Paragraph Fellowship inaugural shortlist announced
The shortlist for the inaugural Paragraph Fellowship has been announced by the new Time to Write initiative.
Shortlisted works are:
- ‘Decadence’ by Hossein Asgari
- ‘The Heron’ by Jessica Au
- ‘Reasons to Leave’ by Emily Bitto
- ‘Caretakers’ by Grace Chan
- ‘Air Travel’ by Jamie Marina Lau
- ‘Middleborough’ by Josephine Wilson.
The inaugural Paragraph Fellowship offers a grant of $25,000 to an emerging or early-career writer of literary fiction. The fellowship aims to ‘help writers create their next work by providing financial support to write with a view to publication’, and recognises that ‘Australian literary fiction is of great value and is under supported, and that many writers—even successful ones—struggle to fund their work’.
Judges for the 2024 fellowship are Canberra Writers Festival director Beejay Silcox (chair); poet, author and editor John Kinsella; and academic and poet Elfie Shiosaki.
The Paragraph Fellowship is an initiative of Time to Write, which was established by Bronte Adams and Claire Murray. Time to Write is a sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation, and is supported by the Australian Cultural Fund.
Time to Write recognises ‘the difficulties writers in Australia face in earning a living from writing’. ‘The problem is twofold and is borne out in research and in practice,’ said the organisation. ‘First, writers in Australia have a hard time making ends meet, with many writers’ incomes falling below the living wage.
‘Second, even for successful, published writers, there is limited financial support from creative agencies, government or philanthropists in Australia for the work-in-progress phase—the vast majority of literary prizes and awards are for completed works.’
Time to Write organisers Adams and Murray said: ‘We spoke with writers and other professionals in the literary and philanthropic spaces. Two big messages emerged: (1) Even after you’ve published your first book, the challenges don’t stop. In fact, it’s not uncommon for writers to face a “valley of death” where they struggle to produce their second or even third novel. (2) The best thing you can provide a writer with is … time to write.’
The organisation added that, with ‘time and with the support of other donors’, it aims to extend its fellowship program into other written forms, such as poetry and playwriting.
Category: Local news
