Call for Nominations for the 2021 OOTA Committee

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR 2021 OOTA COMMITTEE

Written nominations from members who wish to be considered for election for positions on the 2021 OOTA Committee at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday17 October 2020,  are due to the OOTA Secretary by or before 15 September 2020. Nominations can be via email or post. Existing committee members and other OOTA members are encouraged to nominate. 

Please complete the attached nomination form and return to Rita Tognini by the due date: 

Email: rtognini@bigpond.com                    or                            Post: PO Box 142, Fremantle, WA 6959

Spilt Ink Competition 2020

OOTA is pleased to announce that its bi-annual Spilt Ink Short Fiction and Poetry writing competition is now open for entries.

Categories: Poetry and Short Fiction

Prizes for each category: First Prize $200 plus New Edition Bookshop Voucher ($50), Second Prize $100, Third Prize $50.

Judges: Poetry — Amy Lin, Short Fiction — Emily Paull

Submissions Deadline: 31 August 2020

Winner announced at OOTA AGM in October

Winning entries will be listed on the OOTA Website

Competition Guidlines and Entry Form downloadable in Word here and in PDF here. The Word version may be edited before printing. The PDF version must be printed first and then completed by hand.

The competition is open to financial members of OOTA and WA Writers United affiliates.

For further enquiries: ootawriters@gmail.com

Associations Newsletter Issue 25

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has issued its newsletter Number 25.

Interested Members can read it here.

OOTA had adopted the Prescribed Model Rules and recently held its AGM.

2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

OOTA’s 2019 Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 19 October 2019, in the Pavlich Room of the Fremantle Arts Centre.

Several dozen OOTA members were present to hear Chairperson Veronica Lake report on what has been another successful year for OOTA and its members.

The Minutes of the 2018 AGM were confirmed and approved, and can be read here.

The following reports were presented and accepted:

• Chairperson’s Report

• Treasurer’s Report

• Membership Report

The new committee elected for 2019/20 comprises:

• Veronica Lake, Chairperson

• Richard Regan, Vice-Chairperson and Membership Coordinator

• Rita Tognini, Secretary

• Leanne Searle, Treasurer

• Jan Napier, Committee Member

• Julie Watts, Committee Member

• Mike Greenacre, Committee Member

• Rose van Son, Committee Member

• Jenny Jones, Committee Member

The minutes of the meeting will be available to members shortly.

The meeting was adjourned at 2.35 pm, allowing all members present to enjoy a further hour and a half of fellowship and conversation.

Reneé Pettitt-Schipp wins 2019 West Australian Premier’s Book Award

Long term member and former OOTA Vice-President Reneé Pettitt-Schipp has won the 2019 West Australian Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer, for her collection of poetry, The Sky Runs Right Through Us. The collection was previously shortlisted for the University of Western Australia’s Dorothy Hewett ward for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015.

The judges described book as an evocative and memorable poetry collection of experiences both personal and political.

The Premier’s Book Awards are the state’s peak awards for writers and focus on supporting Western Australian writers.

The Sky Runs Right Through Us is published by and available from UWA Publishing.

Well done Reneé.

Cornucopia

As part of WAPI.s Poetry Festival for 2019, OOTA poets were invited to participate in reading their work at the Orient Hotel in Fremantle on Sunday the 18th of August.

 The following poets participated:

 Rita Tognini

Vivienne Glance

Jackson

Rose Van Son

Tineke Van der Ecken

Rachel Petridis

Kevin Gillam

Carol Millner

 (Carolyn Abbs was unable to present her poetry due to illness.)

 It gives me great pleasure to say that the poetry was exquisite, the readers eloquent and the subject matter included a real cornucopia.

From women in all their manifold states, saints to sinners, to family, environment, personal experience, joys and sadness, every subject was represented with delicacy and precision.

These poets know what they are doing. The varied forms of expression, choice of language and rhythm stated clearly that each poet was excellent in the crafting of poetry that had something to say for the listeners and said it skilfully and with an awareness of the beauty of language. The individual readings were expressive and delivered with feeling. I felt proud to be a member of such a group.

 Our thanks go to Emily Mills for comparing the event and to the Orient for allowing the use of their venue.

 This may have been the tail end of the Poetry Festival, but the quality and richness of poetry was undeniable. Thank you to all the poets who participated and shared their creativity.

 Veronica Lake

President OOTA

Tom Collins Poetry Prize 2018 Winner Announcement

15 February 2019

Congratulations to OOTA members Chris Konrad, Julie Watts, Kevin Gillam and Yvonne Patterson for their outstanding successes in the 2018 Tom Collins Poetry Prize.

