Michelle Wright awarded first Australia to Sri Lanka Writing Fellowship
View(s):Award winning short story writer Michelle Wright has been chosen for the inaugural Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship by Templeberg Villa and Writers Victoria this month. Wright will travel from Melbourne to Sri Lanka to take up the residency.
Wright is a short story writer whose parents migrated from Sri Lanka to Australia in the early 1960s.
Wright has researched the country’s history for several years but has not been back to Sri Lanka since 1992. She will use her time in Sri Lanka to work on a series of short stories based in the country. Two of the stories are set in and around Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, where the residency will take place.
“The backdrop to the stories includes the social and political transition from British colonial rule, the working conditions of contracted plantation workers on tea and rubber plantations under the British, the demonstrations of May Day 1937 and the independence movement,” said Wright.
One of these short stories, ‘Keeping Tabs,’ was shortlisted for The Age Short Story Award in 2011. Wright went on to win The Age Short Story Award in 2012 with ‘Maggot’.
“My time spent at Templeberg will not only allow me to continue writing these short stories, but to visit several places which serve as settings and to interview key experts in the traditional arts and crafts carried out by several of the characters,” Wright said.
“I’m so thrilled and honoured to have been chosen. It’ll be such an incredible opportunity to really have some serious time to give to my writing,” she said.
The residency attracted high-quality applications from writers from all over Australia.
“We were delighted to see such a high calibre of applications. We believe Michelle is an ideal first Fellow and will be an inspiration for other writers in Australia and Sri Lanka. We will continue to grow the Fellowship and hope to see many more aspiring applicants next year,” said owner of Templeberg Villa Christopher Shields.
“It was my knowledge of living and writing in Sri Lanka for 33 years that made me believe Michelle Wright would be the best to benefit usefully from the Fellowship and would find the Templeberg characters and location ideal for developing her stories,” said Fellowship judge Royston Ellis.
The Fellowship will send Wright to Galle for one month before the end of this year.
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