Our Patron, Donors, Sponsors and Partners

First and foremost, thank you to our Patron, David Hammon, whose incredible generosity has enabled Varuna to support the writers of Australia in ways that we would not be able to otherwise.

We are also deeply indebted to our donors who support specific fellowships for Australian writers: Barbara Palmer, the Fowler Family Trust, Belinda Medlyn, David Hammon, Chris Hammer, Rebecca Huntley, Hilton Koppe, Kate and Leigh Shane, Robyn Lansdowne, Sophie Torney and Pip Williams.

Thank you to our state and federal funding bodies, Create NSW and Creative Australia, who provide the core funding so essential to the ongoing support of Australian writers. Thank you also to the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Northern Territory Government, and the Bridge Awards Foundation.

Create NSW

We are grateful to Create NSW who provide The Eleanor Dark Foundation with multi-year funding to cover the costs of staffing and delivering our core programs.
Creative Australia

Creative Australia generously provides The Eleanor Dark Foundation with multi-year funding, enabling us to offer residency fellowships and cover core staffing.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

We are grateful to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its generous support of the prestigious Maitri exchange between Varuna and Sangam House in Bangalore.
Arts NT

Arts NT is the proud sponsor of our Northern Territory fellowships, supporting three writers from the Northern Territory to come to Varuna for a supported residency and manuscript development program, and a further six Northern Territory writers to participate in an intensive virtual residency program.
Copyright Agency Cultural Fund

Varuna acknowledges the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund for its generous support of our First Nations programs. In 2025, the Copyright Agency will support six non-fiction fellowships for First Nations writers.
Blue Mountains City Council

We’re grateful to the Blue Mountains City Council and Blue Mountains Cultural Centre for providing us with venues to host our annual Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.
Western Sydney University

Varuna acknowledges the generous support of Western Sydney University, our Festival Partners for the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.
The Whitlam Institute

We partner with the Whitlam Institute to deliver an annual residency at the original family home of Gough and Margaret Whitlam in Cabramatta.
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre

The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre provide us with venues for hosting our Festival workshops.
Blue Mountains Library

Each year, the Blue Mountains Library partner with us to deliver a fabulous day-long program for kids, as part of the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.
The Bridge Awards

The Bridge Awards generously supports our international exchange program with Cove Park in Scotland, as well as our annual Climate Change Writing Fellowship.