Welcome to the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group, a serious critique group consisting of local writers meeting once a month to exchange writing experience, knowledge and detailed critiques. We were founded in 2009 by our fearless leader, the award-winning author, editor and inclusive creativity advocate Zena Shapter.
Today ‘NBWG’ is an award-winning writing and critique group. Committed to developing and extending literary craft, we write and collaborate to publish short story anthologies (you can buy one to support our efforts over here), we go on writing retreats (because for a writer there’s nothing better than getting away from it all and writing for an entire weekend!), we socialise together, and we are always looking for new ways to use our writing expertise for the benefit of each other and our local arts community. There is a spreadsheet detailing our members’ most notable publications over here.
With our writing we have raised thousands of dollars for The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and have published several award-winning emotionally-charged adventure books for readers aged 8-14years to raise money for The Kids’ Cancer Project, a charity leading research into childhood cancer. You can purchase those books by following the links here, or by sending a message to Zena – give your young reader the gift of reading, let them go on an adventure, and help sick kids too!
We also write under the pen name Z.F. Kingbolt, whose middle grade fiction novel Into Tordon was published by MidnightSun Publishing. Z.F. Kingbolt is on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as @ZFKingbolt.
Our members also assist Zena in judging the Northern Beaches Writers’ Competition, which she founded to give creative opportunities and recognition to writers across Australia, as well as locally on the Northern Beaches.
Services
Given all this experience, we have a wealth of writing, editing and publishing experience among our members. You are welcome to access this experience, without having to join as a member, through the ‘Services‘ menu link.
Appearances & Community
Our members are available to appear at libraries, schools, youth groups and writing communities to talk about writing, working collaboratively, the publishing industry and creating books. If you’d like to arrange a talk, please get in touch with Zena. We are a very interesting and inspiring bunch, with heaps of knowledge, experience and literary passion to share!
We are also keen to work with local networks to assist in the telling of their members’ stories. Sharing life experiences and writing them down is a cathartic exercise beneficial to both writer and reader. Please get in touch with Zena Shapter to discuss how we can help your network further.
Membership
To join us as a member, please first read about our meetings and our membership requirements, and note that only committed writers with publication or republication as their goal should consider joining. Want to know what critique meetings involve? Please click to read about meetings before contacting us about membership.
If you’d like to stay or get in touch with us simply to discover writing tips, publishing news and developments, or to share writing news, then please like us on Facebook.
For specific questions not answered elsewhere, please contact our founder and leader Zena Shapter.