OOTA is honoured to announce that four of its members are among the 20 writers selected to participte in the 2024/2025 Emerging Writers Program.
The four OOTA members are:
Alison Davis
Lucy Czerwiec
Jennifer Hetherington
Nicole Roslon
The Emerging Writers’ Program is a new one-year professional development program for up to 20 emerging writers in Perth working on a debut full-length manuscript. In its first year under Writing WA management, this was a highly competitive round with an unprecedented number of 86 applications received and only 20 placements available. The judging team were impressed with the overall quality of the applications which made the assessment process extremely difficult.
The participants will be supported by Writing WA, a mentor and OOTA to develop a debut manuscript-in-progress. We are proud to be partnering with Writing WA, KSP Writers’ Centre, WA Poets Inc, Peter Cowan Writers’ Centre and the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA to assist all of the participants to achieve their goals.
The program is generously funded by the State of Western Australia through the Department of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries.
LUCY CZERWIEC
ALISON DAVIS
Alison Davis is a Perth short story and flash fiction writer. Her stories have appeared in various publications including OOTA anthologies, Night Parrot Press anthologies, the Bath Flash Fiction Award Anthology, the Newcastle Short Story Award Anthology and Award Winning Australian Writing. She is a previous winner of the Stuart and Hadow Short Story Prize and the Now and Then Writing Prize, and she has won prizes in the Love to Read Local flash fiction competition, Aniko Press flash fiction competition and the OOTA Spilt Ink competition. She has been selected as a participant in Writing WA’s 2024/2025 Emerging Writers Program to develop her collection of short stories and flash fiction. When she is not writing, she works as a copyright lawyer in the education sector. She lives with her husband, three daughters and two dogs in organised chaos. You can find her at www.alisondaviswriter.com.
JENNIFER HETHERINGTON
Jenifer Hetherington lives on Wadjuk Boodjar, Fremantle, Western Australia. She writes short fiction and poetry. Her work had been published in various journals including Cuttlefish 1, 2 and 3, Poetry D'Amour, Brushstrokes, Creatrix, Enchanted Verses, Westerly (long ago!) and Indigo. South Beach is a source of inspiration and joy. She is a member of OOTA and was delighted to win the Spilt Ink competition in 2021 and highly commended in 2023.
NICOLE ROSLON
Like others before her, Nicole Roslon is a lifelong reader. Her writing journey began later than most though. It kicked off during COVID, when she was in her forties. Everyone was talking about the hobbies they started. Except her! She was still teaching in primary school while the world around her came to a standstill. So, Nicole decided to write about people who weren't represented in fiction. Women who chose not to have children. Before she began writing, Nicole researched novel writing the only way possible at the time; Google. When the world started turning again, she attended face to face courses run by Brooke Dunnell, Laurie Steed, Natasha Lester and Joanna Morrison. In 2023 Nicole was accepted into Sasha Wasley's Page To Published Course and in 2024, the advanced course. She is looking forward to being a part of Holly Craig's The Write Club.