Book Review - "From the pens of the Oberon Writers' Workshop"

October 10, 2024

Everyone seems to want to become a writer but it can be a lonely trade, sitting at home producing words and hoping that someone somewhere will read them.

The Oberon Writers' Workshop was formed in 2006 when a couple of friends, Bea Norrie and Anne Russell, thought it might be a good idea. Anne moved from Oberon to somewhere in Tasmania but Bea is still an active member of the group.

The concept is simple. Each month members bring along something they have written. It can be almost anything - fiction, poetry, memoirs, history or anything else that can be expressed in words. Contributions can be things written in the past or "works in progress", as well as new material. Printed copies are distributed around the table and the author reads the work aloud. Comments are then sought from the rest of the group.

The comments are what everything is really about, because learning comes from knowing what you are doing right and what you might not be so right about. The discussion is always friendly and usually constructive.

"Writing is a lonely passion, but the Workshop has offered support, a respectful forum, friendship and a lot of laughter," group founder Anne Russell said.

Something that authors are always asked is "Who else reads what you write?", and any published author will tell you that it's not easy to get a publisher to invest the time and money needed to get something into print. There are some "literary" magazines that will publish submitted works but they tend to have few editions each year and can be very fussy about which submissions they accept.

The answer to this these days is what is called "self publishing", but unless you go through an outlet like Amazon it can be hard to reach an audience, and even then the majority of work doesn't earn the royalties to make the effort worthwhile.

In 2019 the members of the Writers' Workshop decided that the best way to get their work in front of readers was to collect a selection of works and publish an anthology. The project was a lesson in the intricacies of publishing and the behind the curtain work that goes on in a publishing house, but the book finally arrived.

"Everyone has contributed and pulled together to make this possible in a way that none of us expected. The teamwork has been fabulous," long term group member and anthology driver Janet Baljeu said.

"Each person assumed a relevant job and, with openness and honesty, we worked through the tasks and challenges with remarkable efficiency. It was a new and stimulating experience for all of us."

The anthology, titled "From the Pens of the Oberon Writers' Workshop", includes works by ten past and present members of the group, plus four invited authors.

The book is highly recommended to anyone who cares about the cultural life in Oberon, and as well as highlighting the talents of the included writers it can be just the push you need to say "I can do that" and start your own writing journey.

There is a copy in the Oberon library of course, and copies can be purchased at the Visitors' Information Centre.

Showing how everything in a small town can be linked if you look hard enough, the meeting place of the group in the Oberon Library is  a few metres away from the display of the Bicentennial Tapestries, and the image of the Malachi Gilmore Hall on the cover of the book is a photo of one of those tapestries. Two of the authors with works in the anthology, Bea Norrie and Michael Maher, still attend the regular meetings.

The Oberon Writers' Workshop meets at 10am on the second Tuesday each month at the Oberon Library and visitors and new members are always welcome. Everyone is capable of writing something and the only criticism will be useful, polite and friendly. It's the best way to learn. You can see when the meetings are on on the What's On page here.

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