ANNOUNCEMENT: Brimbank Writers and Readers Festival (#BWRF) 2020 will launch online next month! BWRF is an annual event that encourages a love of reading and literature, storytelling, celebrates creativity and diversity, and promotes lifelong learning.
Brought to you by @brimbank City Council and @brimbanklibraries with principle sponsor Victoria University @vupolytechnic, filmed at The #BoweryTheatre, videos produced by @cinespaceinc.
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Due to COVID-19, the Festival is taking place online with a series of videos featuring six authors in intimate conversation.
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Featuring:
⭐ Imbi Neeme @imbineeme
⭐ Victoria Nicole Cini
⭐ Amra Pajalic @amrapajalicauthor
⭐ Dmetri Kakmi @dmetrikakmi
⭐ Olympia Panagiotopoulos @olympiapanagiotopoulos
⭐ Leonard Kopilas
⭐ Sherryl Clark @sherrylwriter
⭐ Carmel Reilly
⭐ Anna George
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For full program here

#WeAreBrimbank #BCreative #onlinefestival #Brimbank #council #localcouncil #community #westmelbourne #festival #writer #writers #authors #authortalk #Melbourne #Melbournewriter #Melbourneauthor #literaryarts #literature #MelbWest #LoveTheWest #MelbournesWest
1d

I can now go public. Things Nobody Knows But Me has been shortlisted for the 2020 National Biography Award. There were 89 entries submitted for the Award this year.

As a shortlisted author I will receive $2,000. The winner of the overall prize will receive $25,000 and there is also a $5,000 prize for the best debut biography/memoir. 

As we are currently in lockdown I did what any person would do, I dressed up and made a video about the announcement.​

#thingsnobodyknowsbutme #booknews

Inspired by Annabel Smith who shares how writers earn money for greater transparency and so that we don't feel like failures, I am going to share my writing income this year.

First of all, this is the highest writing income I have earnt since writing and not counting the years that I was successful is securing grants.

Secondly, I have a day job and work full time as a teacher so I do not rely on my writing income to survive.

Thirdly, even though I work full time I'm kind on impressed with myself this year and all the plates I have been spinning so I'm just giving myself a pat on the back.

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Freelance writing
Having articles published has been on my bucket list for so long and I finally feel like I found my voice. I have had seven articles published this financial year in The Guardian $290 an article, SBS Voices $300, AEU Magazine 90 cents per word.

I also have to acknowledge some amazing authors who mentored and supported me in breaking out. Angela Savage for helping guide me in my first published piece in SBS Voices and Alice Pung for recommending me as a writer to SBS Voices. As writers we only succeed through the handholds that are provided by those who come before us. And of course editors of these publications who helped guide me and supported my writing, Saman Shahad at SBS Voices and Josephine Tovey at The Guardian.

Mentoring
I provide mentoring to writers on grant writing and have been a sensitivity reader. I have received work through Writers Victoria and through networks so I set the rates based on the work involved.

Public Speaking
This year I had a lot of public speaking engagements booked, however most of those have been cancelled. As a result I had only two events. One before Corona and one online which was always online so it could go ahead.

Royalties
My memoir Things Nobody Knows But Me was published without an advance so I received royalties six months after publication. I also receive royalties for the anthology I co-edited Growing up Muslim in Australia which was also published as Coming of Age: Growing up Muslim in Australia. This book has been published for seven years and has been a good source of income as each year new Growing Up anthologies are released and they are grouped together. It is also used in schools.

Workshops
I have been delivering workshops on memoir writing, creative writing and grant writing over the years through Writers Victoria and other organisation. This year I was booked to deliver Memoir writing workshops through Writers Victoria for six months with a monthly digital clinic where I provided feedback to participants, $35 per participant and $35 administration a session, and three webinars for $300 each.

This was quite a satisfying process as I had the opportunity to work with the same writers for six months and I loved the opportunity to mentor emerging writers and see their growth on a month to month basis.

ELR/PLR
ELR-Educational Lending Rights-books that are in school libraries. Most of this income has been for my debut novel The Good Daughter and Growing up Muslim in Australia.
PLR-Public Lending Rights-books that are public libraries. 

Wrapping up
I'm unsure whether next year will lead to the same income as I have had quite a prolific year with my writing. I'm copying and pasting Annabel Smith's sign of and also including links to my articles.

Your Turn
​WRITERS: I believe we all benefit from more transparency in this area. If we know what a ‘normal’ income looks like, we are much less likely to feel that we are failing. It also empowers us to ask to be paid fair rates. So if you feel like sharing your EOFY stats you’d be doing a community service. I hope to hear from you in the comments.

Links to my articles (most 2019/2020 however am including two from last financial year which are not included in this income breakdown)

I hated remote teaching during the Covid-19 lockdown. It should never replace the classroom​, The Guardian, 08.06.20

I'm a Teacher and Remote Teaching Makes Me Feel Like a Failure, SBS Voices, 01.05.20

Starting over-finding the true measure of success to avoid burnout, AEU Magazine, 01.04.20

How my mother's Bi Polar disorder affected me, SBS Voices, 13.03.20

Saying Goodbye to My mother After her unexpected death, SBS Voices, 03.02.20

Searching for a message from my mother after she died. SBS Voices, 12.12.19

​My high school counsellor transformed my life forever, SBS, 27.11.19

Growing up Under the Shadow of my mother's bi polar, SBS Voices, 14.06.19 

Allies in Creative Writing, Southerly, 24.05.19
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The life-changing impact of seeing yourself in fiction: Representation for Muslims, Bronzeville Bee, 23.05.19

The purpose of art is to feel, to process emotions, to learn new things about yourself and others, to learn empathy and compassion, and to feel more alive and more deeply. And when a piece of art comes into your life at just the right time it is magic.
Just finished watching season 1 of Zoey's Playlist and I feel cleansed. It's a musical show about a girl whose father is diagnosed with a fatal degenerative health condition so she goes to do a MRI to test herself and ends up with a magical power of hearing people's emotion through songs.
It is such a beautiful and magical show and so uplifting, and yet I cried during every single episode. Sometimes up to two or three times. These were not regular cries, but body shaking, can barely breathe crying. And as I watched the last episode I realised why I connected with this show so much.
I never got the chance to say goodbye to any of my parents. My biological father died when I was four years old. He went overseas to say goodbye after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and got so sick, he died and was buried there. My stepfather committed suicide at the end of 2018. My mother passed away suddenly from hypertension at the end of the last year.
I never got the chance to say a proper goodbye to any of my parents. To prepare, to grieve, to process. They died so suddenly, leaving me with such profound shock and trauma.
After my biological father died my mother said that I became different, I was so angry. After my stepfather died I jumped into caring for my mother, and had no time to pause. And then when my mother passed the weight of all these losses weighed me down.
I feel like I'm only just breaking through and processing. Slightly coming back to myself. But I can see that this will be a long journey.
Anyway, this is a long post but there are three things I want you to know:
1. Art matters. Books, TV shows, music, movies, art, dance and anything I didn't cover-it matters. Support art wherever you can.
2. Hold those you love close. I have learnt deeper empathy and love through my losses. I appreciate the loved ones in my life more.
3. Watch Zoey's Playlist. Your life will be uplifted from the experience. It's on Stan and it's been renewed for a second season.