, but many of us are also isolated from larger population centres. This means it’s often hard for us to connect on a deeper level with each other.

The purpose of this month’s (September, 2019) blog post is to provide a living list of useful, online Australian writing resources that give before asking (i.e. they don’t make you pay money before giving you anything). If you have anything you think should be added to this list, please do contact us at (publicity) (without the brackets) at this domain name, and we’ll be happy to consider your suggestion!

State Writing Centres

State writing centres are good for two reasons: one, they’re often provide opportunities that are only open to residents of that state, meaning you’re competing with fewer people, but also because they speak to the writers of that state. If the state’s focus is more literary writing, the writing centres will often focus on that. If genre is more their speed, then genre is what will be supported. Most of them offer a free newsletter.
Writers Victoria
Writing NSW
Queensland Writers Centre
NT Writers’ Centre
Writing WA
Writers SA
The Tasmanian Writers’ Centre
ACT Writers Centre

General Writing Sites

Writers Bloc: Writers Bloc offer a series of articles and resources to inform your writing. They also offer workshops (including online workshops), and their ‘opportunities’ page lists competitions, open submissions and even jobs in creative writing and related industries. Signing up is free.

Underground Writers: Underground Writers serve as a base and opportunity for Australia writers, particularly emerging writers. You can read more about what they do and why they do it on their ‘About‘ page.

Competitions and Local Groups

We might be Ballarat Writers but that doesn’t mean you’re all based in Ballarat!

The Ballarat Writers Competition page: Obviously we’re biased, but this is our page of competitions and opportunities. We usually post the ones that are emailed to us here, and try to focus on a varied range of Australian competitions and publishing opportunities.

Australian Writers’ Resource: This page might be a bit to navigate, but it’s an incredible resource for publishers, Australian writers’ groups and global competitions. There is an unrivalled, to my knowledge, list of competitions that is regularly updated there. Bookmark it and visit it when you have some time one day.

Special Interest/Genre Groups

Australian Bust Poets Association: We link to these guys on our competitions page, but there are so many bush poetry events and opportunities that it’s worth mentioning them here as well. From performance opportunities to competitions accepting written submissions, these guys are a fantastic group for bush poetry.

Overseas Resources

If your focus is more global, then you might need to look global for opportunities.
Literistic: While they do offer a newsletter with a fee attached (‘the longlist’, they do offer a free one (‘the shortlist’), which gives you an idea of what’s out there. I’ve never subscribed to the longlist, but the shortlist is quite good.



Note: We aren’t paid or receiving anything for endorsing these sites. They come recommended by our members (or at least our publicity officer, to start with). We just know it’s overwhelming out there and want to help. If you have recommendations for online communities and resources that give before asking, please contact us.