We’re thrilled to announce the seven recipients of the 2027 Writer’s Space Fellowship for writers with disability. We received an incredible 100 applications for this program and our assessors - Tom Paech, Allanah Hunt and Beejay Silcox- commented on the high-standard of the work they read.
We look forward to welcoming Amy Anshaw-Nye, Criss Gidas, E D Jenkins, Grace Hall, Louise Falconer, Shakira Hussein and Susanne Kennedy to Varuna next year.
Congratulations also to these highly commended applications: Emma Rennison, Heather Taylor Johnson and Marlee Jane Ward.
ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS
Amy Anshaw-Nye
Amy Anshaw-Nye (she/her) is a writer and zinester living and working on unceded Darug land in Western Sydney. Her works explore themes of love, transformation, madness, motherhood, and queer identity. She is a WestWords Academy alum, and her novel manuscript The Maydown Girls was shortlisted for the inaugural WestWords Prize. Amy’s writing can be read in a variety of publications, including ZineWest, ACON, BAD Western Sydney and Verandah Journal. You can find her on Instagram @amyanshawnye.
Criss Gidas
Writer by day and cinema projectionist by night, Criss Gidas is a Greek-Australian novelist and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Faber Writing Academy's Writing a Speculative Fiction Novel programme led by J. S. Breukelaar and Kaaron Warren, and has completed Varuna's Writing A Novel masterclass led by Sofie Laguna and Deep Reading For Writers led by Emily Maguire. She was awarded the Susannah Prichard (KSP) Writers' Centre Fellowship. Before novels, Criss wrote and directed for the screen. Her screenwriting has been recognised by Stowe Story Labs, CineStory, Stage 32 and Screen Queensland.
E D Jenkins
E D Jenkins is a writer living and working on Garigal and Gadigal land. They have a PhD in English from UNSW and their debut novel Mage Battle is forthcoming from Penguin Random House Australia in 2027.
Grace Hall
Grace Hall is a queer, disabled writer and education worker living on unceded Wurundjeri land. Her work has been published by Mascara Literary Review, Archer magazine, Writers Victoria and elsewhere. Grace was a 2024 Writeability Fellow, and a 2026 Hot Desk Fellow.
Louise Falconer
Louise Falconer’s writing has been published in Verge, Underground Writers, Law/ Text/ Culture, the Scottish Anti-Poverty Review and Good Reading Magazine. She’s received grants and scholarships to support her writing from the Commonwealth Government, Australian Feminist Studies, writing institutions and the MS Society.
Her debut novel has been acquired by Simon and Shuster, scheduled for publication in early 2028.
Living with multiple sclerosis has afforded Louise a nuanced understanding of chronic ill-health, disability and disease, which she explores through her writing.
Louise is a manager at a national organisation working to eliminate violence against women and an adjunct research fellow at La Trobe University. She lives on the unceded land of the Dja Dja Warrung People in central Victoria.
Shakira Hussein
Shakira is an award-winning writer, researcher and advocate based at the University of Melbourne. She is the Chair of the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights and has published widely on topics including gender violence, racism, disability and the far right.
Susanne Kennedy
Susanne's poetry often takes inspiration from the natural world. It has been awarded the American Association of Australasian Literary Studies (AAALS) and Nillumbik Poetry (open) prizes, and been shortlisted for the Bridport, Gwen Harwood, Robert Gray, ACU and Fish Poetry Prizes. Her poetry has also been published in Antipodes, The Marrow, Caesura, Rabbit, Island, Westerly and Cordite, among others.