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frequently asked questions

Who teaches the writing workshops?

You’ll have between two and five teachers facilitating your course, collaged from a team of passionate and talented writers, editors, academics, poets, publishers, founders and activists whom we deeply trust and respect.

Between us, we have a meaty list of bylines and breadth of experience. We’ve hosted radio shows, written front-page news stories, produced podcasts, published guidebooks, founded print magazines, started creative agencies, started travel companies, worked national tourism campaigns and completed PhDs.

Something all Astray teachers have in common is also an active opposition to colonialist, imperialistic media hegemony. We are constantly having conversations about how we can work to dismantle systems of oppression, and are always very excited to welcome new students to teach and learn from.

Will I get a job after the course?

You’ll get as much out of this course as you put in. It’s not an internship, but a crash course in becoming a freelance writer, and our aim is that by the end of the program, you’ll have two or three pieces to add to your portfolio (published stories and an eBook), and a lot more knowledge and oomph to add to your skillset. Many students who do the course continue to write for Astray on a freelance basis, and we have contracted several former students to teach the course years later after being impressed by the incredible work they have done beyond Astray.

How does Astray choose people?

There is no singular framework for selecting students to come on the course. We are moved by all sorts of things: strong storytelling ability, control over writing, a beautiful way of looking at the world, an open mind, a willingness to learn, a powerful story and an enthusiasm that glows so strongly in an application that it dazzles us through the computer screen.

Maybe you’ve never written anything beyond a secret diary of poetry; perhaps you’ve already had your food reviews published in a magazine or interned in a bunch of newsrooms. Each participant brings something different to the program, and your age and experience do not necessarily matter.

How do I know if I’m under or overqualified for the course?

There is no such thing as underqualified — formal qualifications are becoming less and less important in the writing world and freelancing economy, and we’re of the opinion that if you are passionate about writing, then you can be a writer. In terms of being overqualified, we’ll delve into a bunch of writing styles, from copywriting and editorial to investigative feature writing, so if you’ve done that in a journalism degree, perhaps some of the content will be old hat. On top of that, we’ll focus heavily on working against colonial and imperialist legacies and ethical journalism, as well as pitching, working as a freelancer and starting a publication, magazine and creative agency — practical and important skills we tend to find universities neglect. If you’re already working as a freelance writer, or you have extreme confidence pitching and have been published by a range of mediums already, then perhaps this program isn’t for you. If, however, your writing training has been super structured — like you’ve done a degree and worked only in the confines of a newsroom, many of the practical skills we impart, especially with regards to freelancing, will likely be useful.

What’s the demographic of the participants?

Age-wise, people tend to be in the 18-to-30-something bracket, but we’re big advocates of age diversity, so if you fall outside of this but are still interested, drop us a line. We tend to attract mostly women and gender-diverse people, but cis men are very welcome too. In the past, we’ve had many neurodivergent and disabled folk do our program, and strive to do our best in accommodating everyone’s needs.

Some people who do our course are studying journalism or communications; some are doing wildly different degrees, such as biomed or engineering. Some participants have never studied; some have already graduated. Some are working as architects, others in restaurants, some in marketing, others in  social services. We welcome writers (and aspiring writers) of all stripes!

I’m not Australian — can I do the program?

Though we’re an Australian company, you don’t need to be Australian to do the program – we’ve had students from Hong Kong, Fiji, Bolivia, Germany, India, the U.S., Vietnam, Canada, the UK, Norway and more join us before. If you come from somewhere where it’s difficult to get a travel visa, we’ll make every effort to help you, and if English is not your first (or strongest) language, that’s not a problem either. In fact, often we find non-native English speakers to be the most sensationally beautiful writers, bringing unique turns of phrase and perspective to their work.

Is Astray ethical? Sustainable? Responsible?

Recreational travel is an enormous privilege that the vast majority of the world does not have access to. 80% of us will never board a flight, and the number of people who’ve been forcibly displaced from their homes and made to travel for necessity is in the hundreds of millions. Conflict, climate change and issues created by colonialism continue to make things worse with every passing day.

Additionally, though recreational travel may bring money to communities, it’s a double-edged sword, with carbon emissions from flying barely the tip of the melting iceberg.

In many places, tourism has grown beyond the bounds of sustainability to the detriment of local people, heritage and ecosystems. Our holidays can cause strains on resources, the commodification of cultural and spiritual practices, a decrease in the quality of life experienced by residents, the forcing of already-marginalised groups closer to the margins, the exploitation of animals, the destruction of local habitats and increases in pollution.

