Skip to content

Hedberg Writer-in-Residence Program

About the program

Expressions of Interest for the 2023 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence Program are now closed.

The University of Tasmania is seeking established writers for a unique 12-week Tasmanian residency in creative writing.

Applications are invited for the third Hedberg Writer-in-Residence program, with the residency open to all established writers with professional publication record, in any field or genre, resident in Australia.

The successful writer receives $30,000, which equates to a $20,000 stipend plus self-contained accommodation in the heart of Hobart valued at $10,000. The writer will devote three months to writing in a quiet but stimulating environment, including their own office, in the University of Tasmania's gorgeous Sandy Bay campus. During the residency, as well as working on an original piece, the winner will engage with the University's creative writing students, emerging Tasmanian authors, and the broader Tasmanian creative community through a small number of workshops, masterclasses, and public talks in the north and south of the state.

Applications are open from 9am, 3rd February 2023 and close 5pm on March 31st, 2023, with the residency to be undertaken from August 8, 2023 to October 31, 2023.

The successful recipient will be announced early May 2023.

The residency is offered by the College of Arts, Law and Education and the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania. The project is supported by the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.

Apply for the program below or contact program leaders Dr Emmett Stinson or Dr Lucy Christopher.

Copyright Ageny Logo

How to apply

Applicants are required to provide:

  • A cover letter
  • A proposal outlining the project you will work on during the residency, indicating the current stage of development (maximum 1,000 words)
  • A statement outlining how you will benefit from the residency (maximum 250 words)
  • A short CV (maximum 2 x A4 pages)
  • A sample of writing (maximum 3,000 words which can be selected from one or more texts)
  • Please email your application as a single-file attachment in .pdf or MSW .docx format to Dr Emmett Stinson and Dr Lucy Christopher. Include the subject line "Expression of Interest for 2023 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence Program". Select here to email both Dr Emmett & Dr Lucy.

For further information, please contact Dr Emmett Stinson or Dr Lucy Christopher.

Accommodation

Melville and Elizabeth Street, Hobart

The University of Tasmania will be providing a centrally-located, newly furnished, and lovely 2-bedroom apartment for the duration of the residency. Here are some photos of where you'll be staying.

Frequently asked questions

What are the criteria for selecting the successful applicant?

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:

  • Artistic merit of the applicant's previous work;
  • Artistic merit and achievability of the proposed project;
  • Likely benefit of the residency for the applicant's professional development; and
  • How the applicant and the proposed project will benefit the Tasmanian creative community.
  • The successful applicant will be a current resident of Australia. Applications will not be considered from writers not presently residing in Australia.

What are the expectations of the successful applicant?

During their term, the Hedberg Writer-in-Residence will:

  • Undertake original work;
  • Conduct a weekend workshop for emerging authors;
  • Conduct two masterclasses with University English and Writing students (in Hobart and at a northern campus);
  • Present a public talk/performance on a topic of their choice; and
  • Engage in other activities as negotiated with the Program Coordinator.

What types of writing and experience level will the selection panel consider?

The program is open to writers in any field or genre (including fiction or nonfiction prose, poetry, script) with an established publishing profile in Australia (at least one major work published with a commercial publisher).

Are there any additional requirements on completion of the residency?

At the conclusion of their term, the writer-in-residence will submit a report on the experiences and achievements of the residency to inform the program's future development.


What are the dates for the residency?

The program will provide one twelve-week residency, to be commenced after 1 August 2023 and completed before 15 December 2023. The residency will be based at the Hedberg, the University's state-of-the-art facility for the creative arts and other campuses.

How will the judging process be conducted?

  • Entries will be judged in confidence by the selection committee
  • The selection committee's decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into
  • The selection committee may select no applicant at their discretion and readvertise the residency

Will the University help me to find accommodation in Tasmania?

The University will provide accommodation in the Hobart CBD in one of its accommodation facilities.

What is funded as part of the residency?

  • A cash stipend of $20,000 will be paid to the successful resident for their participation in the residency, and to cover all of their costs (e.g. travel, travel insurance, etc)
  • Accommodation will be provided by the University valued at $10,000
  • Additional funds will be made available to facilitate travel around the state for the purpose of workshop in the north of the island
  • Office space, a library card, and printing equipment will be made available
  • The College of Arts, Law and Education will organise and coordinate all workshops and public events.

How will the judging process be conducted?

