‘WRITING THE PAST’ with Phillip Gwynne

This workshop is part of a suite of events taking place during the 'On Ageing' exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Camperdown, NSW, from 23rd April -12 May, 2025.

This prose workshop (sorry, no poetry) is about quietening that voice in your head, the one that insists that it’s too late to start writing. Olga Masters and Frank McCourt were both first published later in life. But it isn’t just about seeing your name in print. As Joan Didion wrote, I write to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see, and what it means. Writing is a way to make sense of our life, both exterior and interior, our emotional history.

Through prompts, guided exercises and group discussions you’ll learn to trust your instinct: that moment in your past that keeps reappearing over and over in your mind is doing so for a reason; it wants to be explored, it wants to be interrogated, it wants to be written about.

PLEASE FORWARD ANY SPECIFIC ENQUIRIES

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP TO THE TUTOR:

pggwynne@gmail.com

This Workshop will be held in the beautiful gallery itself, surrounded by artworks, sunlight, trees and the sky. There is a kitchen with fridge and microwave and on-site bathrooms. The gallery is accessible with a dedicated disability parking spot right outside.

An example of event set-up from last years workshop series.

ABOUT PHILLIP:

One of eight children, Phillip Gwynne grew up in country Victoria and South Australia but has lived for many years in Sydney. He played professional Australian Rules football, graduated with a degree in Marine Biology, and worked at many different jobs before he eventually decided to start writing.

His first book, Deadly Unna? was the literary hit of 1998 and has sold nearly 300,000 copies in Australia. Phillip won an AFI Award and a prestigious Sundance Humanitas Award for his adaptation into the critically regarded feature movie Australian Rules.

Phillip has subsequently written over forty books ranging from picture books to adult crime thrillers, has been published in many different countries and is the recipient of many awards including CBC Book of the Year. He worked as principal scriptwriter on edu-entertainment TV series in Myanmar (The Sun, the Moon and the Truth) and Timor Leste (Laloran Justisa).

In 2022 he created Darby & Joan (CJZ), an 8 X 1hr crime series starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi. The second series is about to be screened on the ABC. Phillip recently teamed up with illustrator Tony Flowers to write the picture book Grandma’s First Tattoo, which was released in 2023 under their own imprint, Yaffler Press. He is currently developing a 6x1hr drama series The Big Soldier, a re-imagining of the extraordinary events around disgraced SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.

ON AGEING: AN EXHIBITION ON A THEME.

25 +women creatively explore what it means to grow older…

Is ageing, as Doris Lessing posits, a ‘cage of associations and labels’, or does growing older offer us the freedom to shed former roles and explore fresh selves?

In this exhibition of artworks by 25 women, many permutations on this rich and complex theme are presented. The diverse array of materials employed offer pause for thought about how we might communicate philosophical ideas through art making. From the comic to the affectionate, the angry to the content, the range of creative perspectives in this show aim to surprise, delight and provoke.

The exhibition includes many creative workshops, talks and get-togethers over its 3 week period, so please check out all the offerings (through eventbrite).

Curated by inner west artist Skye Rogers/Skye's The Limit, Chrissie Cotter gallery courtesy of Inner West Council (IWC).