This year’s award, held in collaboration with Spineless Wonders, encouraged writers to use microlit to explore physical, psychological, environmental and historical scars. Hear readings by writers included in the Scars anthology. Host / Cassandra Atherton

Featuring: The Ocean Has Made Promises - Shaynah Andrews, Shot Through - Nadine Schofield, Affinity - Susan McCreery, Discussing Pain [and the things I don’t say.] - Deb Wain, ATAPS 2013: (The Department of Health Access to Allied Psychological Services Suicide Prevention Program) - Josh Mei-Ling Dubrau Landscrape - Andrew Roff Kitten - Jen Craig Earth Scars - Magdalena Ball Scar Makers Make Men - Paul Collis Shark Bite - Trisha Pender Contrails - Alyson Miller Best of Three - Danielle Baldock Swell - Kathleen Bleakley Neighbours- Brenda Proudfoot Ripple - Paul Hetherington Magic Show - Shady Cosgrove Shotgun - Patrick West Inside - Sarah St Vincent Welch Old Habits Die Hard - Stuart Barnes Drawing the Line - Anna Forsyth The Sheaves of Days - Richard Holt On Finding Charlotte - Judith Nangala Crispin MARE TRANQUILLITATIS, 1969 - Rosanna Licari No White M&Ms - KA Rees

If you would like to buy a copy of Scars, which is published by Spineless Wonders, go to shortaustralianstories.com.au/product/scars/

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Explore the craft of poetry and the inspiration behind Hunter Region author Gillian Swain’s book, My Skin its Own Sky in this virtual book launch with host, Magdalena Ball

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Claire Albrecht and Hera Lindsay Bird discuss the pitfalls and occasional positives of anxiety in the poetic process with host, Bastian Fox Phelan.

If you would like to buy a copy of Claire's book Pinky Swear, which is published by Puncher & Wattman, go to
www.cupletpoetry.com/purchase/pinky-swear-by-claire-albrecht

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Explore the craft of poetry and the inspiration behind Hunter Region author Morgan Bell's book, Idiomatic, for the People in this virtual book launch.

Host / Magdalena Ball

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Gabrielle Jackson and Lee Kofman explore what it’s like to live in a body that deviates from the ‘norm’: from the complexity of self-image to the minefield of medical intervention.

Host / Caroline Baum

If you would like to buy a copy of Gabrielle’s book Pain and Prejudice: A Call to Arms for Women and their Bodies, which is published by Allen & Unwin or Lee’s book Imperfect, which is published by Affirm Press, go to
www.macleansbooks.com.au

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Sophie Hardcastle, Nicola Redhouse and Maria Tumarkin discuss how they have challenged literary boundaries to explore trauma.

Host / Magdalena Ball

If you would like to buy a copy of Sophie’s book Below Deck, which is published by Allen & Unwin, Nicola’s book Unlike the Heart: A Memoir of Brain and Mind, which is published by UQP or Maria’s book Axiomatic, which is published by Brow Books, go to www.macleansbooks.com.au

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Sophie Hardcastle's new novel Below Deck is a work for anyone who has felt the sting of misogyny or the consequences of assault. She speaks to Magdalena Ball.

If would like to buy a copy of Sophie’s book Below Deck, which is published by Allen & Unwin Books go to www.macleansbooks.com.au

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Maria Tumarkin reads from her award-winning non-fiction book Axiomatic, which is part reportage, part philosophical meditation and part storytelling. She interrogates conventional wisdom about the role of the past in shaping the present.

Hosted by Magdalena Ball.

If would like to buy a copy of Maria’s book Axiomatic, which is published by Brow Books, go to http://www.macleansbooks.com.au

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Anna Meares is one of Australia's most successful athletes. She was the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track cycling and the only Australian to win a medal in an individual event at four Olympic Games. Her career is marked by dramatic highs and lows, both on and off the track.

She speaks to Newcastle Writers Festival director Rosemarie Milsom about her new book Anna Meares: Now, which is an account of her life as an elite athlete as well as how she has managed to find peace after retirement.

To buy a copy of Anna Meares Now, go to https://bit.ly/2LGWZDe

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With her novel Wolfe Island, Lucy Treloar joins a growing number of writers whose fiction explores anthropogenic catastrophe. She discusses the thin line between the present and a dystopian future.
Host / Susan Wyndham

If would like to buy a copy of Lucy’s book Wolfe Island, which is published by Picador, go to http://www.macleansbooks.com.au

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