The successful applicant will be informed of the decision in early May 2023.

Selection committee

The selection committee for the 2023 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence program includes Prof Gail Jones, Dr Robert Clarke, Dr Lucy Christopher and Dr Emmett Stinson.


Headshot of Gail Jones

Prof Gail Jones is the author of two short-story collections and nine novels, which include Sixty Lights, Dreams of Speaking, Sorry, The Death of Noah Glass and most recently, Salonika Burning (2022). Shortlisted four times for the Miles Franklin Award, her prizes include the Prime Minister's Fiction Award, the Age Book of the Year Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction, the WA Premier's Prize, the ASAL Gold Medal and the Nita Kibble Award. She has also been shortlisted for international awards, including the Dublin IMPAC and the Prix Femina Étranger. Her fiction has been translated into nine languages. Originally from Western Australia, she now lives in Sydney.


Headshot of Robert Clarke

Dr Robert Clarke is the co-ordinator of the Hedberg writer-in-residence program. He is a senior lecturer who teaches in the English program in the School of Humanities.

He is the author of Travel Writing from Black Australia (2016), and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Travel Writing (2018), and Celebrity Colonialism (2009). His articles and reviews have been published in international peer-reviewed journals.

Robert's research foci include: travel writing, postcolonial studies, book groups, contemporary Australian fiction, representations of Aboriginality in writing.

He has also published on the scholarship of teaching and learning in English Studies, and digital storytelling.


Headshot of Lucy Christopher

Dr Lucy Christopher is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. An award-winner writer for young people, Lucy's research interests centre on creative writing, with specific focus on writing for young people, empathy, psychology, place, and ecocriticism. Lucy has taught in many countries and for many organisations, including residential tutoring for Arvon Writing Centres, Ty Newydd Writing Centre and for Loutro Writers. She established Mexican Writing Retreats; luxury creative writing courses run in the central highlands of Mexico. She frequently visits schools to talk about her work for young people.

Lucy has been a professional writer and academic in Creative Writing for over fifteen years. As an award-winning and best-selling author, with wide international readership; Lucy's Young Adult books are published in over twenty countries. She has also written for children and adults, both in non-fiction and fiction, in short form and longer form, as well as for script and screen. Her books have won a Printz Honor Award, the Branford Boase Award, the Prix Farniente, the Gold Inky, the audience choice award for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book for Older Readers, and an International Reading Association Award. She has been shortlisted for the Australian Prime Minister's Awards, the Costa Book Awards, the Waterstones Prize, and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.


Headshot of Emmett Stinson

Dr Emmett Stinson completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne. He has previously held positions as a Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Melbourne, a Senior Lecturer in English and Writing at University of Newcastle, and a Senior Lecturer in Writing and Literature at Deakin University. He is a literary scholar, a creative writer, and an expert on the global publishing industry. He was a member of Senator Kim Carr's federal Book Industry Strategy Group. He co-founded and was President of the Small Press Network--the Australian advocacy body for independent publishers, which is housed in the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing, and Ideas. He co-founded the Independent Publishing Conference and established a series on publishing at Monash University Publishing. He won the Melbourne Age Short Story Award, and his book of short stories, Known Unknowns, was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award in the Queensland Literary Awards. He was a CI on the ARC Discovery Project, 'New Tastemakers and Australia's Post-Digital Literary Culture'. He is currently working on a monograph on the late novels of Gerald Murnane.

Connect

The Hedberg is the latest addition to Hobart's creative precinct which includes the Theatre Royal, Federation Concert Hall, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and the University of Tasmania's campuses including the Centre for the Arts on Hunter Street and The Media School in Salamanca Square.

Hedberg Writer-in-Residence Porgram information:
E: Emmett.Stinson@utas.edu.au & Lucy.Christopher@utas.edu.au

University events at the Hedberg:
Search the calendar for upcoming events

Find the Hedberg at:
University of Tasmania
27 Campbell Street
Hobart TAS 7000

Send Hedberg Writer-in-Residence Program mail to:
School of Humanities
College of Arts, Law and Education
University of Tasmania
Private Bag 41
HOBART TAS 7001

Map locations from top to bottom:
Medical Science Precinct (UTAS), Hedberg (UTAS and Theatre Royal), Federation Concert Hall, Centre for the Arts (UTAS), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (UTAS) and The Media School (UTAS).

Hedberg Map