An image from one of our Bali writing workshops that shows two students dressed in raincoats and farm hats laughing at each other as they clutch a basket of vegetables they have picked.
Astray students getting a rice blessing at Tanah Lot temple in Tabanan, Bali.

As a travel publication and educational tour provider, the grimness of this information is on our minds a lot, and we strive to be as ethical as possible in all the business that we do, which looks different depending where we are.  

In Bali, this means living in a village outside of the main tourist drag, working with local businesses (e.g. our fantastic language school, accommodation providers and cooking school, as well as local restaurants and supermarkets) and local people (e.g. if we hire a videographer, or get one of our sweet ibu friends to teach us how to make canang sari).

In Japan, this means living in family-owned guesthouses, working with a woman-founded language school, teaching from a locally-owned space and trying to minimise our waste in a plastic-dominated society.

In Australia, it means working with Aboriginal cultural groups and learning how to acknowledge Australia’s dark colonial past in travel writing.

Everywhere we go, it means supporting locally-owned businesses, promoting sustainable travel practices and teaching a curriculum that is strongly informed by decolonial, deimperial, intersectional feminist thought.

I have a disability — how will you accommodate this?

We’ve had many students with disabilities come along to our writing programs in the past, and are willing to do what we can to accommodate your needs. When a student who is a wheelchair user joined us in Bali, we arranged accessible accommodation and had ramps built at our place of learning. When we’ve hosted students who are neurodivergent, we rearranged the learning material and class structure to make it suit them better and offered extra support. When we’ve had students who are deaf, we made sure they sat at the front of the room and checked in with them to make sure no content was missed. Whatever your disability, we’d love to know how we can be more inclusive and make sure your time with us is possible and pleasurable, so just get in touch via email and we can chat.

Is Astray a safe space?

At Astray, we are determined to foster a space that is safe and inclusive for all – meaning we do not tolerate any form of bigotry, discrimination, abuse, marginalisation or insulting behaviour on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion, background, skin colour, job (sex work is work!!), race, religious belief, sexuality, gender identity, socioeconomic class, caste, disability or age. We priotise calling-in culture over calling-out culture, but acknowledge that everything is situation dependent.

Participants will all be required to sign a manifesto on day one of the workshop promising to be a safe participant. If you are a target of harm or experience any bigoted or unsafe behaviour from a teacher or student at any point on one of our programs, please each out to your workshop coordinator right away.

What’s the deal with uni? Can I get uni credit?

We firmly believe that institutionalised education is not necessarily for everyone. Don’t be afraid to apply if you’ve never been to uni before! If you are currently studying though, depending on your field, you may be able to obtain credit for doing a workshop with us.

Since we started running month-long writing programs in 2015, we’ve had students from a range of Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand universities get credit before, from Griffith to La Trobe to Wollongong to Curtin to Massey to the University of Queensland. We have had official partnerships with Griffith and RMIT in the past, and if your university wants to get on board, we’d be stoked to tee up something official. 

For the most part though, you need to sort the credit situation yourselves (with our help). The majority of communicationss and journalism degrees have a Work Integrated Learning unit, which is usually the best avenue for credit. Talk to your head of department about what you need to do. Other options we’ve seen students have success with are open electives or internship units. Usually, we need to sign some forms and assess you afterwards, which we are more than willing to do provided you put the work in.

Do I need to bring a laptop?

Yes — or something you can write with. You’ll be doing truckloads of writing, and will need to submit it online, so even a tablet with a keyboard will suffice.

Nahum in the snow in Hakuba: taken on a weekend trip during an Astray writing workshop in Japan.

Where does the money go?

Bali:
  • Accommodation is in twin-share bungalows out the back of Ubud.

  • Language classes are held with Cinta Bahasa.

  • Cooking classes are done with Bali Farm Cooking School.
  • Classroom rental changes each year as businesses change hands so frequently!

  • Cultural workshops are conducted through ARMA Museum and with our local pals.
  • Airport transfers are done through our delightful friend Nyoman Nak, who hasn’t yet set up a website, but he and his team are safe and lovely.
  • Tuition — our teachers are paid handsomely for their excellent efforts. Their accommodation, flights and visas are also covered by Astray.

  • We have comprehensive public liability insurance to cover all of you in the course of your learning.

