The winners of the 2016 Grieve Writing Competition will be announced at our Live Reading on August 27th. This is a major event that attracts hundreds of attendees. It is only gold coin entry but due to popularity bookings are essential.

If you are selected for publication in the print book (approximately 120) you will be notified early August. Writers selected for publication in the ebook (an additional 60 approximately) will be notified before August 27.

We had an incredible response to this national competition with unique and poignant poetry and prose.  Your words revealed the many manifestations of grief and loss and the complexity of emotions and reactions we experience.

At the live reading, experienced public readers will read the top 20 entries. We will also award this year's prizes and launch the 2016 anthology. It will be a great opportunity to absorb beautiful poetry and prose, meet our wonderful writers, sponsors and supporters and assist in the judging process voting for the People’s Choice award.

The venue for this unique experience is the Newcastle Concert hall regarded as one of the best venues in Australia for acoustics.

We hope you gain insight from this newsletter and from any past newsletters too - click to read these.

Do you have to be a talented writer to be able to express what ‘grief’ means? Or does ‘grief’ write its own story when you give it an opportunity to be heard? These are my questions as I have the privilege to be a judge on the grief writing project.  One thing that I do know is that ‘a story told, is a story healed’. Even if only a small part, a confronting emotion or troubling thought has been validated through the process, that is part of the process of working through grief.

It is a great honour to be involved with the competition and Hunter Writers Centre and to represent the National Association of Loss and Grief (NALAG) as one of its Board members. I have been on the NALAG board for over six years and I continue to be amazed in learning how so many NALAG volunteers, all around the state, do wonderful things to support grieving people. 

I started to work with loss and grief in the early 80s when I was nursing and participated in a workshop presented by Elizabeth Kübler Ross. It set me up on my own journey of working with changes and losses in my life. Now, in 2016, I notice how so much of our understandings of loss and grief have changed. As a professional, I have always been working with loss and grief in some capacity, whether specifically as a nurse with HIV/Aids patients, as a social worker with unemployed or homeless people, or, now, as a spiritual care team leader with older people or in palliative care.

On a more personal level, it was the breakup of a significant relationship that threw me into the chaotic world of loss and grief at an early age of my life and then again a few years ago when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I was fortunate enough to journey with her until her last breath and her life and death have had a huge influence on my own formation as a person. Never having thought of myself as a writer, I entered a healing narrative competition where I wrote about my mother’s last months of her life and the therapeutic benefit of listening to her story. To my absolute surprise I won the first prize of this competition. The process of writing the story had been very healing for me and many tears were shed during the writing process. I was invited to read out my story publically a number of times after I won the competition and that was the most therapeutic and confrontational aspect for me. I gave voice to a very tender part of my life. I was so touched by the way strangers came up to me after my presentation, with tears in their own eyes, as something deep inside them was touched as their own grief resonated.

So, as I read the stories of the grief writing project, my own life is touched in a rich way. I hope, in a small way, each writer senses that they are not really alone with their grief and are part of an universal river of loss and grief that is part of a wild, chaotic and awesome landscape that we call life.

Grief touches all of us at some point in our lives. It is the ultimate price we pay for love. Many of us deal with our own losses in our own way and there is no right or wrong way one must grieve. It is just your own way.

NALAG is a not-for-profit organisation supported by dedicated Volunteers in Centres and Branches across NSW. The most important service that NALAG provides is the simple gift of listening to people in their grief. Providing a caring and non-judgemental ear and caring support is the key in this sort of listening.

Beate Steller is a board member of NALAG and presents loss and grief training as a NALAG consultant. The National Association for Loss and Grief, major sponsors of the Grieve Writing Project.

Details about our judges and prizes available here

This extract is from one of the stories featured in the 2015 Grieve Anthology.

On some occasions, the fog Ian experienced turned to panic. Nothing made sense to him and even Margaret, his loving wife, could not console him. Family became unfamiliar and new places became threatening. A deep level of anxiety would course through his veins and the fear would take shape across the lines in his face. After these incidents, his illness clenched its dirty grip a little tighter around his mind.

Eloise Young from Beyond Blue has been a judge of Grieve for three years. Beyond Blue offers support to individuals, families and organisations and we are always thrilled to have Beyond Blue associated with the Grieve project. According to research provided on Beyond Blue's website, depression is "the leading cause of disability worldwide. In Australia, it is estimated that 45 per cent of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. In any one year, around 1 million Australian adults have depression, and over 2 million have anxiety."

Depression does not discriminate. Beyond Blue offers a range of resources that cater to the specific needs of men, women, young people, pregnant women, parents and people from diverse backgrounds.

The Grieve Project - competition, anthology and live reading - are in honour of Grief Awareness Month which was originally conceived by NALAG. The theme for 2016 Grief Awareness month is: Grief Muster - Mustering the Courage to Grieve.

The pain of grief will keep trying to get your attention until you unleash your courage to gently open to its presence. The alternative, denying or suppressing your pain, is in fact more painful. The experience of grief can often be a lonely isolating, frightening place to be. Mustering the courage to move forward in the pain ultimately leads to healing.

NALAG is encouraging participation in a “muster” or gathering of people to express their grief in ways that are meaningful to them. There are many ways to encourage a coming together for support and remembering loved ones who have died.

By participating in a “Grief Muster” people gather to reflect and remember - we are acknowledging grief and promoting resilience. So encourage your community, church group, clients, and friends to engage in this event. You could enhance awareness at the Grief Muster by wearing a particular colour or T-Shirt and carrying a balloon.

Loss can include many things including the death of a loved one, divorce and separation, miscarriage, infertility, abortion, unemployment, retirement, loss of a pet, disability or serious illness.

This year consider holding an event in your town like a Grief Muster Courage Walk, Remembering Ceremony, photography competition or art exhibition.

For more information on Grief Awareness Month events see our website www.nalag.org.au

This extract is from a poem by Madison Godfrey that appeared in the 2015 Grieve Anthology.

Loss doesn't feel like a metaphor.

Instead, an uncertified medic has arrived

with rusty tools to amputate the limbs you

appreciate, leaving only a fragment

of your former self.

Paperback copies of the 2016 Grieve anthology will be available at the Grieve Live Reading.

Or you can buy online from our shop. The 2013 anthology is also available as an ebook.

These are a terrific resource if you're a writer and want to read the stories and poems selected by judges in the past. eBook editions are also available from a variety of sellers including Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and Scribd. Click here

What about a gift? The Grieve books are a thoughtful gift for someone who has suffered a loss.  A copy of Grieve with a note saying "Thinking of you" can let them know you care.

Caring is their mission