Michael King Writers Centre announces new international residency exchange opportunity with Varuna
MEDIA RELEASE
Inaugural International Residency Exchange for the Michael King Writers Centre
The Michael King Writers Centre is excited to be able to offer a new international exchange that has come about through collaboration with Varuna - The Australian National Writers House in Katoomba, NSW and Verb Writers Festival, Wellington.
Kate Mildenhall (Photo: Cat Black)
Australian writer Kate Mildenhall has been announced as the recipient of the inaugural exchange. Kate is the much-acclaimed author of the novels Skylarking (Black Inc.) and The Mother Fault (S&S). The Mother Fault was longlisted for the 2021 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and shortlisted for the 2021 Aurealis Science Fiction Novel of the Year.
Kate co-hosts The First Time Podcast: conversations with Australian writers – a podcast now in its fourth season. Kate lives in Hurstbridge on Wurundjeri lands, with her partner and two children.
Subject to travel restrictions, the four-week residency exchange will take place in October 2021. Kate will work on her third novel during her residency retreat at Michael King Writers Centre before flying to Wellington to participate in the Verb Wellington Writers Festival.
Varuna said the ‘standard of applications for this exchange program was very competitive’. The Varuna International Writers Residency Program is supported by the Australian Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. For more information, see the Varuna website.
In exchange, a New Zealand writer will be selected in the coming months to stay at Varuna in February 2022. Applications for this residency will open at the end of August 2021 with the Michael King Writers Centre.
