CJ Bowerbird is a spoken word artist and the 2013 Australian Poetry Slam Champion. He explores what it is to be human, taking audiences on flights through despair and salvation without ever losing his sense of humour. He has been a featured performer at the Bookworm International Literary Festival in China, the Ubud Writers Festival, TEDxCanberra and at festivals and events across Australia. He has performed in several cities in Indonesia and the US, and has read poetry on ABC National Radio.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ CJ Bowerbird

To the Flight Attendant on QF11 to LA by CJ Bowerbird

Isabel Roper is a (finally) fifth-year ANU student who writes so she can avoid doing the washing up. She won the 2012 Mardi Gras Festival Short Story Competition (Under 26 division) and placed 3rd in the 2013 John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers. She writes Australian-themed realist fiction and maintains a list of funny things that other people have said and a much smaller, bonsai-scale collection of funny things she has said herself.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Isabel Roper

Broede Carmody is writer, journalist and editor. Originally from north-east Victoria, he currently studies journalism at RMIT University. He is the editor of Catalyst magazine and poetry editor forVoiceworks. His poetry and fiction has appeared in a variety of print and online journals. He tweets here.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Broede Carmody

Rosanna Stevens' latest story -- Interviews with the Other Three Quarters -- is available through Seizure. Her essay on what we don't know about music will appear in The Griffith Review later this year. If you'd like to say hi or talk bed desks, she'd love to hear from you. (You can reach her on @RosannaBeatrice).

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Rosanna Stevens


Peter Taggart is a Brisbane-based writer and theatre critic for ArtsHub. He writes about his family and occasionally Meryl Streep's family on his blog On The Verge of Compassion and co-hosts the fortnightly pop culture podcast Bring A Plate. 

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Peter Taggart

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer of contemporary adult fiction and creative journalism.  He is the author of the novellas I’m Ready Now (Blemish Books 2012), which was short-listed for the 2013 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction, and Fall on Me (Blemish Books 2011), which won that award in 2012.  His novel Remnants (Pandanus Books 2005) was published to considerable acclaim, as was his story collection Joy (2000).  Nigel is also the author of over 45 stories published in Australian literary journals, including the Review of Australian Fiction, Meanjin, Island, and Overland, as well as in the US.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Nigel Featherstone

Slam poet Roshelle Fong performs one of her poems for Writers Bloc.

What would happen if www.rhymezone.com went down for a day?

Rhyme Zone by Roshelle Fong

Roshelle is a filmmaker and performer who tries to experience life as ‘Play School: The Glitch Opera’ whenever possible. She is a Leap Year baby who moved to Canberra in 2012, and is currently in the passionate throes of a romance with ‘Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!’ poetry slam.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Roshelle Fong

Summer Land is an American blogger and author of Summerlandish: Do As I Say, Not As I Did. She is a contributor for FlamingoPink.com.au, Quarter Life Conversations and Ladybits on Medium. She currently lives with her husband, Paul, daughter, Daisy, and dog, Cooper, in Mudgee, NSW where she is hard at work on her next book (and her wine consumption.)

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Summer Land

Christie Thompson is an Phd candidate at ANU, tattoo apprentice, and self-confessed 'try-hard artist'. Her first novel, Snake Bite is published by Allen and Unwin, & is available in bookstores/ as an eBook.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Christie Thompson

Ellie Malbon writes poetry and performance pieces, and conducts research into ecological sustainability.She is based in Canberra where she works as a tutor and research assistant at the Australian National University.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Ellie Malbon

Jono Lineen was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and his family emigrated to Canada where, in his teens, he developed into a world class ski racer. The month before the 1988 Olympics, in which he was hoping to compete, his brother Gareth tragically drowned while training with his university rowing team. The shock of this event pushed Jono to the Himalayas where he eventually spent eight years. It was during this time that he undertook the 2700-kilometer trek that forms the basis of his new book, Into the Heart of the Himalayas. In 2000 he took a position with the Nobel-prize winning humanitarian relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres and he spent five years managing medical projects in war zones in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nepal. While working in the Nepali civil war he met his wife Trish and with her he moved to Australia where they now live with their two beautiful boys. Jono currently works as a curator at the National Museum of Australia.

