Vucic awarded 2021 Kat Muscat Fellowship

Dženana Vucic, a Bosnian-Australian writer, editor, critic and 2020 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow, is the recipient of the 2021 Kat Muscat Fellowship, which ‘offers support and development to a young Australian writer and/or editor of an underrepresented gender’ to the value of $5000.

Vucic said she would use her time as 2021 Kat Muscat Fellow to work on ‘an autotheoretical project, provisionally titled “A Teleology” about identity, un/belonging, memory, myth- and history-making’.

‘It blends my experience as a refugee from the Bosnian war, shared mythologies, history and theory to interrogate how we tell stories about ourselves, as nations, groups and individuals, and challenges the immutability of those narratives,’ said Vucic.

‘If all goes well, the Fellowship will allow me to travel to Bosnia to conduct interviews with family, friends and neighbours, visit historical sites like Srebrenica and Visegrad, and trace my family’s escape path. I will also use the funds to undertake Bosnian lessons online and, if I am unable to travel due to the pandemic, conduct extensive research from home and work towards completing a draft.’

The annual Kat Muscat Fellowship was set up by Express Media in honour of former Voiceworks editor Kat Muscat. Fellows are selected by the Custodial Committee of The Kat Muscat Legacy Projects, which includes members of Express Media’s board and staff, the Muscat family and appointed community members.

‘We were immediately gripped by Dženana’s project, a work of memoir and autotheory about identity, memory, and her family’s experiences as Bosnian refugees,’ said chair of the Kat Muscat Custodial Committee Veronica Sullivan. ‘We can’t wait for readers to be enthralled, informed, and challenged by the work Dženana produces during her time as the Fellow.’

The 2020 fellowship was awarded to Maddie Godfrey. For more information, see the Express Media website.

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Category: Local news