Applications are now closed

Six two-week residential fellowships will be offered to writers with disability and/or who are D/deaf.

Tickets on sale now

The Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival returns 31 October - 2 November 2025.

Self-paced online course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this nine-part online, self-paced course on point of view with Jane Messer. Explore this important element of writing craft, analysing sample readings from well-known authors and being prompted with a series of exercises.

Self-paced online course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this eight-part online, self-paced course on writing for wellbeing. This revitalising program enables you to explore writing as a practice for your own wellbeing, including techniques for getting started (or re-started!).

Applications open March 2026

Varuna’s most prestigious award, running since 1991. Up to 38 fellowships will be awarded to emerging and established writers across Australia, offering between two and four weeks in residence, with mentorship.

Applications open March 2026

Established in memory of Blue Mountains writer Eleanor Dark, this three-week writing fellowship will be awarded to a fiction application of outstanding quality.

Applications open March 2026

As part of the Varuna Residential Fellowships, a two-week fellowship with travel costs covered and a $600 stipend is awarded to a writer of outstanding talent who is experiencing financial hardship. This Fellowship is made possible in 2025 by a member of our alumni association.

Applications open March 2026

Generously supported by the Fowler Trust, this program supports four two-week fellowships for fiction writers, including women’s fiction, crime, fantasy, historical fiction, speculative fiction and YA.

Applications open March 2026

This two-week fellowship will be awarded to a writer who is currently living in the Blue Mountains LGA. This fellowship is generously supported by David Hammon, who was previously chair of Varuna’s Board.

Applications now closed

Six online fellowships will be offered to writers with disability and/or who are D/deaf, providing mentorship, professional development, and the opportunity for peer feedback.

Applications now closed

For over 20 years, Conor Kostick has been teaching his popular 10-week Finish Your Novel course at the Irish Writers Centre and Varuna are delighted to offer it in Australia and New Zealand.

Applications now closed

This program is presented in partnership with the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT. Submissions are welcomed from eligible NT-based writers.

Applications now closed

Varuna is delighted to offer this four-week international residency to Varuna alumni, held in collaboration with the Michael King Writers Centre in New Zealand.

Applications now closed

First Nations writers are invited to apply for one of twelve week-long fellowships at Varuna in 2025, sharing the residency with other First Nations writers, and benefiting from one-on-one mentorship and the sharing of skills and knowledge.

Applications now closed

This six-session intensive masterclass – held across three months for writers at all stages of their careers – offers the opportunity to get started on a new writing project or breathe life into a project you have abandoned or are struggling with.

Applications now closed

This program is presented in partnership with the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing (RCALC) and is open to emerging or established writers, living in regional and remote parts of Australia.

Applications now closed

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.

Registrations now closed

The Writer’s Space Writing Group is being held in Lithgow at the Lithgow Transformation Hub for the first time in 2025, offering a free, six-week writing program to writers with disability. Writers at all levels of experience and working in any genre are welcome. Spaces limited to 12.

Applications now closed

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.

Applications now closed

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.