Perth Voice Interactive

A COOLBINIA scribe has been named writer-in-residence at the Fellowship of Australian Writers this month.

Nathan Hondros is a contemporary poet and literary editor, and his work has been adapted into radio plays by the ABC and appeared in umpteen literary journals and magazines, including The Australian, Westerly and Masthead.

The writers’ fellowship was formed in the 1930s over a smoky booze-fuelled diner, and its WA branch has been visited by the likes of HG Wells and William Golding.

“Poet Peter Jeffrey says that over the course of three days William Golding drank more alcohol than he had seen in his entire life,” Hondros laughs.

“He says everyone present drank to excess and no-one has any recollection of getting home.

“So Peter remembers shaking hands with this literary icon and that’s it—the rest is a week-long blur.”

In 2012 Hondros and writer buddy Damon Lockwood launched Regime Books in Perth, a hard copy publication of poems and books.

Hondros says their commitment not to publish electronically—”it can diminish the form”—and not apply for government funding has been testing.

“We’re onto edition five now and it’s been a rocky road, but now we’re motoring,” he says.

“We’ve just moved to a print-on-demand model which keeps all the costs down and is sustainable, as small traditional print runs were very expensive.

“We deliberately didn’t apply for any government grants, because I have seen so many publications collapse because they relied on a grant that they didn’t get—we wanted to be self-sustainable.”

Regime now has six staff and shifts up to 300 copies every edition.

Hondros will host workshops at the Fellowship event on literary inspiration and practical tips on how to get noticed by editor.

For more info check out http://www.fawwa.org.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK