Callout: 2025 CA-SRB Emerging Critics Fellowship

Each Fellow will receive a stipend of $4,500 to write three essays on new Australian books over a twelve-month period, for publication in the Sydney Review of Books. Fellows will work closely with SRB editorial staff as they write their essays. 

For the first time in the fellowship’s history, fellows will also be invited to attend a workshop in Parramatta with the SRB editorial team and Writing and Society Research Centre staff. The SRB will cover travel and accommodation costs for interstate fellows. We anticipate the workshop will be held in September, but will attempt to accommodate as many fellows as possible. 

Applications are open to Australian residents and Australian nationals abroad. First Nations critics and CaLD critics are strongly encouraged to apply. 

There are no age or experience requirements for the Emerging Critics Fellowship. That said, we are looking for applicants who have a clear vision of how they want to use this opportunity to develop their portfolio and critical practice. 

Applicants who are on an academic career path should explain their particular interest in writing for a general rather than an academic audience in their cover letter. 

Apply via Submittable here. 

Applications should include: 

• a cover letter (up to 800 words);  
• a writing sample (up to 1,000 words); 
• a CV of no more than 2 pages.

In your cover letter, tell us about your experience to date as a critic, and what informs your critical practice. Your cover letter should explain how you hope to benefit from this fellowship, and briefly sketch out prospective pitches for three critical essays on Australian literature. Your writing sample can be a link to a published or an unpublished piece of writing.  

We hope that applicants will benefit not only from the publication opportunities afforded by the fellowship, but also from developing a sustained relationship with an editor.  

We understand that many emerging critics juggle multiple assignments and deadlines in order to make ends meet. Fellowship recipients will be expected to work on three essays slated for publication by June 2026. 

Before you apply for this fellowship, please consider whether these deadlines are a manageable addition to your workload. 

The 2025 CA-SRB Emerging Critics Fellowships will be judged by an SRB editor and two guest judges, who will be announced soon. 

Judges will take into account: 

• Potential to write great critical essays, as evidenced by application materials; 
• Potential to bring new critical perspectives to the Australian critical scene; 
• Benefit of the fellowship program for professional development of applicants; 
• Access to other paid opportunities, mentorships, and professional development; 
• Ability to write to concurrent deadlines. 

Fellowship recipients will be announced by the end of July and will meet shortly thereafter with SRB editorial staff to determine which books the fellow would like to review. Fellows will be matched with books that line up with their interests, affinities, and disciplinary formation. 

Each fellowship essay will contend with a single new work of Australian literature. This will foster the ability of fellowship recipients to approach new literary works and produce original critical responses to them. The SRB editorial team will map out a firm timeline for drafts, edits, and publication dates, as well as provide detailed editorial notes and copyedits. 

Applicants may hold to traditional models for their essays or extend the range and flexibility of the review essay form. We encourage creative and experimental approaches to criticism. In short, we champion critical writing in a range of modes and on a wide range of topics; we see the review essay as a space of great possibility. 

Applying for a fellowship can be a daunting experience, especially if you’re doing so for the first time. We’re often asked for guidance on what we are looking for in fellowship applications.  Here are some tips based on our experience of running this fellowship program over the past eight years: 

• The cover letter is our first introduction to you as a critic and a writer. Treat it as an opportunity to display the critical and writing skills you will bring to the fellowship essays. 
• We know that there are many pathways that lead emerging critics to apply for these fellowships. We have awarded emerging critics fellowships to applicants with postgraduate degrees and to applicants without degrees. Institutional credentials are not the only qualifications applicants might bring to this program; expertise comes in many forms. Tell us about the experiences that shape your critical practice and aspirations, whether that be graduate study, creative practice, self-directed study, lifelong affinity, research in other fields, personal history, or other experiences. 
• These fellowships have been conceived to foster emerging critical voices. We want to hear about the criticism that you want to write and about the kind of critic you’d like to be. Tell us about the criticism you have written and/or published, and more broadly, about your writing practice. 
• In your pitches, tell us – briefly – what books you want to write about and why you are well placed to do so. Don’t pick books that you think will please the SRB editors. We want to know why the books you’ve chosen are interesting to you, and why you think they merit attention. Give us a sense of the questions you will be asking of the books under review – but don’t feel you need to answer those questions in your pitches. 

Please direct any queries to the SRB team via email:  enquiries@sydneyreviewofbooks.com.