Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship 2022 shortlist announced

Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, awarded annually to an Australian writer for a proposed biographical work.

The 10 shortlisted writers and their projects are:

• Lorin Clarke (Vic), for a memoir of her father, satirist and comedian John Clarke
• Melanie Duckworth (SA), for a biography of children’s author Christobel Mattingley
• Hannah Fink (NSW), for a biography of artist Rosalie Gascoigne
• Kelly Gellatly (Vic), also for a biography of artist Rosalie Gascoigne
• Sylvia Martin (NSW), for writing about artists Eirene Mort and Nora Kate Weston
• Mark Mordue (NSW), for a biography of singer-songwriter Nick Cave
• Aunty Joy Murphy and Jessica Horton (Vic), for a biography of Jarlo Wandoon, Murphy’s father
• Naomi Parry (NSW), for writing about the life of Gai-mariagal man Musquito, who was killed in Tasmania in 1825
• Michelle Nayahamui Rooney (ACT), for writing about her mother Nahau Rooney, one of the first women elected to the Papua New Guinea parliament

Writers Victoria announced in 2021 that the value of the prize would increase from $15,000 to $20,000 in 2022.

The fellowship will be judged by writers Jeff Sparrow and Clare Wright, along with Rowley’s sister Della and Rowley’s friend and co-initiator of the fellowship Lynn Buchanan.

‘We had an extremely strong field of applications this year, with a wide range of biographical subjects. This made the shortlisting hard,’ said Della Rowley. ‘We received a large number of high-quality proposals. Perhaps as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns, writers were busy thinking about good topics for biographies. The shortlist reflects a range of emerging and established writers, and a varied range of topics, from neglected historical subjects to contemporary artists.’

Now in its 11th year, the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established in 2011 by the Hazel Rowley Literary Fund with the support of Writers Victoria to encourage Australian authors to attain a high standard of biography writing and to commemorate the life, ideas and writing of Rowley, who died in 2011.

The winner will be announced at the Wheeler Centre on Wednesday, 2 March, after a panel discussion led by Sparrow. For more information about the fellowship, visit the Writers Victoria website.

Category: Awards Local news