First Nations Critique Residency

In 2023, Wiradjuri writer, scholar, and poet Jeanine Leane published her seminal essay, ‘Cultural Rigour: First Nations Critical Culture’ in the SRB. The essay identified some of the systemic issues stymieing the reception of First Nations writing, from a lack of familiarity with, or respect for, the communal context from which authors emerge, to a tendency towards either hollow praise or casual dismissal. 

This residency program aims to answer Leane’s call for cultural rigour and forms of critique responsive to the full range of ‘cultural perspectives, speaking positions, socio-cultural contexts, and intersections of identity’ present in Australian literature and art. It also joins in the efforts of recently established First Nations-led journals, such as Blue Art Journal  and Sovereign Texts, to foreground critique as both a ‘cultural intervention’ and an assertion of sovereignty. 

We are offering three places for a one-week residency, which will run through October 12-19 in Western Sydney. Residents will be notified by early September to allow time to plan around the residency.

The program is open to First Nations writers at any career level interested in developing or refining their critical practice, with the guidance of an in-person mentor. The mentor for the inaugural iteration of the residency will be Jeanine Leane.

Residents will also have the opportunity to attend online and in-person workshops led by Kokomini author and Director Indigenous Studies at UTS, Graham Akhurst, Goorie and Koori poet, educator and editor, Evelyn Araluen, and the SRB Editor, James Jiang.

For full details about what we are offering, eligibility, the application process, and assessment, please consult the callout page.