Affirm Press Mentorship Award Announcement

Thank you to the editorial team at Affirm Press for selecting the writers that will participate in the Varuna & Affirm Press Mentorship Award 2020. These writers and their manuscripts are:

Anomaly by Emma Lord

Foundling by Kate Maxwell

The Bone Painter by Emma Pignatiello

Varuna received 148 manuscripts from writers across Australia for the 2020 Affirm Press Mentorship Award. The manuscripts were each double-read in the first selection process, and a shortlisted selection as well as the complete set of applications with manuscripts were sent to Affirm Press for their final selection.

“Thank you to everyone who took the time to apply for this program. There were some really wonderful options to choose from, but the three winners stood out for their fantastic world-building, strong characterisation and snappy pacing. We are so excited to work with these authors to develop their manuscripts,” Meg Whelan, Editor, Affirm Press.

Thank you to Varuna assessors Shivaun Plozza and Kristina Schulz who did an exceptional job of reading and deliberating on a very high standard of submissions. Their comments about the selection process are available here.