Thank you for your interest in our Australian Residency. Applications for the Michael King Writers Centre Varuna exchange in October 2024 have now closed.

We hope to announce the recipient of the 2024 residency in late May.

New Zealand’s literary exchange with Australia is available through a partnership between Varuna Writers House in Katoomba New South Wales, Australia and the Michael King Writers Centre.

The four-week residency exchange takes place during October each year. The Australian writer selected stays at the Michael King Writers Centre and appears at the Verb Wellington Readers & Writers Festival.
The selected writer from Aotearoa receives return flights to Sydney, four weeks accommodation and meals at Varuna and the opportunity to appear at the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival in Katoomba.

New Zealand writer Emma Hislop and Australian writer Fiona Kelly McGregor were the recipients of the 2023 New Zealand-Australia residency exchange.

Kate Mildenhall was the Australian recipient of the inaugural New Zealand residency exchange in 2022 and Gina Cole was the New Zealand writer who was selected to go to Australia to take up a residency at Varuna, her four-week residency exchange also took place in October 2022.

For more information about the program, see the Varuna website.