From today for the next two weeks (May 11-25), every new or renewed Voiceworks subscription puts you in the running to win an awesome prize!!
We've got a whole bunch on offer for readers and writers of all ages — & it all goes to support Australia's premiere youth literary magazine ❤️🔥
Full details @ link in bio
Here is your reminder that @voiceworksmag #136 'Quits!' is out now in print & digital formats! And it's beautiful!
Between these graceful front and back covers – by @cordialcanvases – you'll find a trove of new fiction, nonfiction, art, poetry and comics. Perfect April reading... 📖 And for subscribers: after some back and forth with the postal service, your issues are officially on their way.
🛑 Link in our bio
Do you know we have a joint membership with our friends at @australian_poetry ?
Poets under 30 can grab a digital membership to both orgs for just $30, with perks including:
— Digital copies of @voiceworksmag , Australian Poetry Journal and the annual Australian Poetry Anthology
— Subscription to EM and AP e-newsletters
— Full access to programs, including Toolkits: Poetry (2026 applications opening later this year!)
AND if you sign up before May 25, you'll be entered into the 2026 Voiceworks Subscriberthon, with a chance to win epic prizes.
PRIZE HIGHLIGHT // It's day 5 of the 2026 Voiceworks Subscriberthon and there's still plenty of time left to join the prize draw... subscribe before May 25 and you could win a free six-month digital subscription to @australianbookreview (including full digital archive access) or a one-year print subscription to @westerly.mag ❣️ Here is your chance to get some of the very best in Australian writing into your hands...!
Full details @ link in bio.
PRIZE SPOTLIGHT // Enter the Voiceworks Subscriberthon and you could win a free print subscription to @overlandlitmag — Australia's oldest radical litmag — or @griffithreview , a literary magazine of themed critical and creative writing 📖
Subscribe (or gift a subscription) by May 25 to be in the running! Full details @ link in bio.
Voiceworks will be tabling at the Melbourne Art Book Fair this weekend! Swing by between 10am and 5pm, Fri–Sun, to say hi. You could even bring a friend along – as the Subscriberthon continues – perhaps someone who likes raffle prizes: book packs from illustrious publishers, subscriptions to leading literary journals, bookshop vouchers.... 🧐
We will also be at @softstir 's Soft Listening event this Thursday (slide 2)! At which @zadiekmccracken will read from their essay, 'Temporomandibular', forthcoming in Voiceworks #137: Gutter 📜📣
#MelbourneArtBookFair #NGV @NGVMelbourne
Melbourne Art Book Fair is presented as part of Melbourne Design Week, an initiative of the Victorian Government
We're introducing a Voiceworks student subscription :) We recently increased the price of an annual Voiceworks print subscription to $80, in order to keep up with funding pressures and rising print costs, and to allow for a raise in contributor fees.
Still, times are difficult and it's crucial to us that Voiceworks remains as accessible as possible—especially for young people, who fill the pages of each issue. We have therefore decided to introduce a new reduced student/concession rate, along with a new institutional rate, as follows:
— Student/concession: $60
— Standard: $80
— Institutional: $100
An annual subscription covers three print and digital issues of Voiceworks, all full of the best new writing and art from young Australians.
Keen to subscribe? The 2026 Voiceworks subscriberthon kicks off next Monday with fabulous prizes up for grabs (and a Voiceworks trip to the Melbourne Art Book Fair) 📚
Photo by Claire Summerville.
We're thrilled to have Amelia Mellor on board as a Little Stories, Big Ideas award ambassador! Amelia will judge the prize, and run a masterclass for the winners and runners up.
Amelia Mellor is an author, teacher and nature nerd based in Melbourne. Her bestselling novels for middle-grade readers include her historical fantasy series The Grandest Bookshop Trilogy and her new Oceanforged series. When she’s not writing or researching, Amelia hangs around in museums and goes looking for treasure on the beach. Find out more via authorameliamellor.com or follow @amelia_r_mellor on Instagram.
On being our ambassador, Amelia says: “It’s a delight and an honour to be the 2026 Author Ambassador for Little Stories, Big Ideas, administered by Australia’s leading youth literary organisation Express Media alongside The Wheeler Centre. Budding writers often ask me how to become authors – this is your chance! It’s not only an opportunity to expand your creativity and refine your style, but also a way to gain confidence as a creator and have your work read by industry professionals. I’m so excited to see what you create!"
Little Stories, Big Ideas is a flash fiction prize for secondary-school aged students, with categories for Years 7-9 and Years 10-12. Entries for round 1 close on May 17.
🖊 Closing May 17
🖊 Link in bio
Psst! We're extending applications for this round of Toolkits—you now have until Thursday!
Toolkits is a set of online programs for Australian writers and artists aged 16 to 30 to develop their craft, guided by a brilliant facilitator. For the upcoming season, we're thrilled to present courses in Fiction with @mim_webster and Graphic Narratives with @tommi_pg .
✨ New close date: 23 April, 11:59pm AEST
✨ Link in our bio
This one's for young Victorians with an interest in parliament, or journalism, or both. Parliament Express will take you behind-the-scenes of Parliament House, with the opportunity to write an article for Parliament's website.
Here's what some of last year's cohort have said about the program. Take a peek at the 'Parliament Express' highlight on our profile to meet more past participants.
🖊 Six journalism masterclasses delivered in-person at Pariament House
🖊 For young people aged 18-25 eligible to vote in a Victorian state election
Applications close 19 April — link in bio
Calling young comics artists!! It's time to apply for Toolkits: Graphic Narratives :-)
Toolkits is a series of 12-week online programs for writers under 30 all around Australia. Meet fellow artists and explore the many forms and functions of graphic narratives, under the guidance of the brilliant @tommi_pg .
Tommi Parrish is a trans Australian cartoonist, painter, and sculptor living in Naarm. Their debut work, The Lie and How We Told It, won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ Graphic Novel and was nominated for the Ignatz Award. Their sophomore title, Men I Trust, was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize and was highlighted in The New York Times Book Review. Collectively, these titles have been translated into 11 languages worldwide. Tommi's newest work, The Past is a Grotesque Animal, was released by @fantagraphics in early 2026 and is available in all good bookstores. Tommi's work has been featured in The New Yorker, Granta, The New York Times, Pitchfork, Vice, and many more. They are currently completing a master's degree in contemporary art at Victoria College of the Arts.
Toolkits: Graphic Narratives will run on Wednesday evenings beginning on May 13.
⭐ Applications close 19 April, 11:59pm AEST
⭐ Link in our bio
Photos from the Quits! launch - courtesy of the wonderful @salvoswineglass 💖
Thanks again to our readers, Josie, Harrison, Paula and Frankie - to Liv for performing - to Glenda for AUSLAN interpreting - and to everyone who's picked up a copy of the mag!! And if you haven't - why wait?? It's on our website, and at a stockist near you ✨️✨️✨️
(Slide 10 is Paula accepting the inaugural Kat Muscat Award!! What a star)
