Inspirational poet and educator Deb Westbury hosts a writing workshop at Orange in July:
For beginner writers:
Writing from the Senses
The best writing is generous. To show readers what you saw, felt, touched, tasted and smelled is to enable them to enter into your original experience. To simply 'tell' them leaves your readers on the outside of your experience. It is not generous or interesting.
Saturday 5 July, 10am to 1pm in the West Room, Orange Regional Gallery, Byng Street, Orange.

The cost for the workshop is $35.

To book your place, please call the Central West Writers' Centre on 6393 8125.

Deb has been a familiar and respected voice in Australia poetry since her work was first published in 1975. Her poetry has since been widely anthologised, including the Oxford Anthology of Women's Verse. She teaches courses in creative writing at university and high schools and now resides in the Blue Mountains. Her latest work is The View From Here.

* Please note the previously promoted poetry workshop: Making Metaphor has been postponed.

Central West Libraries, Central West Writer's Centre and Angus & Robertson present an author talk by Mike Keenan at Orange City Library on Friday 4 July at 6.30pm. Mike's first book, The Horses Too Are Gone, only told a small part of his personal story. Now, through his memoir The Shadows of Horses about growing up on the family property, Myall Plains, and later running it, he explores many aspects of the Australian bush and its way of life. Along the way he tells some terrific bush yarns as well as hair-raising anecdotes from his years on the bush racing circuit. Ultimately it is about his passion for – and despair over – life on the land, but he also speaks for every farmer who is doing it tough. Call Orange City Library on 6393 8132 to let us know you are coming along.

Last night the winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary award was announced: Steven Carroll for his novel The Time We Have Taken. The Award celebrates Australian character and creativity and nurtures the continuing life of literature about Australia. It is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. Commenting on the winner's novel, the Judging Panel wrote: “Carroll's novel is a poised, philosophically profound exploration of the question, a stand-alone work that is moving and indelible in its evocation of the extraordinary in ordinary lives.” His publisher said The Time We Have Taken “counterpoints the story of a family with that of a community  and a nation  also undergoing great change. It is rich, lyrical and profound”. For more details go to http://www.trust.com.au/awards/miles_franklin/

Caroline Eisenhauer and Marion Mitchell Read at Cowra Library are counting their every step and asking patrons to sponsor them or donate funds to Cowra Rotary Club's Shelterbox project. ShelterBox helps in disaster zones and usually contains thermal blankets, a tent, tools and other survival equipment, light and heat and cooking aids. Rotary is trying to send more to Myanmar (Burma) since Cyclone Nargis destroyed large portions of the country. The pair are wearing pedometers to count steps. Caroline is averaging 8,000 a day while Marion is not far behind her averaging 5,000. Call in to the Library to see the Shelterbox display and show your support with a donation to this worthy cause. Caroline and Marion will feature in the Cowra Guardian and they are pictured here courtesy of Janine Finlayson of Rural Press Ltd.

Enjoy a BBQ on Tuesday 24 June from 11am  2pm at the Art Gallery Forecourt, in front of Orange City Library, Byng Street, Orange. Come along and enjoy the sausage sizzle to mark Drug Action Week and drug info @ your library. Stay for the guest speaker Professor Sandra Jones, Director of the Centre for Health Behaviour and Communication Research at 2pm to 3.30pm talking about alcohol advertising and all the issues. Don't wait for the politicians to decide, hear from an expert and make up your own mind. Learn more about drug info @ your library: up to date information on alcohol and drugs, easy to read, accurate, in English and other languages, online and at your public library. There is also a quiz to try and be in the running for a prize. Drug info is a partnership between NSW Health and the State Library of NSW. Go to the website: www.druginfo.sl.nsw.gov.au.