Catchfire Press is pleased to announce a new competition for prose and poetry,
Wood, Brick & Stone: The Making of the Hunter
Wood, brick and stone – basic building materials that help people make their mark upon our environment. Roads, bridges, jetties, dams, buildings where we live, work and worship. From the time the first stones are quarried or timber felled, there are stories – stories about bark humpies to modern skyscrapers and the people involved. Has a particular structure inspired you? Is there a building you love or hate? Send your stories and poems, fact or fiction, about how our constructions have affected the landscape of the Hunter. Catchfire Press invites you to write for possible inclusion in WOOD, BRICK & STONE, in the following categories:
• Prose (200 – 2500 word limit)
• Poetry (up to 100 lines)
In each category:
First place – $300
Second place – $200
Commendations will be awarded

Send your entries by 30 September 2010 with entry fee ($10.00 per entry) and completed entry form to:  WOOD, BRICK & STONE, Catchfire Press, PO Box 2101, DANGAR, NSW, 2309.

Download the application form here

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People of the Valley

by Catchfire on April 1, 2010

Beneath the Valley

OUR MOST RECENT PUBLICATION – SELLING NOW!
From ballerinas to boxers, the famous to humble heroes, this book tells of many who have helped make this valley a vibrant, stimulating community. Rich or poor, soldiers, sailors, teachers, clergy, convicts, doctors, nurses and the couple next door, all these and many more are the People of the Valley.

These stories and poems explore the variety of figures, past and present, who have come to make the Hunter Valley the place it is today. There are stories about descendants of the original inhabitants trying to live in a changing world, also of modern migrants struggling to adapt.

The writers are a diverse group both young and old, some in print for the first time, others well known names, including Sharyn Munro, Gail Hennessy, Jan Dean, Greg Ray, Jean Kent, Patrick Cullen and Zeny Giles.

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Earth Table

From the Earth to the Table

July 18, 2008

‘From the Earth to the Table’ (2008)
by Marion Halligan, Zeny Giles, Craig Manhood, Andrew Slattery and many more local Hunter Writers.
From the Earth to the Table is a collection of poems, stories, recipes and articles about beautiful food grown and produced locally. Authors unearth memories of taste and smell, and share their favourite seasonal recipes [...]

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Through the Valley

April 3, 2007

* SOLD OUT
‘Through the Valley: Writings from the Hunter’ (2007)
Donald Cohen, Michael Jameson, Jo Tregellis (eds)
Through the Valley presents poems, stories, memoirs and images spanning almost two centuries of Hunter Valley life.
Experienced authors and new contributors highlight the unique and the universal, from the female artists of colonial Newcastle to a Lake Macquarie childhood between [...]

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Stories for a Long Summer

Stories for a Long Summer

September 19, 2006

‘Stories for a Long Summer’ (2006)
by Col Maybury, Andrew Slattery, Wendy Alexander, the winners of the SFLS Student competition and many more local Hunter Writers.
“With its combination of poetry, fiction and memoir, Catchfire Press’s latest offering Stories for a Long Summer not only conjures up all of the things that make for a great summer—Christmas [...]

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Beneath the Valley

June 19, 2005

* SOLD OUT
‘Beneath the Valley’ (2005)
by Justice Michael Kirby, Jim Comerford, Zeny Giles, Jan Dean, Jack Delaney et.al.

“Beneath the Valley is a people’s history in the most powerful and personal sense. We’re taken straight into the rich seam of people’s lives through their unforgettable voices. A humbling experience to read.”
— Mark Mordue, author of [...]

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Seamark Pamphlets #5

October 19, 2002

* SOLD OUT
SEAMARK PAMPHLETS #5 (2002)
by Marion Halligan et al.
’The Christmas I’ll Never Forget’
Cover by Angela Cowan.
Illustrations by Sophia Montefiore and Angela Cowan.
Layout by Anna Kaemmerling.
Many people have feelings for the festive season which mingle celebration with poignant memories. This delightful anthology of memoirs, stories and poetry was selected by Karen Whitelaw and Don [...]

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Caught in the Light

August 19, 2002

* SOLD OUT

‘Caught in the Light: a celebration of Newcastle’ (2002)
by Zeny Giles
Zeny Giles has won national short story competitions, published a novel, Between Two Worlds, and a short story collection, Miracle of the Waters, and had her play, Zorica, performed in schools throughout the Hunter Valley. These have all been on migrant and [...]

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Heaven’s Gate

July 19, 2001

‘Heaven’s Gate’ (2001)
by Trevor Fing
This, Trevor Fing’s first novel, was written in a series of NSW prisons. He knows the chafing oppression, menace and claustrophobia of ‘inside’ as one who is enduring years in jail, and the freedom and peril of the skies as one who has flown in both. The soundless precision of expert [...]

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Visions from the Valley: Poetry of the Hunter Valley, 1960-2000

June 19, 2001

‘Visions from the Valley: Poetry Of The Hunter Valley, 1960-2000′ (2001)
Ed. by Donald Moore
* selling fast
Dr Moore, once executive of an international textiles organisation, now in his ninety-second year, chose the works in this definitive anthology of the voices and visions of seventy-nine Hunter Valley poets over forty years. Who would you expect to star [...]

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