Author Fellowship

Author Fellowship

The Copyright Agency’s Author Fellowship will support an established Australian author to create a new work for publication or performance and is open to novelists, playwrights, poets, children’s and young adult writers, picture book illustrators and journalists.

The Fellowship will provide sustained support for a year to one Australian author to create a significant new work (or a series of books if writing for children and young adults). Applicants should submit a compelling and detailed description of their project accompanied by a writing sample to demonstrate their literary merit.

As the Fellowship is intended to support one writer, joint applications are not eligible.

The project should span up to 12 months. A project of one or two months is not regarded as a substantial Fellowship activity.

Non-fiction writers should apply for the Copyright Agency’s Fellowship for Non-Fiction Writing.

To be eligible to apply, the author must have a publishing contract or a letter of interest or intent to publish from an Australian-based publisher. If you are a playwright and you are applying to write a new play, you must supply a contract or letter of interest or intent from a theatre company.

This Fellowship will not replace any advance offered under the usual terms of a publishing contract.

The Fellowship is not intended to support the creation of work for an academic or scholarly purpose and readership.

Applications are assessed by a panel of independent peers from the writing and publishing industry.

One Fellowship will be awarded each year.

Amount of grant: $80,000

Projects must start after 1 November 2023.

Who can apply

• Applicants must have previously published/performed at least five full-length works of their own creative writing (of which two books may be self-published).
• Authors must have secured either a publishing contract for the work or a letter of interest or intent to publish from an Australian-based publisher.
• Authors must submit their own applications. Publishers cannot apply on behalf of authors.
• Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents.
• Applicants must have acquitted any overdue Cultural Fund grants.

How to apply

• You must apply via the SmartyGrants online grants platform.
• Applications must be submitted by the closing date via the SmartyGrants online system.
• Applicants may submit only one application per round to the Cultural Fund.
• Late applications will not be accepted.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Your application

You must provide a clear outline of your intended project. Your application must include a project description along with support material.

Support Material

You must submit the following support material with your application as a PDF via the SmartyGrants online system:

• A one-page synopsis of the proposed work.
• A sample of your writing (up to 10 pages, preferably from your new work).
• A one-page CV outlining your publication/performance history.
• Proof of a contract or letter of interest or intent to publish/present from a publisher/theatre company.
• If your project refers to, or involves First Nations individuals, communities or subject matter, you must submit a letter of support from the relevant individuals and communities.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND GRANT OBLIGATIONS

The successful applicant will agree to acknowledge the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund in any publication arising from the Fellowship.

Successful applicants must submit an acquittal report on their funded project within eight weeks of the completion of the project via the SmartyGrants online system. This report should include a description of the funded activities and detail the success or otherwise of the activity.

Applicants who have not acquitted completed projects cannot apply until they have successfully acquitted their previous grant.

APPLICATIONS HAVE CLOSED

More information and contact

Please contact us if you have any questions about the grants via email culturalfund@copyright.com.au