Australian author named Coetzee Centre Writer in Residence

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Novelist and non-fiction author Carol Lefevre has been awarded a Copyright Agency fellowship to become the Coetzee Centre Writer in Residence at the University of Adelaide.

The $30,000 fellowship – funded by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund – will see Dr Lefevre become writer-in-residence for six months, based at the University’s highly regarded J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice.

For her residency, Dr Lefevre will work on a new novel of historical fiction, as well as continuing her long association with staff and students in the University's Department of English and Creative Writing.

Dr Lefevre's novels include the acclaimed Nights in the Asylum (2007) and If You Were Mine (2008). She is also the author of Quiet City: Walking in West Terrace Cemetery (2016), and has published works of short fiction, journalism and non-fiction.

The recipient of the 2016 Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship, Dr Lefevre is currently Writer-in-Residence at Adelaide's City Library and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. Dr Lefevre graduated with both a Masters and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University.

"I came to the University of Adelaide in 2005 to do a one-year Master’s degree, and years later I'm still here," Dr Lefevre says.

"The University, and in particular the Department of English and Creative Writing, has been an incredibly nurturing place for me. It's been an enriching experience. I've met many creative and wonderful people who have been mentors to me in different ways."

Dr Lefevre says she is grateful for the opportunity to become the Coetzee Centre Writer in Residence.

"It’s quite rare for writers to be paid to do their own writing. More often, they’re employed to teach creative writing to others. Novels, particularly, demand an investment of time, and this fellowship offers six months of completely guilt-free time. It's a generously funded residency, and the atmosphere at the J.M. Coetzee Centre is creative and stimulating," she says.

"The fellowship is also affirmation for my latest writing project. It gives me confidence that the path I'm heading down is the right one, and that I'm genuinely supported along the way."

Dr Lefevre's new work will be an Australian historical novel, following a travelling circus through the outback during the droughts of the 1890s.

 

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