Our Sponsors and Partners

Varuna's contribution to Australian literature depends on funding from a variety of government and corporate sources. We are grateful for this support and thank the following organisations for their ongoing commitment to Australian literature.

  • NSW Government Logo

    Create NSW

    We are grateful to Create NSW who provide The Eleanor Dark Foundation with multi-year funding to cover the costs of staffing and delivering our core programs.

  • Creative Australia Logo

    Creative Australia

    Creative Australia generously provides The Eleanor Dark Foundation with multi-year funding, enabling us to offer residency fellowships and cover core staffing.

  • Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade logo

    Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

     We are grateful to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its generous support of the prestigious Maitri exchange between Varuna and Sangam House in Bangalore.

  • Northern Territory Government logo

    Arts NT

    Arts NT is the proud sponsor of our Northern Territory fellowships, supporting three writers from the Northern Territory to come to Varuna for a supported residency and manuscript development program, and a further six Northern Territory writers to participate in an intensive virtual residency program.

  • Copyright Agency logo

    Copyright Agency Cultural Fund

    Varuna acknowledges the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund for its generous support of our First Nations programs. In 2025, the Copyright Agency will support six non-fiction fellowships for First Nations writers.

  • Blue Mountains City Council logo

    Blue Mountains City Council

    We’re grateful to the Blue Mountains City Council and Blue Mountains Cultural Centre for providing us with venues to host our annual Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.

  • Western Sydney University logo

    Western Sydney University

    Varuna acknowledges the generous support of Western Sydney University, our Festival Partners for the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.

  • The Whitlam Institute

    The Whitlam Institute

    We partner with the Whitlam Institute to deliver an annual residency at the original family home of Gough and Margaret Whitlam in Cabramatta.

  • Blue Mountains Cultural Centre

    The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre provide us with venues for hosting our Festival workshops.

  • Blue Mountains Library

    Each year, the Blue Mountains Library partner with us to deliver a fabulous day-long program for kids, as part of the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.

  • The Bridge Awards

    The Bridge Awards generously supports our international exchange program with Cove Park in Scotland, as well as our annual Climate Change Writing Fellowship.