2027 Varuna Residential Fellowships Announced
We are delighted to announce the 50 incredible writers who have been awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship for 2027.
This year, we received an unprecedented 812 submissions from Australian writers at all stages of their careers.
A brilliant team of fourteen assessors deliberated over each applicant’s writing excerpt and application, concluding the assessment process with a week at Varuna debating the genre, craft, vision and potential of the applicants’ work.
This year’s Varuna peer assessors were Luke Carman, Willo Drummond, Jarrah Dundler, Darby Jones, Toni Jordan, Isabelle Li, Angelo Loukakis, Jasmin McGaughey, Dom Mercer, Tara Moss, Mykaela Saunders, Beejay Silcox, Kate Stevens and Meg Vann.
Congratulations to the Varuna Residential Fellowship Fellows for 2027:
The Eleanor Dark Fellowship for Fiction
André Dao for Joseph N
The Eric Dark Fellowship for Non-fiction
Elizabeth Little for When Women Teach
The Mick Dark Fellowship for Environmental Writing
Anthea Batsakis for Unloved: Bias in Australian wildlife conservation
The Jill Dark Fellowship
Samia Goudie for her memoir Tidal
The Blignault Family Poetry Fellowship
Jane Gibian for Nocturne for Vanishing
The Varuna First Nations Fellowships
Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello for her poetry collection Graphite Rain
The Roderick Centre Fellowships for Regional and Remote Writers
Grace Wilson for her screenplay BOGQUEEN
Laurie May for their poetry collection Eating the Equinox
Sueanne Gregg for her crime fiction manuscript Ultralight Hikers Die
Arts NT Fellowships for writers living in the Northern Territory
Christopher Raja for his literary fiction manuscript Summer Days
Junaidah Mamid for her young adult fiction Off By A Mark
Kimberley Delavere for young adult fiction True History of Ren Rose
The Jerra Studio Fellowship for Writers with Disability
E.D Sbriglio for her historical fiction manuscript Brunswick Red
The Fowler Trust Fellowships for Fiction
Angela Fraser for commercial fiction manuscript Unhinged
Hanne Watkins for her literary/crime fiction manuscript DIY
Meg Keneally for her commercial fiction manuscript After the Wreck
Susan Green for her crime fiction manuscript The Monkey Sleeps with Me
The Henry Handel Richardson Fellowship for Short Story Writing
Annie Zhang for her short story collection Something Swift and Many-Legged
Ray Koppe ASA Young Writers Fellowship
Henriette Tkalec for her literary fiction manuscript Sola
The Carer’s Fellowship
Jake Corvus for his speculative fiction manuscript Botanical Warfare
The Blue Mountains Fellowship
Emma Brazil for her commercial fiction manuscript The Merrow
The Penguin Random House Varuna Fellowship for an unpublished author
Emily Thornton for her commercial fiction manuscript Slow Burn
The Ultimo Varuna Fellowships for unpublished authors
Elliott McMahon for his literary fiction manuscript Through Lines
Gill Watson for her literary fiction manuscript Life Study
Omar Dehen for his literary fiction manuscript To Your Awaiting Nest
The Scribe Varuna Fellowship for an unpublished author
Alison Martin for her literary fiction manuscript Under a Damaged Moon
The UQP Varuna Fellowship for an unpublished author
Emma Maguire for her literary fiction manuscript In the Pines
The Chris Hammer Crime Fiction Fellowship
Christine Jackman for her crime fiction manuscript Power Play
The Norman Gillespie Fellowship for Creative Non-Fiction
Missy Burrell for The Less You See
The Belinda Medlyn Climate Fellowship
Frankey Chung-Kok-Lun for his essay collection Nature-Human Dialogues
The Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowship
Greg Foyster for his literary fiction manuscript Collapsia
Brendon McLeod for his verse novel Rēweti: A Pākehā-Māori
Eric Jiang for his poetry collection Gong( )infinity
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Literary Fiction
Aliyah Knight for Giving Season
Amaryllis Gacioppo for Louise: A Fiction
Helena Fox for The Study of Light
Karen Quah for The Five Marys
Kris Kneen for The Sins of the Sister
Nick Bartlett for Against the Wheel
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Children’s & YA
Jannali Jones for The Takeback Heist
Jackie Yap for Isabelle Gomez is Innocent, She Swears
Pip Harry for In the Pocket
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Poetry
Marjon Mossammaparast for Correspondences
Sarah Temporal for Adaptations
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Memoir
Eileen Tuhou for Fragments
Indigo Perry for The Whirling Atoms of a Lost Cat
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Fantasy and Speculative Fiction
Brionne Campbell for The Dead of Summer
Marlee Jane Ward for The Park, The Peak, The Pit
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Stage & Screen
Haris Mirza for Five Functions
Varuna Residential Fellowship - Graphic Novel
Sam Wallman for ALL OUT! Pink Bans and Blue Collars
Congratulations also to Highly Commended authors below:
Alex Philp, Averil Robertson, Billie Rooney, Cass Deans, Ciarán Hanrahan, Clem McNabb, Denise Fowler, Emma Clarke, Gail Rice, Georgia Grubelich-Foo and Trent Foo, GL Bates, Greg Foyster, Hannah McCann, Jacki Elezovich, Jessica Stanley, Jing Cramb, Joseph Falsone, Jules Orcullo, Juliet Paine, Karys McEwen, Kathryn Ash-Laughton, Kerri Major, Kirk Dodd, Kristyn Saunders, Lara Kariatlis, Marissa Wu, Mary Anne Butler, Maura Pierlot, Mediatrice Dusabe, Mehreen Arshi, Natasha Rai, Rachel Matthews, Sally Colin-James, Sanchana Venkatesh, Saraid Taylor, Scott Pearce, Shannen Galavin, Stephen Carleton, Torre DeRoche, Troy Wong, Vanessa Yenson, Vanessa McCausland, Virginia Muzik and Wendy Dunn.
