Writing WA in partnership with the Benedictine Community and Holy Trinity Abbey are pleased to announce a unique 2025 heritage writing residency placement in New Norcia, Western Australia.
The New Norcia Heritage Writer-in-Residence placement represents one aspect of Changing the Conversation: Stories in all Spaces, a 2024-25 cross-disciplinary project kindly funded by the WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. The project is designed to build new bridges between writing and other creative fields, offering a series of immersive, often experimental experiences designed to reshape how literature is perceived across the community.
For this initiative, Writing WA is looking for one Western Australian writer from amongst our database of active financial members to be our 2025 New Norcia Heritage Writer-in-Residence. This person will immerse themselves in the beautiful monastic town of New Norcia for one week from 18-24 August 2025, staying in the restored Guesthouse Hermitage Cottage with all meals provided and with access to the library and museum. The meals offered are simple and home-cooked, with visitors receiving the same fare as the Abbey monks. Within one month of the residency, the Writer will produce a compelling, creative essay between 1,000-2,000 words focussing on an aspect of the history of New Norcia, to be published late in 2025 through The Chimes and Writing WA. The Writer-in-Residence will receive a $2,000 stipend.
When assessing the applications, the selection panel will be looking at the demonstrated writing quality and voice of the authors, their publication history, a compelling artistic vision for the essay, and overall level of enthusiasm for this unique residency experience in Australia’s only monastic town.
We invite current Writing WA financial members who are Western Australian authors with some history of published work, preferably in non-fiction, narrative non-fiction, social history, journalism, memoir, autobiography, or historical fiction to apply.
Application deadline is 2.00pm AWST on Monday 25 November 2024.
Queries: Email [email protected]
This project is funded by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.
TO VIEW FULL DETAILS AND APPLY, DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORM HERE.