For Writers

Applications close 28 Jan 2026

Commit to your writing and make 2026 the year you finish your memoir. In this in-depth online masterclass, award-winning author Kris Kneen will lead a small group of writers over 9-months, with structured exercises, readings and feedback designed to help you finish a draft of your memoir. 

Applications close 28 Jan 2026

This six-session intensive masterclass offers the opportunity to get started on a new writing project or breathe life into a project you have abandoned or are struggling with.

Applications close 3 Feb

In partnership with Red Room Poetry, this fellowship for six poets includes a residency at Varuna, one-on-one mentorship, and a poetic commission as part of the national Poetry Month in August 2026.

Applications close 19 Feb 2026

Expand and nurture your practice as a poet in this 4-month program. We’ll create an encouraging and inspiring community, and support the development of original work, from single poems to sequences, and explore how to build a collection for publication.

Applications close 10 March 2026

Designed for writers of all levels, genres and narrative art forms, this 16-session masterclass with BAFTA award-winning screenwriter and author Anthony Mullins will show you how to craft an authentic and powerful narrative structure.

Applications close 9 April 2026

A deep-dive writer development program designed for writers with a manuscript substantially underway, or with a draft completed, this 5-month masterclass provides a unique opportunity to receive feedback on your manuscript and the guidance and support to take it to the next level.

Applications close 14 April 2026

Scenes are the building blocks of novels, plays, screenplays, short stories, and even works of creative non-fiction. This 8-week program with Brooke Robinson will sharpen your writing to create truly powerful scenes.

Applications close 7 May 2026

Work alongside Miles Franklin award winning novelist Sofie Laguna to breathe life into your novel, taking it out of the ‘too hard basket’ and shaping it into the story it deserves to be.

Applications close 13 May 2026

This 8-week online program drills down deeply into how to craft dialogue on the page, ensuring that each of your character’s voices is unique, shaping their distinct speech patterns, and working on questions about who speaks, and when.

Applications close 25 June 2026

This eight-session masterclass for writers in any genre will develop your skills in positioning yourself as an observer, and bringing nuance and humour to the story you would most like to tell.

Applications close 15 July 2026

People often think a memoir must go from A to B in a timeline that marches with a calendar. In this innovative memoir workshop, Kris Kneen will take you through a different process of structuring your memoir. The work will be a weaving of several different stories across different timelines that are organised by a unifying theme.

Applications close 11 August 2026

This 6-week course with Anthony Mullins will introduce you to the power of story outlines, be it for planning, problem solving, analysis or pitching. Whether you're writing a novel, a screenplay, or a play, an outline can give you the ability to see the big picture and remember why you wanted to write this story in the first place. 

Applications close 26 August 2026

In this five-week masterclass you’ll have the opportunity to read a lot, write a lot, receive written and verbal feedback, explore a trove of original prompts and diverse forms, explore and enhance aspects of your creative practice and have a one-to-one consultation about your work.

Self-paced online course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this nine-part online, self-paced course on point of view with Jane Messer. Explore this important element of writing craft, analysing sample readings from well-known authors and being prompted with a series of exercises.

Self-paced online course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this eight-part online, self-paced course on writing for wellbeing. This revitalising program enables you to explore writing as a practice for your own wellbeing, including techniques for getting started (or re-started!).

Applications open March 2026

Offered in partnership with the Henry Handel Richardson Society, this short story writing fellowship promotes the life and legacy of Henry Handel Richardson, and is offered to an outstanding short story submission as part of the Varuna Residential Fellowships.

Applications open March 2026

Varuna’s most prestigious award, running since 1991. Up to 38 fellowships will be awarded to emerging and established writers across Australia, offering between two and four weeks in residence, with mentorship.

Applications open March 2026

Established in memory of Blue Mountains writer Eleanor Dark, this three-week writing fellowship will be awarded to a fiction application of outstanding quality.

Applications open March 2026

Established in memory of Blue Mountains writer and social activist Eric Dark, this three-week writing fellowship will be awarded for a non-fiction application of outstanding quality in social, historical or political writing.

Applications open March 2026

Established in memory of Mick Dark, who bequeathed Varuna House to the writers of Australia, this three-week writing fellowship will be awarded to outstanding Environmental Writing.

Applications open March 2026

As part of the Varuna Residential Fellowships, a two-week fellowship with travel costs covered and a $600 stipend is awarded to a writer of outstanding talent who is experiencing financial hardship. This Fellowship is made possible in 2025 by a member of our alumni association.

Applications open March 2026

This three-week fellowship will be awarded to a First Nations writer who applies for a Varuna Residential Fellowship and whose work is of outstanding quality.

Applications open March 2026

This program is presented in partnership with the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing (RCALC) and is part of the Varuna Residential Fellowships. Open to emerging or established writers, living in regional and remote parts of Australia.

Applications open March 2026

This three-week fellowship will be awarded for a Varuna Residential Fellowships poetry application of outstanding quality.

Applications open March 2026

Offered in partnership with the Australian Society of Authors, and generously supported by the Ray Koppe bequest, this is one of the Varuna flagship fellowships and is offered to a writer under the age of 35 who is as yet unpublished.

Applications open March 2026

Generously supported by the Fowler Trust, this program supports four two-week fellowships for fiction writers, including women’s fiction, crime, fantasy, historical fiction, speculative fiction and YA.

Applications open March 2026

This two-week fellowship will be awarded for a Varuna Residential Fellowships application of outstanding quality, by a writer with disability.

Applications open March 2026

Each year, a two-week fellowship is awarded to a writer who is a parent or carer who faces barriers to finding time and space to write due to caring responsibilities. This Fellowship is generously supported by Sophie Torney, a member of our alumni association.