The Emerging Writers’ Festival work, learn and play largely on the land of the Kulin nation, and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

EWF celebrates the history and creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.

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Masterclass, Panel, Professional Development, Workshop & Online

Masterclass: Arts Writing

Arts journalism is many writers’ first foray into publication. However, in 2024, there are increasingly fewer avenues to access exciting, thorough, and diverse writing about music, film, theatre, food, and more.

How can we keep this vast form of writing alive with integrity and bold ideas? How can we ensure that arts writing is accessible, rather than exclusive? Tune in to this digital masterclass to hear emerging and established arts writers share their perspectives and experiences.

Masterclass Schedule

10.00am – 11.00am
Keynote: Writing People
The devil is in the details when it comes to crafting vivid and accurate portraits of artists, politicians, writers, and other cultural figures. Hear from award-winning writer, Daniel Browning, on what it means to artfully render the essence of a person.

11.15am – 12.15pm
Panel: On Art
Arts writing is vital, precarious literary work. Often the best way to start out as a writer – to have your writing published, work with editors, meet likeminded people and let’s face it, make a bit of a cash. But it can be hard to know what pocket to start out in and how to sustain . Hear from these eclectic arts writers, who have traversed the realms of music, art, performance and film, as well as art gallery and catalogue writing.

12.30pm – 2.00pm
Workshop: Niche Journalism

Quality arts journalism often arises from a writer’s passion for a unique subject, and examining it with precision and specificity. From interview technique, through to the opening article line, the former Hot Metal, Kerrang! and Metal Hammer magazine editor will discuss and illuminate key aspects of the craft for writers working across topics and forms.


Accessibility

Closed Captions, keyboard navigable, zoom text, break time

Featuring...

Daniel Browning

Daniel Browning is an award-winning Bundjalung and Kullilli writer, journalist and radio broadcaster. Currently the ABC’s Editor Indigenous Radio, he also presents The Art Show podcast. Hailed by the judges as “an outstanding contribution to arts journalism”, his first book, Close to the Subject: Selected Works won the Indigenous Writing Prize at the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

Nina Culley

Nina Culley is a writer, critic, educator and horror enthusiast based in Naarm. Her arts essays and criticisms have been published in Kill Your Darlings, Liminal, Aniko Press, Mascara Review, among others. Nina is also an active arts and theatre contributor for Time Out Magazine, Limelight and Arts Hub. Her work often centres on Asian literature, delving into themes of intersectionality, the weird, and the fringe.

Robyn Doreian

Robyn Doreian is an Australian magazine journalist, educator, and the former editor of Australian metal monthly Hot Metal, and British rock bibles Kerrang! and Metal Hammer. Her plethora of band interviews includes Kurt Cobain, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Slipknot, Metallica, Megadeth, Tool, Cradle of Filth, Ice-T, Patti Smith, Tori Amos and Amyl and The Sniffers. She is passionate about interviewing and writing about music — heavy metal is her devotion. As the first female editor of Kerrang!, the UK/world’s biggest rock weekly, and also the first female editor of British monthly, Metal Hammer, she remains a pioneer in her field.

Martyn Reyes

Martyn Reyes is a writer and artist from Sydney. His creative non-fiction, fiction and criticism can be found in the Liminal Review of Books, the Sydney Review of Books, Debris Magazine and more. He is currently working on his first book-length project.

Isabella Trimboli

Isabella Trimboli is a writer based in Melbourne. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, Los Angeles Review of Books, New Left Review and HEAT.

Audrey Payne

Audrey Payne is the Melbourne food and drink editor for Broadsheet. She previously worked in the editorial team at Cherry Bombe, a New York-based media company celebrating women in and around the food world, where she remains an editor-at-large. Prior to Cherry Bombe Audrey worked in audience development at Lorne Michaels’ online digital comedy publication and production arm Above Average. She has contributed to Hetty Liu McKinnon’s Peddler Journal and wine publication Veraison. Audrey holds a Bachelor of Science from New York University, where she majored in business with concentrations in finance and econometrics.