The winners were:

Winner Busted Piano Man – Christopher Konrad

Second Prize Coming of Age – Kristen Lang

Third Prize Barney Embraces Technology - Peter Burke

Highly Commended

The Life of Caves – Glen Phillips

Homage Marguerite – Julie Watts

strands of us – Kevin Gillam

Elk Rapids, Lake Michigan – Kim Waters

Commended

Love-Locked – Gillian Telford

Dreamlands Hopscotch – Yvonne Patterson

I n Somnolence – Scott-Patrick Mitchell

Lazarette on Peel Island – Damien O’Brien

Talking to my Father – Tony London

The judges report may be read here.

Annual General Meeting

A warm and friendly gathering of members attended OOTA’s Annual General meeting on Saturday, 27 October, 2018 at the Fremantle Arts Centre.

Members were pleased to adopt outgoing President Julie Watts report on another successful year supporting and encouraging members and WA writers in their various writing activities.

Treasurer Leanne Searle reported that the association was financially healthy largely due to an increase in membership and enhanced fundraising.

Membership Coordinator Richard Regan reported an increase in membership from 92 in 2017 to 107 as of the date of the AGM.

Secretary Rita Tognini reported that due to changes in the legislation governing clubs and associations, there was a need to update our constitution. A motion to replace the current constitution with the Model Rules recommended by the Department (DMI&S) was unanimously accepted and, after ratification by the Department, the new Rules will be posted on our website.

Rita also conducted the elections for the new committee and the following were elected unopposed

2018-19 Committee:

Veronica Lake: President

Julie Watts: Vice President

Rita Tognini: Secretary

Leanne Searle: Treasurer

Richard Regan: Membership

Marlish Glorie: Ordinary Member

Jan Napier: Ordinary Member

Jenny Jones: Ordinary Member

Peter Burges: Ordinary member

Rose Van Son: Ordinary Member

A vote of thanks to Julie for all her hard work over her years as President was unanimously approved. Thanks were also voted for outgoing committee members Maureen Gibbons and Rae Hillhorst.

KEVIN GILLAM LAUNCHES "THE MOONS REMINDER"

OOTA member and well known Western Australian poet Kevin Gilliam has launched his new collection of poems.

“the moon’s reminder” is Kevin Gillam’s fourth book of poetry, published by Ginninderra Press. Broken into 5 chapters the poems embrace the profoundly intimate, in “mothers (and others)” to the completely philosophical, in “moons”. John Kinsella, in awarding 1st Prize to the poem “figue” (KSP Awards 2017) described the writing as “honed, balanced, modulated, intertextual and also disturbingly personal”.

An enthusiastic crowd of OOTA members and friends joined Kevin and well known poet and prose author Josephine Clarke who officially launched the book on Saturday afternoon on July 21 in the Pavlich Room, Fremantle Arts Centre. You can read Josephine's speech here.

WELCOME VERONICA LAKE

VERONICA LAKE is our relief Prose teacher for Term 3. Veronica will conduct 5 workshops commencing Friday 27th July, 10th & 24th August and 7th & 21st September. Classes commence at the usual time of 1pm - 3pm and OOTA members pay $25 and NON OOTA $30. If you are a member of Writers United WA the cost is also $25 (cash only). Your support of the Prose class and Veronica will be gratefully appreciated. 
Venue: Fremantle Arts Centre, upstairs in the Print Room, 1 Finnerty St. Fremantle.

Veronica Lake completed an Honours Degree in Arts at the University of Western Australia (1974), with a double major in English and a Diploma of Education (1975). She also completed a Post Graduate certificate at the University of Melbourne for the study of Shakespeare, (2009). In 2010, Veronica was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for the study of Shakespeare in the theatre companies of England, Ireland and Canada. She has participated in many writing workshops and attended professional development courses as a teacher, which focus on creative writing – both prose and poetry. 

Veronica has been a teacher of Literature and English in W.A. high schools for many years, including Applecross Senior High. She edits and publishes Primo Lux, a state-wide student anthology of poetry, now in its sixteenth year. Student creativity aroused her desire to write poetry and prose which began in 2009. She enjoys patterns of language, structure and the shaping of voice. Veronica has always been interested in language and the sound of words from brain to paper and into the atmosphere. She has had a few short stories published and is still working on the construction of her craft with success in traditional forms; sonnets, dramatic monologues, rhyming narrative and free verse. Her subject matter is drawn from everyday life and personal experience. It is important for her to ‘hear’ the rhythm of lines spoken, and because of her Literature background enjoys alluding to classical stories with characters and references drawn from myths or studied texts.