QWC Varuna fellowship 2024 recipients announced

The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has announced the recipients of its two 2024 residential fellowships to be held at Varuna, the National Writers’ House.

Recipients of the 2024 fellowships are Sharlene Allsopp (QWC Underrepresented Writers Fellowship) and Laura Jean McKay (QWC Established Writers Fellowship).

Allsopp is the author of The Great Undoing (Ultimo), a work she completed as a recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter program in 2020/21. She was born on Bundjalung Country into the Olive mob, and lives in Meanjin/Brisbane. Allsopp has also been published in the Griffith Review and Portside Review, and by Aniko Press. She is currently studying for a master’s degree in creative writing and developing her next novel.

McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe), which won the Arthur C Clarke Award, the Victorian Prize for Literature, and the ABIA for small publishers’ adult book of the year; the book was also a co-winner of the Aurealis Award for best science fiction novel. She is a lecturer at Massey University, and her most recent book is the collection Gunflower (Scribe).

Judges for the 2024 fellowships were UQP publishing director Madonna Duffy, novelist and academic Rohan Wilson and author Kris Olsson.

Established in 2022, the QWC fellowships provide recipients with a two-week residency at Varuna, including travel costs and manuscript consultation, with applications open to QWC members. The QWC Established Writers Fellowship is open to writers with at least one publication, while the QWC Underrepresented Writers Fellowship is open to both emerging and established writers from underrepresented groups.

More information about the fellowship program is available on the QWC website.

Category: Awards Local news