Inner West Writer in Residence
This program is not currently running.
The Inner West Writer in Residence program supported two emerging local writers with studio space, a stipend and professional development opportunities over a 6‑month residency in partnership with Writing NSW. The most recent residency ran from 22 January to 31 July 2024.
Although this program has now concluded, Council continues to support creative practitioners across the Inner West through a range of arts, culture and creative space initiatives.
About the program
The Writer in Residence program was delivered in collaboration with Writing NSW and provided each resident with:
- Exclusive use of the Writing NSW large writers’ studio (3 days per week for 6 months)
- A stipend for the residency period
- A year-long Writing NSW membership
- A one‑hour consultation with a senior publisher
- Access to a wide range of Writing NSW events and development opportunities
Eligibility
To be eligible, applicants needed to:
- Be over 18 years of age
- Live in the Inner West Council local government area
- Be an emerging writer
- Submit original work only
- Submitted work must be typed using 1.5x spacing with generous margins. For poems, use single spacing, with double spacing between stanzas
- Fiction of all genres, narrative non-fiction, poetry, plays and film and television scripts are eligible for submission. Instructional books and translations are not eligible
- May only submit one application.
Applications for the Inner West Writer in Residence are now closed.
The Residency was based at Writing NSW in Callan Park, Lilyfield, and ran from 22 January to 31 July 2024.
Guidelines
Guidelines are available here:
2024 winners
The successful Inner West Writers in Residence are Eda Gunaydin and Eleanor Kirk.
Eleanor Kirk
Eleanor is an emerging screenwriter and aspiring novelist interested in work that observes the minutiae of contemporary Australian life, with a focus on the political and social issues that affect young people. Eleanor is at an ideal point to take advantage of the residency, wanting to do a structural edit and further drafts of her proposed work; ‘The Astonishing Power of a Quiet Voice’, which follows twenty-six-year-old opera singer Evelyn, who has her whole career mapped out… until one day during a performance, when she inexplicably loses her voice.
Eda Gunaydin
Eda is a Turkish-Australian essayist originally from Western Sydney. She writes creative non-fiction (memoir and essays) about class and class mobility; diaspora and migration; and intergenerational trauma. She writes bilingually, in English and Turkish. Eda has had a limited run publication and had critical acclaim but sold only 2000 copies. She would like a space away from her shared house to focus on her new essay collection; unravelling how recent (ecological and economic) crises have affected how we stage our selves, sex, relationships, and community, with a focus on queer community.