Contributors’ Circle Varuna Writing Residencies

Griffith Review Contributors’ Circle Varuna Writing Residencies

Griffith Review is delighted to announce five residencies in partnership with Varuna, The National Writers’ House, thanks to support from the Graeme Wood Foundation.

Writers must be members of the Griffith Review Contributors’ Circle to apply for this opportunity – any past or imminent contributor to Griffith Review, in print or online, can subscribe to this program. The Griffith Review Contributors’ Circle offers a premium subscription package plus exclusive writing and other opportunities and advance notice of Griffith Review call-outs and themes.

This year, a new approach

For the first time, contributors’ who are awarded a Varuna writing residency this year will be given an opportunity to produce work to be published in Griffith Review in 2022, and are invited to submit pitches for new works for three of the journal’s 2022 editions:

Truth-telling and reckoning, Griffith Review 76 (to be published in May 2022);
Antarctica, Griffith Review 77 (to be published in August 2022);
Food in all its forms, Griffith Review 78 (to be published in November 2022).

You will receive

Contributors will spend a week together at Varuna, alongside editor Ashley Hay, to develop their projects towards eventual publication.

Support for interstate applicants to travel to this residency is available, thanks to the Graeme Wood Foundation.

This residency will coincide with the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival and, subject to programming, may include the opportunity for contributors to participate as facilitators or presenters.

What you need to send to Griffith Review

You will need to submit:

An appropriate pitch (up to 500 words) for one of the themes to be explored in Griffith Review 76, Griffith Review 77 or Griffith Review 78, plus a description of the work you intend to undertake during the week;
A statement outlining how the residency would benefit you (up to 500 words);
A brief background on why this topic interests you and what draws you to this project at this time (up to 500 words).

Pitches for both new fiction and non-fiction work, in all genres supported by Griffith Review, are welcomed. If successful, you’ll be required to undertake the residency, including seven nights’ accommodation, at the time specified below.

Submissions will be considered by the Griffith Review editorial team, with the five successful applicants invited to undertake a residency at Varuna, in Katoomba NSW, for the week of October 18–25, 2021.

This week will provide these writers with a dedicated space to workshop and work on these pieces in consultation with Griffith Review editorial staff, as well as peer-to-peer support and opportunities to connect with the broader Griffith Review writing community.

What Griffith Review is looking for

Entries will be judged by the Griffith Review editorial team based on the creative strength of the proposal, including intersections with the May, August and November 2022 editions of Griffith Review; clear goals for the residency week; the originality of the work; and evidence of capacity to work with Griffith Review to advance the project towards publication in 2022.

Works generated through this program will then enter the normal Griffith Review editorial and production processes for the relevant edition, with payment at standard GR rates: finished commissions are expected to be between 3,000–5,000 words in length by the time of publication.

Enter via the Submittable portal here.

Entries close on 30 June, 2021 and winners will be notified in July.

And for more information, please contact griffithreview@griffith.edu.au