2026 Fellowship shortlist announced
Nine Australian writers have been shortlisted for the 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship:
- Ali Keshtkar (VIC), writing ‘Twelve Hours to Silence’, a memoir about facing execution in an Iranian prison.
- Ashleigh Wilson (NSW), for a biography of Barry Humphries.
- Cath Bowdler (NSW), writing ‘Afterburn’, about the 2019/20 Black Summer fires and the experience of survivors.
- Flavia Marcello (NSW), writing about WW2 Italian resistance fighter Carla Capponi.
- Jeff Sparrow (VIC), for a biography of Australian writer, poet and activist Lesbia Harford.
- Jennifer Martin (VIC), for a biography of Walkley Award-winning journalist Eva Sommer.
- Jillian Graham (VIC), writing about composer Elena Kats-Chernin.
- Monique Rooney (ACT), for a biography of writer Ruth Park.
- Theodore Ell (ACT), writing about Australian poet Les Murray.
We had a record number of applications in this, our 15th and final year. There was a high calibre of proposals and diversity of intriguing subjects, which enabled us to select an outstanding shortlist.
Our judges for the 2026 Fellowship are Clare Wright, Christos Tsiolkas, Della Rowley and Lynn Buchanan.
The winner of the 2026 Fellowship will be announced at State Library Victoria on Wednesday 11 March at 7pm as part of their Beyond the Page literary series. Firstly there will be a conversation between Jason Steger and Lance Richardson, our 2020 Fellow, about his biography True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen. This will be followed by the announcement of our final Hazel Rowley Fellowship winner.
The State Library Victoria talk is a ticketed event. To book, go to: slv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/conversation-with-lance-richardson
Biography masterclass: Lance Richardson will also run a masterclass ‘Going the Distance: Writing Life through Biography’ at Writers Victoria on Thursday 12 March at 6.30pm.
Peter Matthiessen biography published
We are thrilled to announce that True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen by Lance Richardson, our 2020 Fellow, has been published by Chatto & Windus. This is a significant book, being the first major biography of Peter Matthiessen, writer, naturalist, activist, CIA agent and Zen master. Matthiessen was the author of The Snow Leopard and founder of the Paris Review.
Lance will be speaking about his book at State Library Victoria in March 2026. This will be followed by the announcement of the 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.
New book from Drusilla Modjeska
Congratulations to Drusilla Modjeska, who we gave a Special Hazel Rowley Award to in 2018, in recognition of her significant contribution to the art of biography and memoir over many years. Her book A Woman’s Eye: Her Art has just been published by Penguin Random House.
For more information and to order a copy, go to the Penguin website.
Hazel Rowley Fellowship final year
It is with some sadness, but also with enormous pride in our achievement, that we announce that the 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship will be the last.
The Fellowship has been running for the past 14 years since Hazel died in March 2011. It was created to honour Hazel as a skilled biographer and to encourage others to write with the same care and enthusiasm in this time-consuming and exacting genre. Based on Hazel’s own experience we recognised the need to support a work in progress by providing money for research and travel. Over the past 14 years the Fellowship has supported more than 20 writers to progress and finish their projects.
We are incredibly proud of these authors and their publications coming out of this initiative – all beautiful biographies on a range of subjects, including Gwen Harwood, Frank Moorhouse, Vida Goldstein, Elizabeth von Arnim, Thomas Keneally, early filmmakers the McDonagh Sisters and a memoir by Maxine Beneba Clarke, among others. Some of these books have won national and state-based prizes and many have been longlisted and shortlisted. There will be more fabulous biographies in the coming years as previous Fellows complete their projects.
The Fellowship, through supporting writers, has made a significant contribution to contemporary Australian biography and memoir, and importantly has allowed us to remember Hazel and celebrate her achievements. Louise Adler, Director, Adelaide Writers’ Week, said, ‘I was honoured to publish Hazel’s award-winning and truly brilliant biography of Christina Stead and later her wonderful portrait of a marriage, Franklin and Eleanor. Both books set the benchmark in their genre. Hazel’s courage in the subjects she chose was matched by the courageous way she lived. I miss her contribution to our literary culture and her friendship.’
The support and encouragement we have received from the writing community has been amazing, with our wonderful judges, our donors and willing speakers at our major event in March each year when we announce the winner of the Fellowship.
During the course of the Fellowship we have given over $300,000 to writers. Our money has been invested wisely by Australian Communities Foundation, which has grown the value of the donations we have received, and we have been able to increase the Fellowship to $20,000 from the initial $10,000. None of this would have been possible without our partnerships with Writers Victoria, Adelaide Writers’ Week and Australian Communities Foundation.
There are so many people to thank before we finally finish up, from our small beginnings with three hard-working friends of Hazel’s, it has grown far beyond our wildest dreams and we feel that all our winners are part of our Hazel Rowley literary family.
National Library Canberra acquires Hazel Rowley Papers
We have some exciting news for researchers and biographers.
Hazel Rowley lodged her Papers in relation to her Christina Stead biography with the National Library of Australia (NLA) back in 1996. The NLA has now acquired the rest of Hazel’s Papers in relation to her biographies of Richard Wright (2001), Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre (2006), and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (2010). They have also acquired her Papers in relation to her essays and her other writing.
The NLA was very pleased to acquire the collection. It includes an original letter of Simone de Beauvoir and original letters of Christina Stead. The Papers are catalogued under the heading Papers of Hazel Rowley. For more information about Hazel Rowley and her writing, go to our Hazel Rowley page.
