Bayside is home to many budding writers who honed their writing skills and harnessed their storytelling voice at three No Worries Writing Workshops organised by Bayside Council held on 22 and 24 May. 

A stumbling block for many would-be writers is how to write about the passage of time when writing about place and memory for a novel or memoir. This is no longer a problem for those who attended the highly informative How to Bend Time Workshop presented by author Dr Kathryn Heyman. Dr Heyman explained how to connect moments by building time and releasing tension, revealing and resolving conflict, and leading the reader from a gripping introduction to a satisfying conclusion. 

The Sans Souci Library also hosted the sold-out Trust Your Obsessions Workshop featuring author Anthony Sharwood, a long-time Bayside resident and Walkley Award-winning journalist. He explained how to turn a great idea into a successful fiction or non-fiction book. Attendees left the workshop feeling confident, having a format and framework to tell their authentic stories. 

Bayside Council also partnered with the Sydney Writers' Festival to present bestselling author Debra Oswald talking about her latest book, One Hundred Years of Betty. Debra is best known as the creator of the TV series Offspring, as well as writing three novels and several stage plays. At the sell-out event on 22 May, Debra was interviewed by fellow author Dr Kathryn Heyman.