Renowned Australian author Gail Jones has been announced as the University of Tasmania's 2022 Hedberg writer-in-residence.
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The Hedberg Writer in Residence Award is decided through a nationally competitive application process open to all established Australian writers.
As the recipient of the $30,000 residency, Jones will develop a major new work, deliver classes to UTAS students and conduct a workshop for emerging authors.
Jones said she was delighted to receive the residency and was keen to connect with the Tasmanian literary community.
"The writing community in Tasmania seems to me to be in a stage of unusual expansiveness and vitality," she said.
"I have taught and examined literature from this region and look forward to better understanding the particularity and energy of writing in Tasmania.
"As someone originally from WA, I'm interested in 'regionalism' and 'localism' even as it is expressed in global writing."
The author of eight novels and two books of short stories. Jones' work has been published internationally, translated into 15 languages, and is taught in Europe, the UK, Canada, Japan, the United States, Argentina, and China.
With an impressive resume, Jones' has won The Age Book of the Year, the Adelaide Festival Prize for Fiction, the Prime Minister's Award for Fiction, the ASAL Gold Medal, the Nita Kibble, and the Colin Roderick Prize.
Hedberg Writer in Residence program coordinator and UTAS Head of English and Writing Robert Clarke said the university was delighted to award the residency to a writer of Jones' calibre.
"Gail Jones is one of Australia's most esteemed and awarded writers of literary fiction and a highly respected teacher of creative writing, well known for her generosity in mentoring young and emerging writers," Dr Clarke said.
"Her proposal for the residency is exciting and innovative. The selection committee members were unanimous in their praise for her application, which was one of a large field of a very high quality."
The three-month residency will take place between January 1 and July 31, 2022.
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Sarah Davison
Education reporter at The Examiner, with an additional focus on issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. With a background in Psychology, Sarah completed her Master's thesis on the Australian media's coverage of familicide. Get in touch: sarah.davison@examiner.com.au or 0448 682 861
Education reporter at The Examiner, with an additional focus on issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. With a background in Psychology, Sarah completed her Master's thesis on the Australian media's coverage of familicide. Get in touch: sarah.davison@examiner.com.au or 0448 682 861
