2025 Arts NT Residential Fellowship Announcement
In partnership with the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT, we are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Arts NT Residential Fellowship.
This fellowship offers six writers living in the Northern Territory the opportunity to undertake a two-week residency at Varuna.
We were thrilled that the number of applicants for this Fellowship almost doubled this year. The entries were so competitive that our assessors also felt compelled to highlight four writers who made their Highly Commended list: Alex Eve, Nikki Moyes, Matthew Nixon and Emma Trenorden.
Congratulations to the six Fellowship recipients Rosalyn Brenda Boko, Roland Bull, Amanda Grace, Jasmin McGaughey, A’Mhara McKey and Lisa Stefanoff. We look forward to welcoming you all to Varuna.
This program is supported by The Northern Territory Government and Northern Territory Writers’ Centre.
Rosalyn Brenda Boko is a family story-keeper and storyteller. She speaks Luritja, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Western Arrarnta, and other central desert languages. Rosalyn grew up at Iwupataka (Jay Creek) and now resides in Yarrenyty Arltere (Larapinta Valley) town camp with her husband, sons, and her beloved dogs. Alongside her late father, David Jangala Boko, Rosalyn is a founding member of the Ngunytjuku Mamaku TjukurpaKanyini Wanka (Keeping Mother’s and Father’s Stories Alive) group. Their group leads efforts to preserve and share the family’s stories, continuing the work of her artist mother, Margaret Nampitjinpa Boko, through paintings, audio recordings, video, and other media.
During this Fellowship, Rosalyn will be working with fellow recipient Lisa Stefanoff to progress a book based on past Ngunytjuku Mamaku Tjukurpa Kanyini Wanka (Keeping Mother’s and Father’s Stories Alive) group work.
Roland Bull is an NT-based a writer, comedian and doctor with an interest in life writing, health and LGBTIQA+ issues.
Amanda Grace has found her home in the Central Australian desert of Mparntwe, Alice Springs, after living in Thailand, India, US and sailing around the world. As a high school English teacher and former editor of children’s books, stories are central to Amanda’s life and work. She is interested in fiction which blends speculative elements with emotional realism, particularly for young people. Her stories have been published in Astray, and her first novel-length manuscript, Geo Vs the Whole Wide Worlds, secured her the Arts NT Residential Fellowship.
Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American writer working at Books+Publishing. She is the author of Moonlight and Dust and Ash Barty’s Little Ash Series. She has written for Overland, Kill Your Darlings, SBS Voices and Griffith Review.
A’Mhara McKey is a writer, librarian, and mother of three. She grew up in the Northern Territory, where she rubbed shoulders with a man-eating crocodile, survived a Category 4 cyclone, and is now raising her kids with the same deep love for the Territory’s wide open spaces.
Her first novel, The Shores Between, was shortlisted for the ASA/HQ Fiction Prize in 2024, and The Banjo Prize in 2023, and her short fiction has won two NT Literary Awards.
Lisa Stefanoff is a writer, researcher, curator, and media/art producer living with her family in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Central Arrernte country. For over two decades, Lisa has worked alongside desert artists and media-makers, collaborating closely with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations on projects related to language, art, regional history, and other storytelling initiatives. These collaborations span a variety of media, including screens, galleries, radio, and print. Lisa is a founding member of intermedial publishing initiative Curatorium Collective and holds senior research adjunct positions at the Charles Darwin University Centre for Creative Futures (CCF) and the University of New South Wales emLAB (EthnographicMedia Lab), Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC).
During this Fellowship, Lisa will be working with fellow recipient Rosalyn Boko to progress a book based on past Ngunytjuku Mamaku Tjukurpa Kanyini Wanka (Keeping Mother’s and Father’s Stories Alive) group work.
