Applications are open for a new $10,000 creative fellowship to be offered by the University of Tasmania.
The James McAuley Creative Fellowship will support an established Australian poet to work with students and the Tasmanian community.
The recipient will spend two to four weeks engaging with Tasmania’s creative life, including a masterclass for students and a public event at The Hedberg performing arts precinct.
“This fellowship is about inspiring creativity in our students and the wider Tasmanian community,” College of Arts, Law and Education Executive Dean Professor Kate Darian-Smith said.
“It’s also about putting poetry back at the centre of our arts space and reminding people of the beauty and power that words still hold.”
The fellowship will cover travel and living expenses for the recipient, as well as accommodation and office space provided by the University.
James McAuley was one of Australia’s most distinguished poets and Professor of English at the University from 1961 until his death in 1976. A memorial fund was established in 1977 to honour and perpetuate his contributions to scholarship and teaching in the arts, and to the wider life of the University. The fund initially supported an annual public lecture.
The fellowship will be rotated each year to support a different form of the arts.
“The McAuley Creative Fellowship pays homage to the original aims of the memorial fund while supporting contemporary creative writers and artists,” Professor Darian-Smith said.
“It is fitting that the first fellowship be for a poet.”
The fellowship is offered by the College of Arts, Law and Education and the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania, with support from the James McAuley Memorial Fund. It is open to established poets who are resident in Australia. Applications open on March 15 and close on April 15. Apply here.