Applications open today and judges confirmed for 2014 Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship

(TRAVPR.COM) SRI LANKA - June 2nd, 2014 - Writers from around Australia are invited to apply for the Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship.

Now in its second year, the fellowship will send an Australia writer to Templeberg Villa in Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka for up to four weeks to work on a writing project.

Galle, on Sri Lanka’s south coast, is home to a literary festival and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and provides the perfect destination for Australian writers.

“Writers like Michelle deKrester, winner of the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, and Paul Bowes have previously called Sri Lanka their home, finding inspiration in the mix of cultures, the tropical scenery and the incomparable sunsets for their works,” said Templeberg Villa co-owner Christopher Shields. “Hosting a writer at Templeberg Villa is our way to support great Australian and Sri Lankan writing.”

The fellowship will be judged by winner of last year’s fellowship Michelle Wright acclaimed Sri Lankan-based author Royston Ellis, Victorian travel writer Michelle Aung Thin, and the owners of Templeberg Villa, Brent Carey and Shields.

Michelle Wright is an award-winning short story and flash fiction writer.  Her first short story was shortlisted for The Age Short Story competition in 2011 and her second Maggot won in 2012. In 2013 she won the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers competition and was runner up in the Bridport Prize (UK).

For Wright, “ last year’s residency was a month of seeing, of noticing, of taking the time that I needed to write. Retracing my own Sri Lankan origins, it was a month of searching for stories in a land where I am already, in a small and inconsequential way, a part of the story myself.”

Royston Ellis is the author of more than 60 published books ( Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka, novels, biographies, and volumes of poetry). Originally from England, Royston began his literary career age 17 as a poet performing his poems to rock musicians such as Cliff Richard and The Beetles (with whom he urged to put Beat into Beetles). He was the British representative of the Beat Generation. His seminal book, ‘The Beat Scene’, was first published in 1961. Royston has been living in Sri Lanka for 34 years.

For Ellis, “the stories that best appeal to him are those with passion. Sri Lanka is the perfect place to write, especially at Templeberg, because of the solitude and solace of being on this resplendent island, where everyone is a colourful character”.

Michelle Aung Thin is the author of the novel ‘The Monsoon Bride’. She has also written essays, short fiction and advertising. Michelle was born in Burma during the year of the military coup d’état but now calls Melbourne home. Her novel is set during the infancy of the nationalist movement in colonial Rangoon. Michelle is running a workshop on Travelling Places at Writers Victoria in 2014.

The Fellowship will cover one economy return airfare from Melbourne to Colombo in Sri Lanka, a 30-day tourist visa, internal transfer costs, accommodation, full board (all meals) and A$1,000 spending allowance.

Applications are invited from emerging and established writers who have been employed for a minimum of two years in the fields of journalism, creative writing (fiction and non-fiction, performing arts or poetry) or online communications (like blogging). The Fellowship should be used to develop and prepare a new or existing work for publication.

Applications must be submitted online by Friday 27 June 2014.  For more information, see the http://vwc.questionform.com/public/Templeberg-2014

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