Nine Australian writers have been shortlisted for the 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, worth $20,000.
‘We had a record number of applications in this our fifteenth and final year. We had such a high calibre of proposals and diversity of intriguing subjects, which allowed us to select an outstanding shortlist,’ said Della Rowley, sister of biographer Hazel Rowley.
‘There are emerging as well as established writers, with approaches to biography and memoir that are both new and exciting. Subjects include poets, a composer, writers, a journalist, an Italian resistance fighter, a famous satirist, and memoirs about devastating events.’
The nine shortlisted writers are:
- Ali Keshtkar (Vic), for ‘Twelve Hours to Silence’, a memoir about facing execution as a political prisoner in Iran.
- 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), writing about 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.
The winner of the 2026 Fellowship will be announced in Melbourne at State Library Victoria on Wednesday 11 March at 7pm. 2020 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellow Lance Richardson will make an exclusive Australian appearance discussing his acclaimed biography True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen as part of State Library Victoria’s flagship Beyond the Page literary series, in conversation with Jason Steger.
More information: slv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/conversation-with-lance-richardson
‘Lance Richardson lives in USA and we are thrilled that he is able to be in Australia to promote his outstanding biography, which is receiving much acclaim,’ said Della Rowley.
Richardson will also run a masterclass ‘Going the Distance: Writing Life Through Biography’ at Writers Victoria on Thursday 12 March at 6.30pm. Click here to enrol: https://writersvictoria.org.au/calendars/events/event/?id=1410
The 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship will be judged by writers Clare Wright and Christos Tsiolkas, along with Della Rowley and Lynn Buchanan, Hazel’s close friend.
The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship has a strong track record in enabling biographers and writers of memoir to complete and publish their works. In 15 years eleven recipients have published: Lance Richardson (True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen), Drusilla Modjeska (A Woman’s Eye, Her Art), Matthew Lamb (Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths), Mandy Sayer (Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters: Australia’s first female filmmaking team), Ann-Marie Priest (My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood), Eleanor Hogan (Into the Loneliness: The unholy alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates), Gabrielle Carey (Only Happiness Here: In Search of Elizabeth von Arnim), Jacqueline Kent (Vida Goldstein: A Woman for Our Time), Mary Hoban (An Unconventional Wife: The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold), Maxine Beneba Clarke (The Hate Race), and Stephany Steggall (Interestingly Enough … The Life of Tom Keneally). There will be more publications in 2026 and following years.
About Hazel Rowley
‘My books are about people who had the courage to break out of their confined world and help others to do the same’ – Hazel Rowley
Before her death in 2011, Hazel wrote four critically acclaimed biographies: Christina Stead: A Biography (1993), Richard Wright: The Life and Times (2001), Tête-à-Tête: The Lives and Loves of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre (2005) and Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage (2010). Erudite and accessible, these studies brought fresh attention to the lives and works of significant figures both nationally and internationally.
In 2021 Della Rowley and Lynn Buchanan published Life as Art: The biographical writing of Hazel Rowley, an edited collection of Hazel’s essays, talks and journal entries.