Pham named UTS writer in residence

Vietnamese-Australian novelist, essayist and poet Vivian Pham has been awarded the Copyright Agency–UTS New Writer in Residence fellowship for 2024.

Pham is the author of the novel The Coconut Children (Penguin), was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelists in 2021, and won the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. The Coconut Children was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Multicultural NSW Award, Victorian Premier’s Prize for Fiction and Voss Literary Prize.

During her fellowship, Pham will be working on her second novel ‘Owl: The year without winter’, which is set in the real world—‘if, in the real world, seasons were geographically allocated’.

‘The titular character Owl is from the land of Winter, a place which is experiencing extreme weather due to forces unknown to her small town. To save her town—and the world—from ruin, the entrepreneurial Owl must travel to Spring, Autumn and Summer’, said a UTS statement, announcing the fellowship, adding that Pham’s novel ‘seeks to portray biodiversity issues, the resilient beauty of the natural world, and how different cultures understand and respond to climate disasters’.

Said Pham: ‘I am honoured and delighted to become a part of UTS’ community of writers through the Copyright Agency–UTS new writer’s fellowship. I look forward to having my very own office on campus to write, listen, and to be a source of encouragement for any students interested in writing.’

The Copyright Agency–UTS New Writer in Residence fellowship ‘provides a writer with the financial security to complete a new work, to take creative risks, and to connect with Australia’s leading creative writing program’. Past fellows include Anwen Crawford, Bri Lee, Christopher Raja, and Nardi Simpson.

Picture credit: Penguin Random House.

Category: Awards Local news