• Home
  • Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing
  • Illustration Prize for Children's Picture Book Publishing
  • Varuna-NEWC Fellowship
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • Our Board
  • Membership
  • Contact Us
  • 2024 Archive
    • 2024 Illustration Prize for Children's Picture Book Publishing
    • 2024 Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing >
      • 2024 Thunderbolt Judges
      • 2024 Thunderbolt Winning submissions
    • Writing for the Primary Education Market
    • Story to Script Course
    • Writing and Illustrating for Children
    • Riveted Press Pitch Sessions
    • Grow Big Little Seed
    • Crafting Memoir
  • 2023 Archive
    • 2023 Thunderbolt winners >
      • 2023 Thunderbolt Judges
      • 2023 Thunderbolt winning submissions
    • 2023 Illustration Prize for children's picture book publishing
    • Varuna Fellowship 2023
    • Inside Story Workshop Series
    • Story to Script Course
    • Dive into Worldbuilding
  • 2022 Archive
    • 2022 Summer Micro Grants >
      • 2022 Summer micro grants_Mary McMillan >
        • 2022 Summer micro grants_Kerry Moran
    • 2022 Illustration Prize for children's picture book illustration
    • 2022 Thunderbolt winners >
      • 2022 Thunderbolt Prize winning submissions
      • 2022 Thunderbolt Prize Judges Reports
    • 2022 Varuna-NEWC Fellowship
  • 2021 Archive
    • 2021 Illustration Prize Winners
    • Varuna Fellowship 2021
    • Thunderbolt Prize 2021 >
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2021 Judges Reports
    • 2021 Summer Micro Grants >
      • 2021 Summer micro grants_Trish >
        • Beetle Hunt Stories
      • 2021 Summer micro grants_James
      • 2021 Summer Micro Grants_Fiona
  • 2020 Archive
    • Thunderbolt Prize 2020 >
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2020 Judges Reports
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2020_Winning submissions
    • Illustration Prize 2020 Winners
    • Varuna Fellowship 2020
    • 2020 Historical Novel Prize
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Inside Story Book
    • By The Book video series
    • Stories Connect
New England Writers' Centre

The 2023 Varuna-NEWC Fellowship

​Inaugurated in 2019,  the Fellowship is open to all writers, at any stage of their career, either currently living in the New England region or who have previously lived there for at least five years.

​The Varuna-NEWC Fellowship offers a week's inspirational writing residency in the beautiful surroundings of Varuna, in the Blue Mountains, and includes full board and accommodation at Varuna, funds towards travel, a one-on-one consultation with a Varuna expert and more.  
Read 2021 Fellowship winner, James O'Hanlon's report from his Residency
Read 2022 Fellowship winner, Anne Greenwood's report from her Residency

Congratulations to our 2023 winner

Picture
Matt is a dad, husband, writer and environmental scientist. He grew up on a farm in northern NSW and now lives with his amazingly patient wife and children in a completely different part of northern NSW. He writes speculative fiction and his work has appeared in Na­ture Fu­tures, The NoSleep Podcast, Daily Science Fiction, Cossmass Infinities, Cast of Wonders, Etherea Magazine, and other places. He is the recipient of the 2021 Australian Shadows Award for short fiction, and is a twice-over finalist for both the Ditmar and Aurealis Awards. He won the 2022 Conflux Short Story Competition and the 2022 Arcanist Magazine Halloween Flash Fiction Competition, and has received honourable mentions or commendations in other fiction competitions. He is an academic in his other life, and researches pollution, data science, and environmental sustainability. ​
You can find his sporadic attempts at humour on twitter @MK­Tighewrites and other info at https://matttighe.weebly.com/ (including a cool pic­ture his son drew of his father’s brain).
Download a copy of the press release. 
Varuna-NEWC Fellowship 2023 winners announcement press release
File Size: 635 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Thank you to our 2023 shortlisted writer, Rachel

Congratulations on making the shortlist, and best wishes for your ongoing projects.
Picture
Rachel Bowman is a narrative non-fiction writer who writes to make sense of the world—but ultimately wants to tell a great yarn.  She was an award-winning rural journalist before moving into agricultural communications and public relations. She fell in love with newspapers on a school visit to the Inverell Times and while doing work experience on the Glen Innes Examiner. She now runs Seedbed Media, a specialist agricultural communications consultancy.

Her family has lived in the New England region for six generations. She grew up on a property on the traditional lands of the Ngoorabul people in the chilly but beautiful northern tablelands near Glen Innes. This gave her a deep love of the land and belief in nature’s intrinsic power to lift the spirits, ground the body and sooth the soul.
She is a recent graduate of the acclaimed Faber Academy Writing a Novel course and has written two historical manuscripts set in Western Australia, Cornwall and Victoria. Rachel is completing a PhD on farmers and climate change. She continues to live with one foot in the country and the other in the city and is an advocate for strengthening ties and understanding between the two.

Key dates for 2023

Applications for the 2023 Varuna-New England Writers’ Centre Fellowship opened Monday 7 August and closed Friday 8 September, 2023.

A panel of New England Writers' Centre assessors established a shortlist, and Varuna made the final choice between the shortlisted entries.

The winner was announced on Monday 9 October 2023.

The Varuna-New England Writers’ Centre Fellowship can be taken from Monday to Monday between January and July 2024, exact date to be negotiated between the recipient and Varuna.
Home
​About
Membership
​Contact Us
Blog
Resources
Board
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which the New England Writers' Centre is situated and pay our respects to Aboriginal Elders past, present and emerging.
  • Home
  • Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing
  • Illustration Prize for Children's Picture Book Publishing
  • Varuna-NEWC Fellowship
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • Our Board
  • Membership
  • Contact Us
  • 2024 Archive
    • 2024 Illustration Prize for Children's Picture Book Publishing
    • 2024 Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing >
      • 2024 Thunderbolt Judges
      • 2024 Thunderbolt Winning submissions
    • Writing for the Primary Education Market
    • Story to Script Course
    • Writing and Illustrating for Children
    • Riveted Press Pitch Sessions
    • Grow Big Little Seed
    • Crafting Memoir
  • 2023 Archive
    • 2023 Thunderbolt winners >
      • 2023 Thunderbolt Judges
      • 2023 Thunderbolt winning submissions
    • 2023 Illustration Prize for children's picture book publishing
    • Varuna Fellowship 2023
    • Inside Story Workshop Series
    • Story to Script Course
    • Dive into Worldbuilding
  • 2022 Archive
    • 2022 Summer Micro Grants >
      • 2022 Summer micro grants_Mary McMillan >
        • 2022 Summer micro grants_Kerry Moran
    • 2022 Illustration Prize for children's picture book illustration
    • 2022 Thunderbolt winners >
      • 2022 Thunderbolt Prize winning submissions
      • 2022 Thunderbolt Prize Judges Reports
    • 2022 Varuna-NEWC Fellowship
  • 2021 Archive
    • 2021 Illustration Prize Winners
    • Varuna Fellowship 2021
    • Thunderbolt Prize 2021 >
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2021 Judges Reports
    • 2021 Summer Micro Grants >
      • 2021 Summer micro grants_Trish >
        • Beetle Hunt Stories
      • 2021 Summer micro grants_James
      • 2021 Summer Micro Grants_Fiona
  • 2020 Archive
    • Thunderbolt Prize 2020 >
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2020 Judges Reports
      • Thunderbolt Prize 2020_Winning submissions
    • Illustration Prize 2020 Winners
    • Varuna Fellowship 2020
    • 2020 Historical Novel Prize
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Inside Story Book
    • By The Book video series
    • Stories Connect