Dedicated to the love of writing

Upcoming Events

A Cornucopia of Gardens

The State Library of NSW would love to invite you to a wonderful event!  

Renowned horticulturalist and garden historian Judyth McLeod (Heritage Gardening and In a Unicorn’s Garden) gives an illustrated talk about sustainable food gardens, conserving heirloom plants and their future role in the climate change garden.

With a particular historical emphasis on the medieval period, this popular speaker discusses the skills of women throughout history in producing food.  

Date: Tuesday 2 March 2010 Time: 5.30 pm for 6 pm to 7 pm
Venue: Dixson Room, Mitchell building, State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street
Cost: $15 (Friends, students and concessions), $20 (seniors), $22, includes light refreshments  

Bookings essential!
Online : HERE Phone: (02) 9273 1770 Email: bookings@sl.nsw.gov.au

For more information see the flyer


The Mick Dark Watermark Fellowship For Emerging Nature and Environmental Writers – biennially from 2010

 Varuna has formed a partnership with the Watermark Literary Society and the Mick Dark Watermark Fellowship which will replace the original Mick Dark Writing Fellowship for Environmental Writing. This fellowship will be offered once every two years, starting from 2010.

Mick Dark, son of Eleanor Dark and Dr Eric Dark, made a gift of their Blue Mountains family home, Varuna, to Australian literature in memory of his parents.  
Full details: http://varuna.com.au/

Closes March 1


New South Wales LitLink Varuna Program 2010 – applications from March 1-31

Arts NSW generously funds the NSW LitLink Program – with four exciting professional development opportunities for writers living outside Sydney. These programs link New South Wales’ unique network of regional Writers’ Centres – Northern Rivers, New England, Hunter, Central West, South Coast, Riverina (Booranga) and Blue Mountains (Varuna).

The NSW Litlink Varuna Writing program uses and extends the resources of Varuna, the Writers' House, Australia's national centre for residencies and writing programs. Depending on the program, writers selected will have valuable time at Varuna to work on their project or consultation time with a member of the Varuna Creative Team (Peter Bishop, Helen Barnes-Bulley and Carol Major) or have their poetry published by Picaro Press.

"Receiving the Litlink Award for my unpublished novel was validating, particularly as the judges were general readers. I have had good responses from the handful of publishers but no publication offer. Winning Litlink boosted my confidence - an assurance I was on the right track. Varuna has proven the perfect setting for a concentrated examination of what my novel needs to give it lift-off. Working with Carol Major has been extraordinary. From the basic premise that a manuscript can be a cage she suggested doing a range of exercises instead of plodding through a rewrite. The aim was to distill the essence of why I was writing the novel, and to find the core of the issues and characters' concerns and motivations. It worked. It has been a privilege having time in the Varuna environment, where writers and writing are valued and nurtured, with access to a wealth of experience."        
Dael Allison, LitLink Unpublished Manuscript Award, 2009 In 2010,

The following programs are available exclusively to writers living in regional NSW:

Application form (both parts) available late February.  
Full information: http://varuna.com.au/