Murphy awarded 2024 Peter Blazey Fellowship

Author, editor and accessibility consultant Fiona Murphy has won the 2024 Peter Blazey Fellowship.

Murphy will use the fellowship to work on her second book, ‘Livelihood’, a narrative nonfiction essay collection that ‘shines light on the ingenuity of Deaf people through a series of portraits showcasing their working lives’. The fellowship will help to support the accessibility of the interview process.

The judging panel recognised Murphy as ‘an enormous literary talent and welcome this important work by an author with lived experience of deafness’.

Said Murphy: ‘It is an honour to be awarded the 2024 Peter Blazey Fellowship. The fellowship has recognised writers I deeply admire, whose work has expanded my understanding of the world, by speaking truth with rigour and heart.’

The fellowship is awarded to further a work-in-progress in biography, autobiography or life-writing, and is named in memory of journalist, author and gay activist Peter Blazey. The winner receives $15,000 and access to support and facilities from the Faculty of Arts at University of Melbourne.

Special commendations went to Eda Gunaydin, Micaela Sahhar, and Sarah Walker.

The previous winner of the fellowship was S J Norman, who used the fellowship to work on their manuscript ‘Skin in the Game’, an account of trans/queer love in a time of pandemic.

Photo credit: Joy Lai

Category: Awards Local news