THE Nambucca Valley Writers’ Group, a mentoring club for writers of the region, held its final 2025 meet-up and Christmas party in Urunga in late November.
The group has had a history of supporting successful writers since its inception 35 years ago.
Among its life members are Carrolline Rhodes and Roby Aitken, local authors with multiple successful tomes among them.
The group meets monthly on the third Saturday of the month at the fire-station in Nambucca Heads and meetings usually take the form of discussion and presentation of a piece of writing each of the attendees has prepared in advance.
“We get given homework,” Diane Curran, a long-time member of the group, told NOTA.
“Usually it is limited to around 500 words and may be poetry or a narrative around a topic that we were given at the last meeting,” she explained.
Two of the attendees at the Christmas party, Chris Heinicke and Rachel Burns, have recently released books.
Based in Coffs Harbour, Chris travels down to Nambucca to attend meetings and has self-published 17 books to date with a co-author from Canada.
His books fit into the genre of science fiction/horror with his most recent novel telling the tale of a giant bio-engineered spider which brings terror to the small South Australian town of Hahndorf.
Chris sells his books at markets around the region including the Harbourside Markets in Coffs Harbour.
Rachel worked with the Nambucca Historical Museum to publish her latest book, “Nambucca Stories”, several months ago.
After a print run of 350 books, it is currently sold out across most outlets.
The group’s youngest member, Sohma, 25, told NOTA she is currently editing her first novel, which is already in excess of 100,000 words.
“It’s a story along Greek mythology lines so I have learnt a lot about the individual gods and goddesses and what they represent,” she said.
“It’s a bit like Percy Jackson but aimed at a slightly older age group,” she added.
The meetings are very supportive, and members resist the urge to criticise other writers in the group, Diane explained.
The writers’ group has also released several anthologies of its best pieces over the past three decades, the latest in 2022 entitled ‘33 in 22’.
“Some of us write poetry, for some its short stories and others write books but our meetings help us to hone our craft and encourage each other on the publishing journey,” Diane said.
By Ned COWIE
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