Our mission is to facilitate and magnify the cultural, social and educational impact of creating, sharing and reading the stories of Western Sydney. Through stories, we show our diversity of voices, sense of worth, increased confidence, resilience and exploration of identities and potentialities.
We recognise that shifting the financial wellbeing of individuals and communities starts at the grassroots level – creating change through the power of the written word allows young people to potentially change the narrative of their lives.
We increase the profile and networks for our community and increase the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of new and established Western Sydney writers as well as the increased diversity in form and content in Australian literature reflective of the diverse community of Greater Western Sydney.
Working with WestWords changed my life.
It’s helped me with my confidence, it’s helped me with my writing skills, with how I write, with the way I view writing.
They basically made me a better person.
Ali, aged 15, Granville Boys High School
Winner – 2020 and 2021 Excellence in Arts & Culture
Winner – 2021 Outstanding Business Leadership – Michael Campbell Executive Director WestWords Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence
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Dates to Remember
Blacktown Day+Night: Moving Images: Screenplay, Comics & Games
Join us to celebrate the different ways we consume story – from the screen, to comics, to games – and how speculative fiction is a genre that has come to exemplify the plasticity of storytelling.
WestTalks – In Conversation with Luke Carman
Join us for our August installment of WestTalks, as we speak to Luke Carman on the release of his new work: An Ordinary Ecstasy. In stories of desire, grief, and exaltation, the collection reflects, as its title suggests, on life at its most ordinarily ecstatic -...
The BAD Western Sydney Crime Writing Workshop
Thinking about submitting a crime story to the BAD Western Sydney anthology? Come along for our free hybrid workshop where crime authors Loraine Peck and Andy Muir talk about their writing lives and how to write a crime story. Bring your ideas, your questions, and...
Blacktown Day+Night: Yours, Mine and Ours: Life Writing Day
Yours, Mine and Ours: Life Writing Day Saturday 27 August 10.30 am - 3.00 pm Max Webber Library Join us for a day of talks, workshops and celebration of the stories we have inside us, that define us. Together we’ll explore the richness found in sharing life’s...
Campbelltown Writers – August’s Masterclass
WestWords, in partnership with Campbelltown City Libraries, is bringing to you a series of Writing Masterclasses throughout 2022. August's Masterclass: Drama: Using Techniques of Stage and Screen in Creative Writing. Guest Speaker: Brooke Robinson. Date: Sunday 28 th...
West Side Poetry Slam – September
Each month the WestWords Centre for Writing hosts the hybrid West Side Poetry Slam. September 14th - Join us in person or online! SCHEDULE: 6:40pm - Doors/Zoom Open & Poet Sign-Up 7:00pm - Poetry Starts Zoom link for online attendees:...
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Opportunities
Fellowships
WestWords offers a range of fellowships for writers nearing completion of a major work. Partnering with Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and Giramondo Publishing these fellowships provide writers in the final stages of completing their first major work a program of...
After-school Creative Writing
After School Creative Writing Groups for Children and Young PeopleEnrolments are open for Term 3 – 2022. Now on Zoom! Creative writing is a crucial skill that increases critical thinking and empathy. With creative writing classes for primary and high school-aged kids,...
LGBTQIA+ Writers’ Group
If you are a western Sydney writer who identifies as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community then come join us. We’ll be talking about the representation of LGBTQIA+ characters, writing about LGBTQIA+ characters and sharing writing of our own (if you feel up to it!)....
Current Competitions
On Youtube
The Coast
Author: Eleanor Limprecht Alice is only nine years old in 1910 when she is sent to the...
The Ozone Café
Author: Helen Hagemann The Ozone Café, a historical novel with three separate owners, is...
Tom Kaldor ~ Monday 06 June
West Side Poetry Slam – May 2022 feat. Tom Kaldor The West Side Poetry Slam is presented...
Hip Hop & Hymns
Author: Mawunyo Gbogbo Mawunyo Gbogbo is a church-going African Australian girl growing...
Lovers of Philosophy
Author: Warren Ward Lovers of Philosophy explores the love lives of seven philosophers,...
Maria Takolander
Maria Takolander is a Finnish-Australian poet, fiction writer, essayist, and independent...
Explore
Westwords Mini Masterclasses
Writer's on the Road
Campbelltown Writing Program
The Clubhouse
Writing Western Sydney: The Readings
Poets’ Corner
Bright Circles All As One Bennet Road
Living Stories – Regional Winners and Highly Commended
Where Happiness Hides
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Case Study
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Case Study
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Case Study
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Last year we ran:
147 activities, facilitated by…
152 writers and allied artists.
Over 28,5000 people directly participated,
We collaborated with 13 schools,
engaging 2,626 students
Our YouTube channel & podcasts showcase: over 100 readings, over 50 masterclasses, plus interviews, events and commissions
into a thriving ecology of writers, illustrators, and editors.
Luke Carman: writer and lecturer Western Sydney University
“We remain really appreciative and in awe of the energy of WestWords and the passion you have for promoting literature in the community.”
Theresa Lock: Outreach and Marketing Coordinator, Blue Mountains Library
“This is a life a life changing experience for me.”
Zaheda Ghani: Western Sydney Emerging Writers Fellow Pomegranate and Fig, the manuscript she developed as a Fellow was published by Hachette in June, 2022
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WestWords acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we live, work and create, the Darug, Gundungurra and Tharawal nations and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.