Trans and Gender Diverse Fellowship FAQ

ELIGIBILITY, COSTS & KEY INFO

When am I able to undertake my residency?
The residency week is 4 – 11 August 2025. These dates are not negotiable.

What are the eligibility requirements for this fellowship?
This fellowship is open to writers who identify and trans and/or gender diverse, in that their assigned sex at birth does not match their gender identity.

Applicants must also be an Australian citizen or have a permanent residency visa, and be over 18 years old.  Exemption may be given to permanent residency criteria, but only in the circumstances of recently arrived migrants/refugees.

I am an Australian citizen living overseas. May I apply?
No. This fellowship is only for residents living in regional and remote Australia.

What is the application fee for this program?
Application fees are $30 per application, unless you are a financially current alumni member using your annual fee waiver. This fee helps to cover the administrative costs of this program and pays our assessors for their time reading your work.

If you cannot afford the application fee, we still want you to apply! Anyone experiencing financial hardship can have the fee waived via the Varuna Equity Access Fund. You will need to provide 1-2 sentences about your situation in the application form, for our records.

Do I have to pay anything to stay at Varuna?
There are no costs associated with this fellowship, and your travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Do you provide any support for travel costs?
Varuna will reimburse all travel expenses between your home and Katoomba, economy airfares and bus or train tickets. You will be expected to book travel in a timely manner once the residency is confirmed, to avoid excessive pricing.

I have missed the deadline. May I submit a late application?
No. Unfortunately no applications will be accepted after the deadline date.

How and when will I be notified of the outcome of my submission?
You will be notified of the outcome of your submission by email within two months of the submission deadline.

May I apply for multiple fellowships in the same year?
Yes. For example, the Trans and Gender Diverse Fellowship is open at the same time as the Ann Moyal fellowship, so if you’re eligible for both, you are welcome to apply for both.

YOUR APPLICATION 

Am I able to submit more than one application?
No. We ask that you only submit one application for this program. 

Can I submit a manuscript that is under contract with a publisher?
Yes. You may apply for a fellowship for work that has not yet been completed, but that is under contract with a publisher.

Can I submit a project if I am working on it collaboratively with another writer?
If your writing is genuinely a joint work, please contact maeve@varuna.com.au to explain your specific requirements. We will try to accommodate you if we possibly can. 

If selected, does this fellowship guarantee a publishing contract?
No, the program doesn’t include a publishing contract.

Will I receive feedback on my application?
You will be informed via email whether your application for a Fellowship has been successful via email. Unfortunately, we are not able to discuss the selection process or offer individual feedback to unsuccessful applicants - Varuna receives a high volume of applications and we simply do not have the staff time available to provide individual feedback. 

May I apply without a complete manuscript?
Yes.

How should I format my writing excerpt?
As we assess submissions 'blind' it is very important that you do not include your name or identifying details on any portion of your submission.

You will need to save your submission as a single PDF document. Please use the name of your project as the PDF submission name, ensuring the name of the file is 25 characters or less. To convert a Word file to a PDF, go to the File menu in Microsoft Word, select PDF as your file format, then select ‘Save As’.

Please note the following when formatting your work:

General: Submitted work should be predominantly in English

Fonts: Ideally, your work should be in Times New Roman (font size 12).

Spacing: For long-form work (i.e. fiction or essays), it is helpful if you can use double-spacing and include margins of 1 cm on both left and right. However, when work is double-spaced, it can be hard discerning where one paragraph ends and another begins. For this reason, please indent the first line of each new paragraph (you can set up a style in Word to do this automatically).

Headers: Include an identifying title and the page number on the top-right-hand corner of each page.

Plays can be formatted according to the Australian Plays Transform submission guidelines. 

Screenplays can be formatted according to Australian Writers’ Centre recommendations.

What is the word limit for my writing excerpt?
We ask for up to 5,000 words for most genres.  

For plays and screenplays, you may submit 10 pages, or more if the total doesn’t exceed 5,000 words.

For poetry, you may submit up to 10 poems.

For graphic novels, children’s literature and hybrid forms that include illustration or artwork, you may submit a combination of text and image of 10 pages, or more if the total doesn’t exceed 5,000 words.

May I submit multiple samples to show a portfolio of work?
This is a tricky one, we understand why you would want to do this! However, for the sake of our assessors we do ask that you keep it simple and include one sample of work per application.

ACCESSIBILITY 

Is Varuna wheelchair accessible?
Varuna has one wheelchair-accessible studio, The Jerra Studio. While the main Varuna house isn’t wheelchair accessible, we have a portable ramp we put in place whenever wheelchair-users come for a residency. We encourage writers with disability to email maeve@varuna.com.au to discuss specific access requirements which may be needed during a residency. More information can be found on our accessibility page of our website www.varuna.com.au/accessiblity. 

How will my access needs be met?
Varuna has funds set aside to support the access needs of residents, which may include travel for a support worker, Auslan interpreters for a mentoring session, or meeting specific dietary requirements. As each individual resident is different, we ask that you get in touch to discuss your needs either before you apply, or after finding out you have been successful. We can then work together on a plan for how costs can be covered through a combination of NDIS supports and Varuna funding.

Can I bring a support worker to Varuna, and who covers their costs?

If you notify us in advance of your residency that you would like a support worker to stay with you, we can make arrangements for them to either stay in a nearby holiday house or on-site if space is available. If you receive NDIS funding, we can provide any information required to ensure your NDIS support can be used to assist your stay.

If you have further questions, please contact us at varuna@varuna.com.au or call us on (02) 4782 5674