teaching

Season’s greetings

/ Kelly Gardiner / Leave a comment

It’s summertime here, so we’re buckling down not only for festive celebrations of various sorts but also for bushfires and heatwaves and all the true delights of summer (sandy togs, ice cream dripping down your fist, long light evenings, cicada song, cricket on a distant radio – although that’s a sound that’s dying out). I have sunburned feet already after a day messing about in boats.

I’ll be kicking off the New Year with a bit of a holiday in my other home – NZ, then working on a couple of writing courses and a retreat, before Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective launches in early April.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer/winter/wet season break, if you have one, and any celebrations. Stay safe and happy reading.

See you on the other side!

Image of sunset over sand and distant waves, with spinifex grass growing up.
Photo by Nathan Cowley on Pexels.com

Classes & retreats coming up

/ Kelly Gardiner / Leave a comment

I love teaching, and especially love teaching writers. My first full-day masterclass, on How to build a heroine, happened last month and it seemed to go pretty well. I have a few more in the pipeline, and big plans for next year.

All the details are on my New Page Writing website.

Coming up soon are:

Next year I’ll also run masterclasses on historical fiction, Scrivener, writing YA, and a new weekend writing retreat on creative practice and creativity (and relaxation!).

So that’s all keeping me out of mischief.

Although I do like mischief…

Graphic with text: Turbocharge your novel. Writing retreat: a luxurious weekend focused on fiction March 2025

It’s a new page for me

/ Kelly Gardiner / Leave a comment

Around this time last year, I retired from full-time teaching at La Trobe University (though I’m still hanging around – they can’t get rid of me).

Since then, I’ve been writing (a lot), travelling (a lot), walking (quite a lot) and planning.

And here’s what I’ve been planning: a series of writers’ retreats and masterclasses. I’ve called it New Page (see what I did there?) and it will include one-day in-person masterclasses, weekend retreat intensives, and short online courses. You can read about it here.

I’m delighted to kick it off with a subject close to my heart, and my writing: How to build a heroine.

Modern fiction is filled with fabulous, feisty, funny girls and women making their way through the universe. How do writers imagine them and bring them to life on the page?

Of course, the concepts and skills you’ll learn can be applied to a wide range of characters in fiction.

21 September, all day, in person, North Melbourne (Australia). 

Bookings are essential because I’d like to keep the class size small.

All the details are here.

If that sounds like something that interests you, do please get in touch. Otherwise, stay tuned for updates on coming events and writing retreats.

What. Fun.

Graphic of New Page writing retreats and masterclasses logo