First Drafts:
Submissions
‘First Drafts’ is a series of reading salons held every second month at Willows & Wine.
We offer a space for writers to share their work in a friendly, low-pressure environment.
Selected writers will have the opportunity to test out their pieces at our ‘First Draft reading salons’.
Writers of all levels are welcome - the only requirement is that pieces are in the phases of a ‘first draft’, and are not yet published.
We invite you to submit your first drafts on the theme:
Swoon {Verb}
1. Faint, especially from extreme emotion
“Frankie’s mother swooned and had to be helped to the headmaster’s office”
2. Be overcome with admiration, adoration, or other strong emotion.
“you can have them swooning over you with a few well-placed words”
We want to know what you’re swooning over. What has you so overcome with emotion you could potentially faint?
Maybe it’s the state of the world that has your knees buckling, or a well-dressed stranger on the tram? It could be the cinematic drama of the city skyline at sunset, or the heart-wrenching prose of a classic love story.
Forget your preconceptions of what it means to swoon—your piece can be white-hot with rage, or full of whimsy. It can be as salacious or squeaky-clean as you like.
Go on, surprise us. Make us swoon too.
Important Info:
Submission Deadline - Sunday 26th April (9pm)
Performance - Saturday 16th May @ 7pm
Performance Length - max. 5-8 mins
Themes:
March:Now that the dust has settled, what remains?
CLOSED
May: ‘Swoon’
submissions open 30th March 2026
submissions close 26th April 2026 (9pm)
July:TBA
submissions open 1st May
submissions close 31st May
-
Scroll down the page and complete the required questions, upload your pieces of work and click submit!
-
Yes, as long as they have not been published before and are technically in a ‘first draft’ phase.
-
Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to provide written feedback for the pieces chosen for the event.
This is an opportunity to share your writing in front of an audience and engage in informal conversations with others about your work.
Remember that this event is about the work being in it’s ‘first draft’ phase.
It doesn’t have to be perfect :)
-
No stress, if you are chosen we can help with a few pratice sessions with the microphone.
If chosen to present your work we will work with you in the weeks before so that you feel confident in front of an audience.
-
Over the past 5 years Willows & Wine has built a small amazing community of artists who will read through each submission and decide what pieces fit best with each theme.
-
No, we will not be paying the chosen writers who perform for this series of events.
This is due to the nature of the event and it being a trial of what we hope to be a series of reading salons throughout the year.
We hope to be able to pay writers in the future.
We will provide one ticket (plus one) for any chosen writer for the event. Each ticket gets you a drink on arrival.
-
Get in touch by emailing us at: info@blackbooksbar.com
FAQ’s
Requirements:
Writers must be available to read on the night at Willows & Wine, 315 Victoria St, West Melbourne 3003
Writers must feel comfortable performing a max. 5-8 minute reading. (As a guideline, this typically involves 3 medium length poems or 1000-2000 words of prose.) Excerpts are welcome for longer pieces. Shorter readings are also welcome—if you want to read one poem, that’s completely fine!
We look forward to reading your work!
Complete & submit the form below to send us your writing.
Please see FAQ’s above for any queries you have.