Applications close 28 January 2025.

Commit to your writing and make 2025 the year you finish your memoir. In this in-depth online masterclass, award-winning author Kris Kneen will lead a small group of writers over 9-months, with structured exercises, readings and feedback designed to help you finish a draft of your memoir. 

Applications close Tuesday 4 February 2025

In partnership with Red Room Poetry, this fellowship for six poets includes a residency at Varuna, one-on-one mentorship, and a poetic commission as part of the national Poetry Month in August 2025.

Applications close 11 February 2025

Expand and nurture your practice as a poet in this 4-month program. We’ll create an encouraging and inspiring community, and support the development of original work, from single poems to sequences, and explore how to build a collection for publication.

Self-paced online course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this nine-part online, self-paced course on point of view with Jane Messer. Explore this important element of writing craft, analysing sample readings from well-known authors and being prompted with a series of exercises.

Online self-paced course

Bring the Varuna magic to you with this eight-part online, self-paced course on writing for wellbeing. This revitalising program enables you to explore writing as a practice for your own wellbeing, including techniques for getting started (or re-started!).

Applications open February 2025

This six-session intensive masterclass – held across three months for writers at all stages of their careers – offers the opportunity to get started on a new writing project or breathe life into a project you have abandoned or are struggling with.

Applications will open soon

Six online fellowships will be offered to writers with disability and/or who are D/deaf, providing mentorship, professional development, and the opportunity for peer feedback.

Applications open now

This 8-week online program drills down deeply into how to craft dialogue on the page, ensuring that each of your character’s voices is unique, shaping their distinct speech patterns, and working on questions about who speaks, and when.

Applications open March 2025

For over 20 years, Conor Kostick has been teaching his popular 10-week Finish Your Novel course at the Irish Writers Centre and Varuna are delighted to offer it in Australia and New Zealand.

Applications open May 2025

In this 8-week online workshop series Kris Kneen will lead a small group of writers with the aim of learning to write about sensuality and sexuality with ease.

Applications open May 2025

This 6-week course with Jack Heath is designed to help you refine the elements of crime and thriller writing and finish your novel, with discussions of key writing techniques and feedback on your work.

Applications are now closed

This program is presented in partnership with the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing (RCALC) and is open to emerging or established writers, living in regional and remote parts of Australia.

Applications are now closed

In this five-week masterclass you’ll have the opportunity to read a lot, write a lot, receive written and verbal feedback, explore a trove of original prompts and diverse forms, explore and enhance aspects of your creative practice and have a one-to-one consultation about your work.

Applications are now closed

This program is presented in partnership with the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT. Submissions are welcomed from eligible NT-based writers.