Course Outline

Have you always wanted to write a novel or short stories? Have you started writing but stalled (again)? Or perhaps you have an idea for a book but don’t even know where to begin? Let award-winning novelist and short story writer, Jo Riccioni, introduce you to the tools essential for writing good fiction.

Covering the technical aspects of writing, such as point-of-view, voice, characterisation and story arc; as well as tips for unlocking creativity and maintaining creative stamina, this course is essential for anyone wishing to start writing, become a better writer or get closer to the ultimate aim of being published.

What to Bring

• Notepad and pen

About the Tutor

Jo Riccioni was born in the UK to an Italian father and English mother. She studied English at Leeds University and graduated with a Masters in Medieval Literature. She taught English before moving to Singapore in the 1990’s, where she became a business trainer, covering the Asia Pacific region. Later she moved to Paris, where she worked for the International Herald Tribune newspaper. Further work in finance took her to Sydney, Australia, where she now lives.

Jo has always been an eclectic reader but only started writing after the birth of her first child. She was awarded a Varuna Residency in 2010 to workshop short fiction with Cate Kennedy and Robin Hemley of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her short stories have won numerous prizes, both in Australia and the UK, and have been read on the BBC and Radio National. They are published in The Age, The Best Australian Stories 2010 and The Best Australian Stories 2011, The Review of Australian Fiction, Shibboleth and Other Stories, WetInk, Westerly, and the Momaya Review. Her story, Can’t Take the Country out of the Boy, has been optioned for a short film.

Jo was awarded a Varuna Fellowship to work on The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store, her first novel. It was signed by Scribe in its infancy and is published in Australia and the UK. The Italians won the fiction category of the International Rubery Award for 2015 and was long-listed for the New Angle Prize for 2015 in the UK.

Jo lives in Sydney’s Northern Beaches with her partner, and three children (one of whom is unaware they are in fact a Border Collie).