Varuna announces 2024 residential fellowships

Varuna, the National Writers’ House has announced the recipients of the Varuna residential fellowships for 2024, including seven flagship fellowship recipients.

The writers and their projects are:

Eleanor Dark flagship fellowship

• Angella Whitton for their literary fiction work ‘The Protector of Fledglings’

Eric Dark flagship fellowship

• Kimberley Knight for their essay collection ‘A Body of Communication’

First Nations flagship fellowship

• Yasmin Smith for their poetry collection ‘salt wattle’

Mick Dark flagship fellowship

• Jane Rawson for their narrative nonfiction work ‘Human/Nature’

Poetry flagship fellowship

• Mran-Maree Laing for their poetry collection ‘A Natural History of Love’

Ray Koppe flagship fellowship

• Madeleine Rebbechi for their short story collection ‘Earth Signs’

Jerra flagship fellowship

• Rafeif Ismail for their speculative fiction ‘Something Like Revolution 1: Byut Al Ashbah’

Residential fellowship

• Al Campbell for their historical fiction ‘Door 64’
• Alice Robinson for their fictional work ‘If You Go’
• Allanah Hunt for their fictional work ‘Meet Me in Heaven or Hell’
• Amy Tan for their YA manuscript ‘Runner Girl’
• Anna Fursland for their fictional work ‘Lou and I’
• Anne-Marie Te Whiu for their poetry collection ‘Mettle’
• Bryoni Trezise for their YA manuscript ‘Ways to Make a Pearl’
• Catherine Owen for their children’s book ‘The Christmas Cult’
• Emma O’Neill-Sandham for their fictional work ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being Stella Cotton’
• Julietta Boscolo for their screenplay ‘The Sound of Light’
• Kate Flaherty for their historical fiction manuscript ‘Before the Crossing’
• Kylie Boltin for their memoir ‘Five Incarnations’
• Laura Elvery for their historical fiction manuscript ‘Nightingale’
• Lee Tulloch for their crime fiction ‘Little Fingers’
• Lisa Salmon for their memoir ‘Scratch: Memoir of a dyke icon’
• Lulu Houdini for their poetry collection ‘guniimara’
• Mariam Tokhi for their fictional work ‘The Interpreter’
• Mary Black for their memoir ‘Stories from a Splav’
• Maura Bedloe for their fictional work ‘Almond’
• Megan Albany for their fictional work ‘Ten’
• Miles Allinson for their fictional work ‘Blood of Unrequited Love (A Thief’s Journal)’
• Molly Murn for their fictional work ‘Radiance: a state of being’
• Rebecca Douglas for their crime fiction ‘Welfare Queens’
• Sharon Kernot for their poetry collection ‘The Deception of Dreams: A novel in verse’
• Tom Paech for their essay collection ‘My (M)e(s)sy Life’
• Toni Jordan for their fictional work ‘Colmslie Reach’.

Varuna received 555 submissions, the largest ever number of applications, from writers at all stages of their writing lives. Varuna also released a list of 16 highly commended writers and their projects on its website.

The Varuna alumni peer assessors were Chris Womersley, Jarrah Dundler, Lee Kofman, Leni Shilton, Linden Hyatt, Mary Anne Butler, Melanie Saward and Roanna Gonsalves.

Category: Awards Local news