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2024 UQ Creative Writing Fellowship Blog

The winner of the inauguralUQ Creative Writing Fellowshipis Melanie Myers. Sponsored bythe Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, this fellowship provides $20,000 for an early careerwriter to spend a year immersed in the Fryer Library, researching and drafting a major newcreative work.

Melanie’s project is a full-length play based on the complex relationship between authorXavier Herbert and his editor Beatrice Davis over a 12-year period from 1949 to 1961, during the creation of Herbert’s major work, Soldiers’ Women following his acclaimed 1938 bestselling novel, Capricornia. The play will draw from letters exchanged between Herbertand Davis, which are part of the Sadie and Xavier Herbert Collection in the Fryer Library.

Melanie is working leading Australian dramaturg Saffron Benner as her mentor. The fellowship will culminate in December 2024 with a public reading of the play to be held in UQ’s revamped Avalon Theatre.

This Fellowship is offered with the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, an Australian not-for-profit organisation with an interest in supporting creativity, and library donors.