On Wednesday 11 March, in front of a large audience at State Library Victoria, Jennifer Martin was announced as winner of the 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.
Jennifer Martin was awarded $20,000 for her proposed biography of Australian journalist Eva Sommer. In 1956, at the age of 22, Eva Sommer beat a field of experienced men to win Australia’s first national prize for journalism, a Walkley Award. When Eva died in 2019 aged 84, this principled, courageous and complex daughter of Jewish immigrants who fought to live and love on her terms had been forgotten: this biography will tell that story.
“The judges loved Jennifer’s approach and fluid writing style which brings Eva’s remarkable story to life,” said Della Rowley, sister of Hazel Rowley.
“It was a joy to read Jennifer Martin’s proposal, the way she so vividly and lovingly brings to centre-stage a wonderful subject and history,” said Fellowship judge Christos Tsiolkas. “She is a deserving choice for this last year of the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.”
“There couldn’t be a more fitting or laudable winner of the final Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship than Jennifer Martin, with her finely wrought, deeply researched resurrection of a woman whose remarkable life and achievement have been lost to masculinist mythmaking about the history and culture of Australian journalism,” said Fellowship judge Clare Wright. “I simply can’t wait to get my hands on this biography. I expect my response will be mirrored by that of other readers: why weren’t we told?”
“After 15 years, this is the final year of the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship. After receiving a record number of applications we also chose three Highly Commended recipients, awarding them $10,000 each,” said Della Rowley. “This was an outstanding shortlist,” said Christos Tsiolkas, “and deserving, too, are the choices for the Highly Commended awards. They are inspiring projects, lucid and dedicated.”
The three Highly Commended awards go to:
Monique Rooney for a biography of Australian/New Zealand writer Ruth Park
The shortlist of nine writers included Ali Keshtkar, Ashleigh Wilson, Cath Bowdler, Flavia Marcello, Jeff Sparrow, Jennifer Martin, Jillian Graham, Monique Rooney and Theodore Ell.
The 2026 announcement followed the Hazel Rowley Memorial Lecture, which was a conversation between Tim Byrne and Lance Richardson, our 2020 Fellow, talking about Lance’s book True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen.
The Fellowship was judged by Clare Wright, Christos Tsiolkas, Della Rowley and Lynn Buchanan, and is administered in partnership with Writers Victoria.
The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established to commemorate the life and writing of Hazel Rowley and has a significant track record in enabling biographers and writers of memoir to complete and publish their works. So far 19 writers have been supported by the Fellowship: Ann-Marie Priest, Caroline Baum, Carolyn Dowley, Diane Bell, Drusilla Modjeska, Eleanor Hogan, Gabrielle Carey, Jacqueline Kent, Kate Fullagar, Lance Richardson, Mandy Sayer, Mary Hoban, Matthew Lamb, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Michelle Staff, Naomi Parry Duncan, Stephany Steggall, Suzanne Spunner and Sylvia Martin.
For more information about the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, visit www.hazelrowley.com.