Radio Australia Today Editorial

East Timor: Stories that need to be told

11 June 2010

I’ve written a few books, some of which have been published, and I can tell you the power of telling a story, of seeing it in print, of knowing that it is out there for other people to read, is a very powerful thing indeed.

If you are in a country as young but as historically intriguing as East Timor, there are plenty of stories to be told.

Now those of you in East Timor can tell your story.

The Istoria Timor Short Story competition is open for 2010. You don’t have to be a professional writer. The judges just want to hear your stories. They can be any short stories about anything at all. The important thing is just to get your stories out there.

And as I’ve said, writing can be a liberating experience. It certainly was for last year’s winner Teo Ximenes, who used the winnings from the competition to publish a novel, which allowed him to tell the story of a friend who was a young child in the days of the Indonesian invasion. It was a tragic story of a tragic time. Just to hear Teo tell us the story on the program, had had in tears. This is a story that would probably never have been told, if not for the encouragement of this competition.

If you want to enter, the competition closes on June the 30th. The stories must be at least 10,000 words and be in Tetum.

To find out how to send your story, you can phone Ema Da Souza: 3323855 or Tomas da Luz, on 3312260

Or if you have computer access, the website is:

http://istoria-timor.blogspot.com/2010/04/istoria-timor-2010-is-on.html

Do write your story. Take it from me, you’ll never regret it.