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black&write! Writing Fellowships
2024 Fellows announced!
Each year black&write! offers two Fellowships for First Nations writers, awarded through an unpublished manuscript competition open to any Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer currently living in Australia.
These two writers will each receive $15,000 prize money, editorial development with the black&write! team, and a publication opportunity with Hachette Australia.
Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi (Qld) for 'To Clear Your Throat of Fish'
Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi, also known as Vika Mana, is a proud sovereign storyteller; the Zagareb and Dauareb tribes of Mer Island in what is colonially known as the Torres Strait, from the village of Fahefa in Tonga and many other places that extend to different continents and bloodlines. They write, rap and perform many worlds into existence whilst also telling the truth of this place in each story.
'To Clear Your Throat of Fish' is a poetry collection.
Lulu Houdini (NSW) for 'ma-li'
Lulu Houdini is a Gamilaroi poet and midwife. Lulu’s work explores invisibility, memory, resistance, and liminality. Her poetry has been published by Meanjin, Overland, Red Room Poetry and Wakefield Press, with her debut poetry collection being shortlisted for the 2023 David Unaipon Award. Lulu currently creates and lives with Jerrinja, Wandi Wandandian Country.
'ma-li' is a poetry collection.
2024 Shortlisted writers
- Matt Gall (Qld) for 'Daemon in the Garden'
- Maree Yoelu (NT) for 'Tangled Words in Ghost Nets'
- Skye Cusack (Vic) for 'The Dangers of Just One Person'
- Mariah Sweetman for 'Black and White'
The 2025 Fellowships competition will open later this year.
Questions? Get in touch by emailing Indigenous.writing@slq.qld.gov.au or call 07 3842 9985.
black&write! is supported by the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund and the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. We are proud to work with Hachette Australia as the black&write! Fellowship publishing partner.