  • Profits made from the program (workshops are sold on a 12.5% profit margin that is only met if the course is 3/4 full) go straight back into the site to pay our editor, our hosting fees and our writers. We are proud to remain largely independent and retain a sense of integrity than to pander to big brands and corporate entities.

Japan:
  • Accommodation is a big sting in Tokyo! As foreigners, it’s difficult to break into the rental market, and very few hostels and guesthouses were keen to house a group of us for a month and thus bar themselves from accepting other guests. A few housing agencies offered to place us in suburbs all over Tokyo, but we want all the students to have the option of living together, otherwise it’s too difficult to coordinate activities, kind of scary and isolating for first-time travellers, and not fair for the students who get placed in dud suburbs. As a result, students in Japan all live together in Tokyo Hikari Guesthouse and Satosan’s Rest. Both are run by LOVELY families, plus they’re nice and convenient.

  • Language classes and cultural workshops are held with woman-founded language school GenkiJKACS.

  • Classroom rental is done through a coworking space called Midori.so.

  • Tuition — our staff are paid handsomely for their excellent efforts, and are also paid a retainer to be social and live away. Their accommodation, flights, visas and insurance are also obviously covered by Astray.

  • We have comprehensive public liability insurance to cover all of you in the course of your learning, and it costs a shitload lol.

  • Profits made from the program (workshops are sold on a 12.5% profit margin that is only met if the course is 3/4 full) go straight back into the site to pay our editor, our hosting fees and our writers. We are proud to remain largely independent and retain a sense of integrity than to pander to big brands and corporate entities.

Australia:
  • Accommodation is at Montacute Boutique Bunkhouse.

  • Gemma will pick you up from the airport.
  • Cultural workshops are taught by palawa woman Trish Hodge of nita education.

  • Classroom rental is done through community space Lower Mathers House.

  • Tuition — our teachers are paid handsomely for their excellent efforts. Their accommodation, flights and visas are also covered by Astray.

  • We have comprehensive public liability insurance to cover all of you in the course of your learning.

  • Profits made from the program (workshops are sold on a 12.5% profit margin that is only met if the course is 3/4 full) go straight back into the site to pay our editor, our hosting fees and our writers. We are proud to remain largely independent and retain a sense of integrity than to pander to big brands and corporate entities.

  • GST: 10% of every workshop sold in Australia has to go to MFing govt, even though we also pay company and income tax on any profits.

When do applications close?

Our applications open about nine months before a program starts. They’re rolling, and tend to work on a first-and-best-in-best-dressed kind of principle. They fill up quickly, but last-minute spaces do free up, so it’s best to apply as soon as possible and at the very least get into our database so we can notify you when we have a place for you.

How soon after I get in is the money due?

We require a deposit two weeks after you get in. Full payment is due 90 days before the program starts, unless otherwise negotiated.

Is the course refundable?

The deposit is non-refundable, as we use it to lock in your place with our service providers and can’t get that money back. The actual price of the course, however, is fully refundable less the deposit until 60 days before the program starts if it’s overseas and 28 days in Australia, by which time we’ve spent all your money arranging the trip and will have a very difficult time finding someone rich and spontaneous enough to replace you. We do, however, offer flexibility when changing dates for your trip, and if in the rare chance you can’t come, your course deposit is transferrable. This means you can send a friend in your place instead, or do a future trip with us. It’s also a policy of ours that you have travel insurance before you come, so that if something happens, you can claim the cost of the course back through your insurance provider.

When do I need to fly in, and when can I fly out?

If we’re picking you up from the airport (so Bali and Australia), ideally, you should fly in the day the program starts, but if it’s a few days out that’s okay too. If you’re flying into Japan, you’ll be making our own way in on public transport, so it matters less. If you’re going to be a few days late, that’s okay — just let us know and we’ll make sure we catch you up on whatever you’ve missed. The last class is always taught a few days before the accommodation is up, and we usually spend the final few days hanging out, tidying up loose ends and partying, but if you need to leave during this time, that’s also cool! Most people fly out the day the program ends.

Is there any way I can make this cheaper?

We don’t currently have the funding to offer scholarships (and as a travel company, COVID kinda ripped us a new one), but we’ve had students apply for grants before through their universities and government or private programs. If you need any supporting documentation, we are of course happy to provide it!

Astray is a storytelling project centred on travel, place, culture and identity.

We’re run by a team of writers who mostly live, work and play in nipaluna / Hobart. With reverence, we acknowledge the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the traditional and ongoing custodians of trouwunna / lutruwita / Tasmania: land that was stolen and never ceded. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.