Writing NSW has announced the recipients of its 2018 Writing NSW Grants for early career writers, emerging writing organisations, and a writer & scientist working on a joint project.
Four early career writers will receive a grant of $5000 to support creation of new work, with projects including a novel exploring the complexities of the migrant experience and a feature-length spoken word performance that combines poetry with soundscaping.
Bathurst-based performance writing collective Live Words will receive a $5000 grant to enhance the performance culture and theatre community of Central Western NSW.
The $2000 grant for a writer and scientist will assist a collaboration that uses dramatic storytelling form to explore ideas around DNA process and structure.
The Early Career Writer Grants attracted excellent submissions in all major genres, including theatre, screen, poetry, children’s literature, fiction, non-fiction and spoken word. Applications showed an impressive diversity of themes, cultural backgrounds and geographic location. The judges noted at least another 20 applicants from the individual writers and emerging writing organisations categories deserved to be supported.
The Writing NSW Grants are offered by Writing NSW with devolved funding from Create NSW.
“The judges were impressed by the quality and diversity of applications for the 2018 Writing NSW Grants,” said Writing NSW CEO Jane McCredie. “Through their support for exciting new writers and projects, these grants are helping to build the vibrant literary culture of our state.”
Early Career Writer Grants
Frances Gia Phung An (Lakemba) for her novel, Pareidolia. The novel tells the story of Vietnamese-Australian university student Cassie, exploring ambiguity, nuance and complexity in a world that seeks to impose cultural stereotypes and identity politics.
Alisa Bryce (Urunga) for her creative non-fiction book, DIRT. The author draws on her experience as a soil scientist to produce a lyrical exploration of the strange and fascinating world beneath our feet, highlighting the importance of soil to human culture and survival.
Emily Crocker (Miranda) for an untitled, feature-length spoken word performance to be developed through attending the spoken word program at Canada’s Banff Centre. This innovative project will combine poetry with soundscaping to explore setting and space.
Vidya Madabushi (Dee Why) for her novel, The Unspoken, set in the precarious world of migrants whose visa status is uncertain. Class, race, religion, mental illness and technology intersect in a novel that explores otherness with compassion and a strong comedic touch.
Emerging Writing Organisation Grant
Live Words performance writing collective to enhance the performance culture and theatre community of Central Western NSW. The collective provides professional development, dramaturgy, public readings and other support to playwrights from the region.
Writer & Scientist Grant
The Writer & Scientist Grant was awarded to playwright Nick Atkins and molecular biologist Mark Temple for their performance-based work, Helix. This exciting and unusual collaboration will use the dramatic storytelling form to explore the ontologies of DNA process and structure.
Judges
Judges for the Early Career Writer and Emerging Writing Organisation Grants were writers Cathy Craigie and David Henley and Writing NSW CEO Jane McCredie. Judges for the Writer & Scientist Grant were Jane McCredie and Sherry Landow of Writing NSW, and Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of New South Wales.
