By Callum Ludwig
Upper Yarra Secondary College (UYSC) students have embraced a new program enhancing their creative writing skills, born in the local community and run by local writers.
The Empublishment Project (EP) has been an eight-month deep dive into creative writing and publishing held from Term Three of 2023 through to Term One of 2024 at UYSC with the goal of publishing their very own book.
Director and key facilitator of The Empublishment Project Phoebe Rose Lines said it was originally planned as a twelve-week creative writing course.
“Through the natural evolution of the pilot project delivery, it evolved into an eight month deep-dive for a group of Yarra Valley young people of diverse experience, identity and backgrounds; exploring identity, belonging and connection to place,” she said.
“The EP was developed to chart the entire creative process: from healthy creative practices and story inception, through to skills in narrative planning, creative writing techniques, editing and the self-publishing industry.”
Ms Lines is a youth worker and writer from the Upper Yarra who was inspired by similar successful programs like First Story in the UK and was successful in applying for funding from Yarra Ranges Council’s Grants for Community, Upper Yarra Community Enterprise, the Yarra Ranges Youth FReeZA program and UYSC to trial the Empublishment Project.
Ms Lines has also been supported by Auspicious Arts Projects, Your Library Yarra Junction and local photographer Kate Baker and hopes to receive more funding to run the program again and extend it nationally.
Ms Lines said the EP is ultimately about resilience and cultivating a deep sense of one’s own worth and it hopes to support young people to develop skills to navigate a swiftly changing world.
“Through creative process, group work and mentoring, students build a strong sense of connection and belonging to their community and their group, being part of something meaningful and powerful – capable of change-making in the world,” she said.
“They also gain confidence in their own capacity – to bring a project from inception through to completion and the artefact of their published book will remain something to be proud of always.”
Professional writers from the Upper Yarra and Victoria have run workshops and sessions throughout the program; Dr Maya Ward taught Co-Becoming deep ecology writing practice, local storyteller Cora Zon taught Zine making workshops, young adult literature author Alison Evans taught the art of the short story, locally based re-wilding expert and non-fiction author Claire Dunn taught the mechanics of creative writing, and Upper Yarra resident Lindy Schneider – author, editor and creative writing facilitator – presented an editing and self-publishing workshop.
Ms Lines said over the past eight months these amazing young people have explored the entire creative process.
“From healthy creative practice and different writing techniques including stream of consciousness and deep ecology writing, co-becoming practices based in indigenous ways of being, zine making, short story writing, Hero’s and Heroine’s Journey narrative archetypes, and mechanics of creative writing, plotting and dialogue,” she said.
“We’ve also explored the editing process, from rewriting, to copy and structural editing, along with the importance of alpha and beta readers and the self-publishing process (including graphic design and author photography),”
“To finish the program we have taken the final weeks of Term 1 2024 to cover professional writing (radio interview preparation, article and speech writing) and event management 101 as the young people organise their book launch for their book.”
A book launch event for the student’s book ‘Vignette: A Collection of Short Stories by Young Writers of the Yarra Valley’ will be held on Saturday 23 March at the Warburton Arts Centre.
Ms Lines said it had been profoundly moving to see how deep the young people have dived into the creative process.
“Upper Yarra Secondary College has a highly open-minded and innovative Principal, team and executives who are committed to delivering leading-edge programs and supporting leadership opportunities for their students,” she said.
“We’ve been so lucky to be embraced by UYSC and their truly amazing students (alongside one extraordinary homeschool student who has joined us for the entire program) – all of whom have flourished in this extended program.”