Music: Sharleen Chidiac - Loom; James Blake - Retrograde

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Jono Lineen

Cathy Petőcz is an emerging Canberra-based theatre practitioner; a playwright, performer, animateur, and pop musician. She makes miniature installation theatre works, pop-up girl bands, and is currently finishing her first major play, Galaxies, which will be staged at The Street Theatre in Canberra, October 2014.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Cathy Petőcz

Oliver Mol is a Sydney-based writer. He is 26. He grew up between America and Australia. He has lived in Houston, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. He was the recipient of a 2014 ArtStart Grant, the co-winner of the 2013 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers and the recipient of a 2012 Hot Desk Fellowship. He has read creative nonfiction at the Museum of Contemporary Art. He has interned at The Lifted Brow, was a fiction editor at Voiceworks and is part of the Stilts Collective. His debut book Lion Attack! will be out through Scribe Publications early 2015. He is excited about life.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Oliver Mol

David M Henley has worked in Australian trade publishing for many years and grown a successful design and publishing studio. He is the author of the Pierre Jnr trilogy and has written and illustrated two esoteric novellas (The Museum of Unnatural History and Bumbly Goes Forth) and one love poem (The Story So Far). He has featured in multiple exhibitions and is the art director and co-founder of Seizure, a magazine for new writing. David is based in Sydney, but can be found on the Weave. 

Writers Workspace Series ‖ David M Henley

Zoe Norton Lodge is a writer/presenter on The Checkout (ABC1). She is writing her first book with Giramondo Publishing. Zoe is the co-creator of Story Club, a monthly storytelling night which is also currently being developed for ABC2.

Writers Workspace Series ‖ Zoe Norton Lodge

Patrick Lenton is a playwright, fiction writer and blogger, based in Sydney Australia. He blogs at The Spontaneity Review. He was a Finalist in the 2013 SOYA Awards. His plays have names like ‘Sexy Tales of Paleontology’ and ’100 Years of Lizards’. His theatre company is called the Sexy Tales Comedy Collective. He likes to publish his stories in journals like Going Down Swinging, Scum Mag, Stilts, Voiceworks, Best Australian Stories, TIDE and The Lifted Brow. He is a regular contributor to Junkee. He writes The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge column for Going Down Swinging. He edits an anthology of comedy writing called The Sturgeon General. He works as a Digital Marketer for Momentum Books. He has a collection of short and micro fictions called ‘A Man Made Entirely of Bats’ coming out in 2015.


Writers Workspace Series ‖ Patrick Lenton

As part of our podcast series with All the Best, Writers Bloc will be chatting to radio makers and giving tips on how to turn your beautiful prose into a quick audio story. 

This is a snapshot of the sound quality you'll get if you choose to record on your computer, using a recording app like the PCM Recorder II, or using a portable mic like a Zoom H1. 

Sound Check For WB Makes Noise

This week we look at a template and how we went recording a piece of text. The recording apps worked well, the length of the piece did not. Read our evaluation here: http://www.thewritersbloc.net/writers-bloc-makes-noise-podcasting-part-iii

WB Makes Noise #3

Phill English explains how Tim and Phill Talk about Games gets made for week 4 of our podcasting series. Find him at www.timandphill.com

Music: Beautocracy by Podington Bear. 

Writers Bloc Makes Noise #4

Dan Buhagiar from Double J talks about getting into radio as a career, and how you can continue on making audio stories after you've completed our Blocast project. 

Blocast Week 5

Writer and musician Rosie Stevens plays Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles' 'Winter Song'.

Winter Song - Rosie Stevens

That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!
Written by Sufjan Stevens
Arranged and performed by Burrows
Produced by Sam King


Burrows - That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!

Emily Stewart's poem about Yo La Tengo's song 'Five Years'.

Emily Stewart - Five Year Poem

It's called  The Day I Wrapped Bing Crosby and David Bowie in Clingfilm.

Or That Little Fucking Drummer Boy. 

Emilie Zoey Baker does Bowie And Bing

Writers Bloc provide a place for people to develop their writing, read fantastic stories for free and create collectives with other emerging writers.

Whether it’s easier for you to engage with us online or off, Writers Bloc is for writers, wherever they are. We are in the process of developing a website that will change the way that writing is shared. It will reward engaged feedback and elevate great prose.

Offline, in towns all across the country we have groups that operate as part of a larger bloc. See our Groups page for more info on how to get involved with people in your area.


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