General News
2 June, 2026
Workshop nurtures next gen
Local students had the chance to learn from an award-winning crime writer last week as part of Words in Winter.
Maryborough Education Centre and Highview College students filled every seat in the workshop run by novelist Amy Doak on Friday.
Her debut young adult novel, Eleanor Jones is not a Murderer, received multiple awards including the 2024 Davitt Award for Best Crime Novel.
The accolades kept coming for her later books Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret and Eleanor Jones is Playing with Fire, the latter receiving the 2026 Indie Book Award for Young Adults.
Living in regional Victoria herself, Ms Doak brought her talents to Maryborough for a two-hour workshop.
It came as part of Words in Winter, a three-day festival held over the weekend, which aims to share ideas and spark conversation.
The festival’s coordinators Janice Simpson and Patty Brown said, in the introduction of this year’s program, why they believe the workshop was important.
“Nurturing the next generation of storytellers sits at the heart of what we do,” they wrote.
Ms Doak said the workshop was both an introduction into crime and mystery while teaching writing techniques — including how to write a tension filled scene.
“I’m writing for this age group and so to be able to actually talk to them about what they’re doing and how they see the world is always fantastic,” she said.
Students had an opportunity to put pen to paper which Ms Doak said saw even the most quiet students share their thoughts.
“You get to see the pen going a hundred miles an hour and all of these words on the page, even if they’re not sharing it, to know they’ve had that moment of being able to completely immerse themselves in their writing is wonderful,” she said.
Ms Doak said doubt in herself almost stopped her from writing her first book.
“I was too scared to finish it and too scared to share it,” she said.
Ms Doak encouraged community members inspired to write not to do the same.
“If you have any self doubt or you think this is for someone else, but if the idea is still scratching at your brain and you can’t let it go, you have to sit down and write,” she said.
“You have to do it even if it goes nowhere. I think it’s just really important to write if you love it.”