2026 Varuna Residential Fellowships Announced
We are delighted to announced the 38 writers who have been awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship for 2026.
This year, we received an unprecedented 541 submissions, from writers at all stages of their careers.
The assessment was a highly competitive process. Each applicant’s writing excerpt and application was read by our incredible team of peer assessors, who met for a week at Varuna to complete the process. This year’s assessors delighted in reading everyone’s work and considered the potential of each manuscript and its author.
This year’s Varuna peer assessors were: Luke Carman, Roanna Gonsalves, Toni Jordan, Cheryl Leavy, Siang Lu, Jasmin McGaughey, Mark O’Flynn, Shaun Prescott and Beejay Silcox.
Thank you to all the writers who submitted their work for consideration this year.
2025 FLAGSHIP FELLOWSHIPS
The Eleanor Dark Flagship is awarded to Matthew Crowe for his short story collection Small Confessions
The Eric Dark Fellowship is awarded to Patricia Pender for her work of narrative non-fiction Turn It Up to Eleven
The Mick Dark Fellowship is awarded to Soph Fitzgerald for their novel The conceit
The Jill Dark Fellowship is awarded to Ju Bavyka for their narrative non-fiction work Just a Hand's Reach Away - Rukoi Podat
The Varuna First Nations Fellowship is awarded to Michelle Hyde for her novel Grace
The Varuna Poetry Fellowship is awarded to Debbie Lim for her poetry collection The Precipitation Box
The Roderick Centre Fellowships for Remote and Regional Writers are awarded to Ben Langdon for his crime fiction novel Harlow, Pekeri Ruska for her essay collection Quandamooka Sovereignty Never Ceded and Joseph Schwarzkopf for his poetry collection Almost Home
The Fowler Trust Fellowships for Genre Fiction are awarded to Rose Hartley for her novel Casharama, Kate Leaver for her novel ROMP, Helen Thurloe for her work of historical fiction The Fourteenth Wife, and Jan Twomey for her crime fiction novel The Hand of Justice
The Ray Koppe ASA Young Writers Fellowship is awarded to Casey Keogh for her fantasy novel The Break of Light
The Blue Mountains Fellowship is awarded to Fiona Murphy for her short story collection On the Edge of Meaning
The Carer’s Fellowship is awarded to Peggy Frew for her poetry collection Blood Orange
The Jerra Studio Fellowship for Writers with Disability is awarded to Aimee Knight for her work of narrative non-fiction Heart of Felt: How Jim Henson's Muppets Taught Me to Be a Person
2025 VARUNA RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSHIPS
Jada Alberts for their play Black Light
Sharlene Allsopp for her novel Through a Glass, Darkly
Wen Yee Ang for her young adult fiction Daughter of Time
Clare Atkins for her work of historical fiction Red Yellow Green
Benjamin Cook for his novel Let Your Body Guide You
John Davies for his young adult fiction The Outrageously Fabulous World of Terry Logan
Else Fitzgerarld for her work of fiction A Year of Fridays
Angela Gardner for her poetry collection The Snowy
Rose Hunter for her memoir The Afterdream
Margrete Lamond for her novel These Bones Are Made of Sticks and Stones
Astrid Lorange for her novel Headache
Kathryn Millard for her screenplay Cossington: A Film-To-Be
Kim Rackham for her children’s book Class Captain
Rajith Savanadasa for his novel In Person
Sophia Somerville for her memoir Things People Say
Amanda Jayne Stewart for their novel Through the Lantana
Brigitte Trenear for her novel My Name is a House
Jayne Tuttle for her novel In the Toy House
Victor Guan Yi Zhou for his novel Sofian
2025 VARUNA RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSHIPS HIGHLY COMMENDED
The assessors highly commended the following works:
Alison Barton for her poetry collection Murrigal Reise
Sally Bothroyd for her novel Cursed Stones
Mark Bretherton for his crime fiction novel Vixens
Georgina Buckley for her fantasy novel Hollowed
Belinda Burns for her novel Transference
Christina Care Calgaro for her novel The 12th House
Clint Caward for his novel Lone Care Cowboy
Emma Grace-Clarke for their novel Not Laughter
Alex Creece for her poetry collection snot girl bathwater
Lara Croydon for her fantasy novel Salt Stained Skin
Brooke Dunnell for her novel Pine
Liz Foster for her novel Trials and Tribulations
Stef Gemmill for her children’s book The Ghost Horse
Samia Goudie for her memoir The Woman who came from the Sea
Emma Hardy for her novel Earthmouth
Alistair Kitchen for his collection of essays Boys
Kris Kneen for their fantasy novel Mycelium Creeping
Bethany Lalor for her collection of short stories Ghost Gestures
Shey Marque for her poetry collection Bird in Slow Light
Amanda Maxwell for her young adult novel To Fall
Jonathan McGuire for his poetry collection Alleles
Ashleigh Mounser for her work of fiction The Sleep Stuck
Paul Nicklette for their fantasy novel Dragon Oil Deep
Helena Pastor for her novel Finger Lime Pickles & Imaginary Canoes
Micky Pinkerton her work of historical fiction We have the child now
Danielle Ringrose for her novel The Lyrebirds
Fiona Robertson for her novel An Innocent Affair
Morna Seres for for her work of historical fiction The Chronicle of Sister Felicite Tiepolo
Jordana Silverstein for her narrative non-fiction work Against Obliteration: Conversations with Stateless
Luka Skandle for his novel Into The Setting Sun
Harrison Smith for his fantasy novel The Kraken
Claudine Tinellis for her work of fiction The Pact
Kym Tyzack for her young adult novel Haven
Erin Vincent for her novel Our Mother, Medea
Jet Williams for his young adult novel Off The Rails