Welcome to New South Wales
NSW is an amazingly creative state, with stunning beaches from Byron Bay to Bateman’s Bay; the massive Outback regions with towns from Broken Hill and its landscape artists to the black opal underground mines of Lightning Ridge; the Riverina from the historic old Murray paddleboats and rich fields of irrigated crops to remote Wakool with its rice farms and massive sheep stations; the Blue Mountains with the stunning Great Dividing Range, Jenolan Caves, bush walks with kangaroos, breath taking waterfalls, rugged cliffs and virgin bushlands. There’s the coastline from Queensland to Victoria and so much more.
Then there’s Sydney, home to publishers great and small —HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette, Pan MacMillan, Scholastic, ABC Books, Walker Books, Blake Education, Koala Books. It’s home to many newspapers and magazines including School Magazine, and Good Reading. The headquarters of the Australian Society of Authors, the Australian Writers Guild, Fox Studios and the Australian Film & Television School are all based in Sydney. SCBWI NSW is well positioned to engage with the key bodies and organisations in the children’s publishing industry.
There are regular writer and illustrator events on zoom and face to face engaging with the publishing industry, development of craft, author and illustrator events.
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory is home to stunning tracks of bushlands, parklands, Mt Stromlo Observatory with its world class telescopes, Lake George with its low lying grasslands and the jewels in the crown, Lake Burley Griffin and Australia’s capital, Canberra. Canberra houses Australia’s national treasures including National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, National Library of Australia, the War Memorial, the Parliament of Australia and so much more. It is home to arts in all its forms and promotes creativity from the stunning gardens of Floriade to the treasures of National Film and Sound Archives to literature and the growing group of SCBWI authors and illustrators.
SCBWI ACT is a strong community of friendly and passionate creatives who love catching up to share knowledge, ideas and just have fun. We usually have four formal gatherings per year, including one larger conference where we bring a publisher and other interstate speakers in, and several smaller events. We enjoy hosting Sketch and Scribble events, and have held several variations, such as Stretch, Sketch and Scribble, including a yoga session, and Sip, Sketch and Scribble, with a wine/drink stop in the middle! As we are a small city, we value our relationships with our local members as well as our connection to the broader SCBWI community.
SCBWI Queensland
Queensland is the second largest state in Australia, two and a half times the size of Texas. We are unique in that half of our 4.6 million people live in regional and outback areas. This statistic fits SCBWI Queensland’s membership where almost 50% face geographic isolation and limited access to networking opportunities.
Nevertheless, Queensland’s arts community has a strong literary history, and today it’s the home of many notable and passionate authors, illustrators, and editors.
Our state’s diverse geography and balmy climate play a large part in our outdoor lifestyle and creative inspirations. Much of the work of SCBWI Queensland authors and illustrators reflects this environment – from the far-north tropics and vast coastline, through rural communities and the arid outback, to the urban sub-tropical, capital city of Brisbane.
Victoria
Melbourne is a UNESCO Creative City of Literature and is celebrated for its vibrant literary culture. It is home to a diverse range of writers and illustrators, a prosperous publishing industry and successful independent booksellers. Melbourne also hosts a range of successful literary events and festivals that help foster our strong reading culture.
SCBWI Victoria is a vibrant part of Melbourne’s literary scene. We hold several events each year where members and non-members come together to hear guest speakers and fellow members, to learn, share, network, celebrate publishing successes and have fun. Our events, workshops, professional development days and social activities are designed for individuals who write or illustrate for children or young adults, and anyone with an interest in children’s literature.
Festival South Australia
South Australia is home to long summers, stunning beaches and award-winning wine, events and festivals. It’s the gateway to the Barossa, Flinders Ranges and Outback and Kangaroo Island. It also the state which loves festivals. There’s the Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Cabaret Festival, Feast Festival, the WOMADelaide world music festival. It’s home to the May Gibbs Trust which attracts so many children’s authors to the state. Omnibus, an imprint of Scholastic, established in Adelaide has published many award winning children’s books. Iconic Australian children’s authors Gillian Rubenstein and Colin Thiele were South Australian. SCBWI authors and illustrators are making their mark led by talented children’s author Kelly Hibbert.
Island Tasmania
Islands, lots of islands. Tasmania (Tassie) is an island state with 334 surrounding islands around, 240 kms south of the Australian mainland. It’s a wilderness paradise with evergreen eucalypt forests, alpine heathlands, rainforests, moorlands, farmlands, wild rivers, white sand coastlines and stunning national parks with marsupials of all kinds. It’s a foodie paradise with more than apples. There’s boutique seafood, cheese, breads, honeys, nuts, craft beer, whisky, chocolate and more. It’s home to the Australian Antarctic Division. There’re festivals, the famous MONA FOMA art festivals, and a literary culture. After all, it’s the home of Richard Flanagan and the classic book ‘For the Term of His Natural Life’ by Marcus Clarke. Children’s writers and illustrators are flourishing with award winning SCBWI creators Julie Hunt, Lian Tanner, Christina Booth, Anne Morgan, Gay McKinnon and many more. The Writers Centre in Hobart is frequent gathering place for SCBWI as well as Fullers Bookshops and The Hobart Book Stop. There’s so much to love in Tasmania.
Newcastle & Central Coast
A newcomer to the SCBWI family, the Newcastle and Central Coast group holds regular gatherings for members with quarterly general meetings and casual get-togethers spread throughout the year to offer networking opportunities and encouragement to local children’s authors and illustrators.
Our group has a broad geographical base which includes the Central Coast, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Upper Hunter and Port Stephens areas. With a number of beaches, lakes, bushland and wineries as well as farming land and urban areas for inspiration, it is no surprise that our members represent a wide range of genres and styles.
As one of Australia’s largest non-capital city populations, Newcastle and the Central Coast already has a wonderful core group of members who are keen to welcome newcomers.