In 2021 RMIT will launch the Speculate Prize in partnership with Giramondo Publishing. Speculate is a new national award for an unpublished speculative fiction manuscript, sponsored by Whispir and supported by the Speculate Literary Festival.

Can you even be a travel writer anymore? A successful one? A good one?!

Certainly, in this current climate of unpredictability—the ‘will they, won’t they’ of lockdowns and border closures—you’re more likely to garner followers, likes and clout for writing about sourdough rather than seeking, soaking or sunning

I’ve always been fascinated by the spell a good yarn can cast over you but it wasn’t until I studied screenwriting that I actually understood where that magic came from: structure.

Once, in the middle of the night, I watched a Youtuber try to live one week of their life according to Haruki Murakami’s writing schedule.

For such a young medium, podcasting has already developed such distinct cultural markers; the close-mic breathy voice to mimic intimacy, the affectedly natural banter to start the episode, the fourth-wall-breaking nods towards the production and editing that goes into it (‘we’ll fix it in post’).

On 15 May I met my classmates for the first time. It was a Saturday and, after months of online lectures, ‘break-out room’ activities, and virtual roundtable sessions with writing, editing and publishing professionals, we gathered together at the Bowen Street Press for an intensive masterclass…

Since Melbourne’s recent emergence out of restrictions, I thought it was about time I knuckled down and found myself a "real" adult job. I desperately wanted to end my hospitality career, to stop picking up empty glasses and serving rowdy drunken people at AFL matches, and secure a role within the editorial industry.