Lockdown Does Not Impede Varuna's The Writer's Space Fellowship Residencies

Varuna, the National Writers' House, will host 12 writers in an online program of professional development for the next two weeks as part of their inaugural fellowship program for writers with disability.a??a??

The Writer's Space Fellowship program was originally designed to be flexible, offering the choice of in-person and online residencies in parallel to enable writers with disability or who are D/deaf to choose the most suitable mode of attendance. This flexibility in the program's design has had the added benefit that despite this extended lockdown period for Greater Sydney, the program can still go on, albeit in a 100 percent online version.a??

Rebecca Goosen, Strategic Initiatives and Development Officer at Varuna, said, "We are excited to be hosting these very talented writers from around New South Wales and are thankful the program can continue despite the challenges of lockdown. These writers may have experienced barriers to developing their skills previously, and we didn't want lockdown to be another barrier."a??

The fellowship includes individual consultations with Varuna's book whisperera??Dr Carol Major, a specialised workshop with prize-winning authora??Felicity Castagna, and two special small group Q and A sessions, one with writer, speaker and disability activista??Carly Findlaya??OAM,a??the other with best-selling writera??Tara Moss.

Varuna has teamed up with Accessible Arts, NSW's peak arts and disability organisation, to deliver the program. Morwenna Collett, Interim CEO at Accessible Arts, said, "So many talented writers with disability from NSW applied for this program, and we are delighted it can still go ahead, especially considering the great demand for it. We are well rehearsed at overcoming barriers and rethinking how things can be achieved in an accessible way and this is no different. We are excited for the writers and the unique opportunities and developments this valuable fellowship can bring them."

The Writer's Space Fellowship recipients are Emma Ashmere, Cynthia Banham, Michele Fermanis-Winward, Jessica Friedman, El Gibbs, Jules Jones, Kath Kenny, Woo-Keun Lim, Fiona Murphy, Erin Sayers, Kerri Shyinga??and Gaele Sobott.

The residency will run from 6 September to 20 September 2021. For information, go toa??The Writer's Spacea??Fellowshipa??webpagea??or call Varuna on 02 4782 5674.a??

The Writer's Spacea??program has been made possible through funding from the NSW Government's Arts Restart Strategic Initiative. More information about Varuna's other programs can be found at www.varuna.com.au.a??

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