Update: Catriona Menzies-Pikewriter’s residency

SRB-WestWords Writers’ Residency

WestWords and the Sydney Review of Books invite applications for a two-week residency at the WestWords Centre for Writing. This residency will be an opportunity for a Western Sydney writer to write an essay on place for publication on the Sydney Review of Books.

This essay will form part of an ongoing portfolio of essays on place published on the Sydney Review of Books. Our place essayists have drawn on history, memoir, urban studies, literary history and other disciplinary tools to explore relationships between place and culture. This residency will provide an opportunity for an emerging Western Sydney writer to produce a substantial piece of non-fiction for publication on the Sydney Review of Books. It will allow the writer to develop a site-specific practice and to have their work published alongside Australia’s best writers.

We’re looking for pitches that are rooted in the physical and social geography of Western Sydney from writers who will benefit from working in place at the WestWord Centre for Writing in Parramatta. To apply for this residency, writers will submit a >300w pitch outlining the essay they want to write and a brief cover letter that maps their writing experience, relationship to Western Sydney, and interest in this project.  The successful applicant will workshop their pitch and process with the SRB editor before taking up the residency; they will work the draft essay into its final published form with the SRB editor at the conclusion of the residency.

To apply for this residency, writers will present a <300w EOI outlining their project and a short cover letter. The successful applicant will workshop their pitch and process with the SRB editor before taking up the residency; they will work the draft essay into its final published form (2500-4000w) with the SRB editor at the conclusion of the residency.

The successful applicant will receive a $1000 stipend, desk space at the WestWords Centre for Writing in Parramatta for two weeks (between August and September 2018), editorial oversight and publication on the Sydney Review of Books.

The applications will be read and judged by a selection panel composed of SRB and WestWords representatives.

Applications due: 20 July 2018.

Apply via Submittable.

Send any queries to SRB editor Catriona Menzies-Pike on editor@sydneyreviewofbooks.com