black&write! fellowships 2023 recipients announced
The 2023 black&write! fellowships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers have been awarded to Dakota Feirer and Jacob K Gallagher.
Each fellowship is worth $10,000 and includes editorial development from the State Library of Queensland’s (SLQ) black&write! editorial team, and consideration for publication by Hachette Australia.
Feirer is a Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr poet based in Dharawal and Yuin Country (Wollongong). Feirer was awarded the fellowship for his collection ‘Arsenic Flower’, a contemplative mosaic of poetry and prose. ‘Arsenic Flower’ features love poems to people and Country, eulogies to landscapes and letters of heartache to ancestors, building a detailed picture of life’s beautiful tragedies. Feirer is a writer, researcher and educator who been published by Australian Poetry, Cordite Poetry Review, Overland, Red Room Poetry and Art Monthly Australasia.
Gallagher is a Kamilaroi author based in Ngunnawal Country (Canberra). Gallagher was awarded the fellowship for his adult fiction manuscript ‘The Doubles’, which is a supernatural crime story set in the Liverpool Plains region of rural New South Wales. Gallagher’s story follows a ‘hard-boiled’ detective specialising in demon hunting, as she investigates a string of deaths in the region.
Feirer said, ‘There are many storytellers of our past and present out there who have contributed to the conscious body of Blak art and literature. They have done so much for me and my life and have saved me in more ways than one … Winning a black&write! Fellowship means an opportunity to be a part of the same canon. This gives me purpose, pride and belonging. I can feel part of the picture now. And the stories I have to tell can be seen, held, shared and felt by those who need them.’
Gallagher said, ‘The feeling of sharing my writing is a terrifying but rewarding experience, and one I’ve been chasing since the first time a teacher encouraged me to read out my writing to the class. I feel my writing and my identity as a Kamilaroi man are being recognised and validated by the community, even as I’m still finding my feet in it, and it feels like the stories I want to tell are worth telling.’
Now in its 12th year, the fellowship is open to all writers (published and unpublished) of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent currently living in Australia, across the genres of adult fiction, young adult fiction, short story collection, poetry collection and children’s book manuscripts. The fellowship is supported by the Australia Council, the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and publishing partner Hachette Australia.
The 2023 winners will accept their awards at a SLQ ceremony this afternoon, 30 May. The winners of last year’s black&write! fellowships were Herbert Wharton and Lay Maloney.
For more information about the black&write fellowships, see the SLQ website.
Category: Awards Local news
