Express Media, formerly Express Australia, is an Australian literary youth arts organisation. It supports young writers and arts managers, and is the publisher of the national quarterly print magazine Voiceworks .
Express Media was founded in the early 1980s as Express Australia. During the International Youth Year in 1985, it published the first issue of Voiceworks. Then a newsletter focused on youth and media issues, the publication was launched by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Ian "Molly" Meldrum. As Express Australia reduced its other commitments, the newsletter grew. A quarterly, 80-page magazine centred on creative writing, arts, and illustrations [1] was launched as a national publication with volume 1 published in 1988. It later became available online. [2] [3]
Around 2011-2012, the organisation underwent an organisational change, with Joe Toohey becoming general manager. Along with Lefa Singleton Norton, over a period of around three years, the "Buzzcuts" arts review program was redesigned and launched, along with the establishment of a publishing project for novellas called Hologram and a program called "Signal" at the Emerging Writers' Festival. Also during this time the Scribe Non-fiction Prize and Young Writers Innovation Prize were launched; public events known as "Literary Salons" were held; an education program for schools was set up, and an annual Best of Express ebook was published, along with many small or one-off events and projects. [4]
In 2023 Express Media published three print issues of Voiceworks and two new digital publications. [5]
The organisation is registered as a charitable organisation. [5] Young adult fiction writer John Marsden was patron of Express Media until his death in December 2024. [6] Partner organisations have included the Emerging Writers' Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Writers Victoria, SYN FM radio, Scribe Publishing, Hachette, State Library of Victoria, Triple R, RMIT, Australian Poetry, Small Press Network, and the Wheeler Centre. [4]
Express Media presents an annual program of workshops and other projects to generate opportunities and professional development for young writer, editors and artists, providing mentoring and feedback for their work, and also offers various awards. [5]
The John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers was launched in 2005, [7] funded and judged by young adult writer John Marsden. [8] The winning entries were published in Voiceworks, and the writers received a cash prize. [9]
In 2014 Hachette Australia became partner and sponsor of the prize, [8] and it was renamed the John Marsden & Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers. [7] In 2016, the prizes were awarded at the Melbourne Writers Festival. [10]
On 1 July 2020 the prize was renamed the Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers, and Will Kostakis took over as mentor of the entrants. Kostakis, along with Hachette head of children's publishing Jeanmarie Morosin, joined the judging panel. [8] [7]
The competition encourages secondary school–aged students to submit works of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Fifteen shortlisted writers may be mentored by Kostakis and attend a Q&A with him. Winners in each category receive $500, have their work published on the Express Media website, and an acknowledgement printed in Voiceworks. [8]
The Young Writers' Innovation Prize is no longer awarded. [11]
The Scribe Nonfiction Prize was established between 2012 and 2014. [4] [12]
The Outstanding Achievement by a Young Person in the Literary Arts Award was established in 2015. [12]
As of 2023 [update] Express Media also offered: [5]
In 2015, the inaugural Outstanding Achievement by a Young Person in the Literary Arts Award was jointly awarded to Ellen van Neerven and Chloe Higgins. [12]
Parliament Express is a joint initiative between the Victorian Parliament and Express Media that provides an intensive mentoring and learning program. Members of parliament, press gallery journalists, and parliamentary staff contribute to the program, explaining how the parliament and Australian democracy work. Students write articles about various aspects of governing, which are then published on the parliament website. [13]
Over the years, Express Media has published a number of works related to workshops run by them under the name Express Media Power Workshops, including Green Energy Comix, led by cartoonist and writer Kaz Cooke (1991); [14] Journeys to the point: poetry by young Australians (1994); [15] Tiny epics: short stories and poems by young Australian writers; [16] and Young writers express yourself (sponsored by Arts Victoria). [17]
The Buzzcuts program, established in 1997, [18] gave opportunities to young people to write arts reviews. In 2012, the program extended to Adelaide, where it collaborated with the South Australian Writers' Centre. [19] The program was paused in 2017. [18] Other past programs have included Tracks, Global Express, Hologram, National Young Writers' Month, The Under Age, The New Voices Series, 6x6x6, and Write in Your Face. [11]
Express Media runs mentorship programs, with mentors such as Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas. [20]
John Marsden was an Australian writer and school principal. He wrote more than 40 books in his career and his books have been translated into many languages. He was especially known for his young adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began, which began a series of seven books.
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act 1960 for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people", thus functioning as a national library. It is located in Parkes, Canberra, ACT.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Voiceworks is a national quarterly print magazine based in Melbourne, Victoria, featuring work by Australian writers and artists under the age of 25.
Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for The Slap, which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and television.
Elizabeth Helen Hathorn is an Australian writer for children, and a poet who works with schools, institutions and communities. She has received many awards for her books, some of which have been translated into several languages. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution to children's theatre. In 2014 she was awarded the Alice Award for her contribution to Australian literature. In 2017 she won the Asher Peace Prize and in 2022 the ABIA Pixie O'Harris Award for excellence and dedication to children's literature.
Alana Valentine is an Australian playwright, dramatist, librettist, and director working in theatre, film, opera, and television.
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo is an English author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker. Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first black person to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.
William Kostakis is an Australian author and journalist. He is known mainly for young adult fiction, and his 2023 novel We Could Be Something won the 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction.
University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Queensland and a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and includes works for children and young adults.
The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its patrons, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, founders of the Lonely Planet travel guides.
The Melbourne Prize Trust is a charitable foundation in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 2004 by Simon H. Warrender for the specific purpose of awarding three arts awards on a rotating three-year basis: the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, the Melbourne Prize for Literature, and the Melbourne Prize for Music. The first Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture was awarded in 2005.
Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. She is the author of over fourteen books for children and adults, notably a short story collection entitled Foreign Soil (2014), and her 2016 memoir The Hate Race, which she adapted for a stage production debuting in February 2024. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World (2016), How Decent Folk Behave (2021), and It's the Sound of the Thing: 100 New Poems for Young People (2023). In 2023, Clarke was appointed the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne.
Courtney Sina Meredith is a New Zealand poet, playwright, and short story author.
This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2019.
Writers SA, registered as SA Writers' Centre Inc. and formerly known as the South Australian Writers' Centre (SAWC) and also known as the SA Writers Centre, is a resource centre for writers located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1985, it was the first such centre in Australia. Its newsletter for members, produced from 1997 to 2014, was called Southern Write.
Rae White is a Brisbane-based poet and writer. White is non-binary and the founding editor of the online periodical #EnbyLife: Journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives. White's 2017 poetry collection Milk Teeth won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Their poetry and writing has been published in the Australian Poetry Journal, Capricious, Cordite, Meanjin, Overland, and Rabbit.
Evelyn Araluen is an Australian poet and literary editor. She won the 2022 Stella Prize with her first book, Dropbear.
Zenobia Frost is an Australian poet. In addition to her two poetry collections, her work has been included in anthologies and published in the leading Australian poetry and literary journals.
Voiceworks is a national quarterly magazine that features exciting new writing and art by young Australians. It is a unique opportunity for people under twenty-five to publish their poetry, short stories, articles, comics, illustrations, drawings and photos.