We’re excited to open applications for our Season 1 Program of Toolkits, two rigorous 12-week programs in fiction and nonfiction for young writers to develop their craft in a unique and exciting online environment.

In our 2018, Season 1 Program, Express Media is presenting two streams of the program for young writers aged 30 and under – Toolkits: Nonfiction, and Toolkits: Fiction, generously supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Each program provides feedback from an established writer, specialised presentations from guest artists and the opportunity to network with other young people working in the same literary form.

In 2018, Toolkits: Fiction will be facilitated by Jennifer Down, author of Our Magic Hour and Pulse Points (released August 2017). Jennifer will guide participants through the art of storytelling and ethics, how to craft characters, plots and plans and how to polish work for publication. You’ll learn the nuts and bolts of editing, how to make your story sing and how best to approach your favourite publications for submissions.

 Toolkits: Nonfiction will be facilitated by Tom Doig, author of The Coal Face (released March 2015, Penguin Books Australia). Tom will facilitate the online sessions and workshops, providing one-on-one mentorship and individualised feedback to each writer. Participants will explore storytelling and ethics, unpack the fundamentals of good nonfiction storytelling, and focus on developing their work from conception to first longform-draft while exploring nonfiction forms, the ethics of representing real-life characters, and how to communicate your work to publishers.

Toolkits is first and foremost a practical initiative and young writers will be encouraged to write, workshop and edit their writing throughout the course.

Express Media will also be hosting Toolkits Live, an open to the public live-streamed event series with some of the best working writers in the country, past years include Omar Musa, Tony Birch, Elena Gomez, Bella Li and Evelyn Araluen. Best of all, these sessions are live and free, for all young writers to learn from and enjoy.

Toolkits is also open to all young writers including high school and university students, regardless of level of written experience. Young people living in outer-metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia are encouraged to apply— participants just need motivation and an internet connection.

Applications are open now and close Thursday March 1st, 2018.