The Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship is awarded annually to a writer with a work of fiction, creative non-fiction, a play, or a suite of poems that is ready for the next stage of development. Applicants must be Writing NSW members and be willing to commit to developing their work.

The fellowship includes a week’s residency at Varuna, the National Writers’ House in Katoomba, with full board and accommodation including a prepared evening meal, uninterrupted time to write in your own private studio, and the companionship of your fellow writers. 

Please read the Terms & Conditions before applying.

Applications for the 2024 Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship is now closed.

Application Requirements

 In the application you will be asked to provide the following:

• a one page statement on how the Fellowship will aid the development of your project AND a one page synopsis of your project (these two should be combined into one document)
• an extract from your manuscript of no more than 10 pages.

Click here to get some tips on how to write a synopsis.

Your manuscript should have the following format:

• Line spacing: 1.5 or double
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
• Margins: minimum 3 cm all round (Word default margins are fine)
• Text should be justified left, not fully justified
• Page numbers must be included and consecutive from beginning to end
• DO NOT include your name or other personally identifying details in your manuscript

Once you submit your application you will be directed to a page to pay the $45 administration fee.

Before beginning the application it is strongly recommended that you are logged-in as a member to the Writing NSW website. If you are not a member please join by clicking here.

2024 Judges

Kavita Bedford is an Australian-Indian writer with a background in journalism, anthropology and literature. Her novel, Friends & Dark Shapes, was published in 2021 in Australia, USA, and Italy and was Shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards, The NSW Premiers’ New Fiction, and Small Press Network’s Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Guernica, The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, ABC Arts, Roads & Kingdoms, and Island Magazine. She was a recent Churchill Fellow exploring migrant narratives between Australia and Europe.

Tom Langshaw is a publisher at Pantera Press, an independent publishing house based in Sydney. Before that he held various editorial roles at Penguin Random House. At Pantera he commissions non-fiction titles, including memoir, narrative non-fiction, personal development, and select commercial and literary  fiction. In 2023, Tom was named Rising Star by the Australian Publishers Association.

Katharine Pollock (PhD) is the Program Manager at Writing NSW. She is the author of Penguin Random House’s Her Fidelity (2022), which was included in The Age, The Books That Made Their Mark in 2022 list, and the forthcoming Starry Eyed (Wakefield Press, 2025). She has been published by The Guardian, Fremantle Press, Vitagraph Publishing, Hear Us Scream, Folly journal and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Western Sydney University’s Writing and Society Research Centre.

Previous recipients include Alison Martin, Lucy Nelson, Hajer Al-awsi, Cleo Mees, Jordan Shea, Kylie Boltin, Eleanor Kirk, Kaya Wilson, Winnie Dunn, Tanya Vavilova, Karina Young, Adele Dumont, Christopher McDonald, Irma Gold, Alex Chalwell, Mark Brandi, Jacqui Dent, Helen Thurloe, Lucie Stevens, Alison Thompson and Greg Woodland.

“There is a special kind of magic that comes from complete immersion in the imagination – full-time devotion to dreaming worlds, characters and stories to life. Varuna is a rare, blissful gem- a room of my own in a house dedicated to writing, reading, creativity, art. And what a joy to come together with other writers every evening for a delicious home-cooked meal and wonderful conversation. Varuna is such a great gift from the Dark family to the writers of Australia.”
– Alison Martin, 2023 winner.

Want to learn more about the fellowship? Read Mark Brandi‘s five favourite things about his time at Varuna here. Adele Dumont gives us a sneak-peek at her journal entries during her residency here, and Kaya Wilson walks us through his residency week here.