Arts NT Residential Fellowships
Six two-week fellowships are available for writers living in the Northern Territory, with a travel stipend and one-on-one mentoring.
Applications open: 5pm (ACST), 27 May 2025
Applications close: 5pm (ACST), 14 July 2025
Residency dates: Must be taken by the end of 2026
Places: Six places will be awarded
Who should apply: Emerging or established writers living in the Northern Territory
Fees: There is no application fee for this program, nor are there any program costs; successful applicants receive a $1,500 stipend for travel costs
FAQs: Please read the FAQs before you apply.
Presented in partnership with the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT, six residential fellowships are available to writers living in the Northern Territory, to be taken between September 2025 - December 2026. Participants will be selected from across the Territory, and at least one fellowship place will be reserved for a First Nations writer or illustrator.
Residential fellowships include:
A two-week residency at Varuna, with full board and accommodation including a prepared evening meal.
Uninterrupted time to write in your own private studio, and the companionship of your fellow writers.
$1,500 towards expenses, including travel, manuscript consultations, or accommodation in Sydney on the way through to the Blue Mountains. Each writer is able to use this expenses budget to fit their individual needs.
For more information about staying at Varuna, visit our Residencies page.
Artistic merit is the most important criterion for our assessors, who, depending on genre, are looking for sound structure, compelling themes, a distinctive and engaging voice, vivid imagery, strongly written characters, social and cultural relevance, and/or the work’s capacity to connect with readers. Our assessors also consider the potential of your manuscript, based on the experience of the writer and their work plan.
Arts NT funding will also provide for three writers to participate in one of our celebrated online masterclasses with their fees fully subsidised. Further information is below.
HOW TO APPLY
You will need to send us between 6,000 - 10,000 words from the beginning of your manuscript. For plays and screenplays, you may submit 10 pages, or more if the total doesn’t exceed 10,000 words. For poetry, you may submit up to 10 poems. For graphic novels, children’s literature and hybrid forms that include illustration or artwork, you may submit a combination of text and image of 10 pages, or more if the total doesn’t exceed 10,000 words.
Please refer to Varuna’s general submission guidelines for any further questions on formatting your work.
FREE ONLINE MASTERCLASS PLACES
With support from Arts NT, up to three places in Varuna’s celebrated online masterclasses will be fully subsidised for Northern Territory-based writers in 2025.
Places are available in the following masterclasses. Entry to each online masterclass is by application. Writers will be selected based on the creative potential of their work, commitment to craft, openness to collaborating with peers and the balance in the group.
Writing with Heart and Humour with Rick Morton
Applications close 18 June
This eight-session masterclass for writers in any genre will develop your skills in positioning yourself as an observer, and bringing nuance and humour to the story you would most like to tell.
The Art of Dialogue with Mary Anne Butler
Applications close 26 August
This 8-week online program drills down deeply into how to craft dialogue on the page, ensuring that each of your character’s voices is unique, shaping their distinct speech patterns, and working on questions about who speaks, and when.
The Sum of its Parts – Short Story Collections with Julie Koh
Applications close 26 August
This 10-week course is designed to help you strengthen the fundamentals that aspiring authors often overlook, hone your approach to revising stories for submission, and work towards writing your own knockout short-story collection.
TESTIMONIALS
Listen to what Dani Powell has to say about her experience as a Arts NT Varuna Fellowship recipient:
“I’d encourage Aboriginal language speakers to experience Varuna. It’s a place to write, think and be inspired. The staff are friendly and make sure your stay is 100% perfect, calm and happy. The Arts NT program gave me the opportunity to express my poems. Thank you. Apmere Mwarre, Ayeye Intelityeke. A good place to write your story.”
“It is the supportive environment, which is created through a deep sense of respect for the practice of writing, reflected by the provision of writers’ needs - being fed, kept warm, not pressured to do anything but tend to the work. No interruptions or demands. And having other writers there, and access to that wonderful library of Australian authors, is part of this support. To feel oneself in the company of writers (both in real life and in literature), immersed in the art form, gives validity and weight to the pursuit of writing.”
UPCOMING COURSES, FELLOWSHIPS AND EVENTS
