The Copyright Agency’s Author Fellowship will support an established Australian author to create a new work for publication or performance and is open to novelists, playwrights, poets, children’s and young adult writers, picture book illustrators and journalists.

One Fellowship will be awarded each year. As the Fellowship is intended to support one writer, joint applications are not eligible.

Projects must start after 1 November 2025. The project should span up to 12 months. A project of one or two months is not regarded as a substantial Fellowship activity.

Amount of grant: $80,000

Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply for this grant, applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Have previously published/performed at least five full-length works of their own creative writing (of which two books may be self-published)
• Secured either a publishing contract for the work or a letter of interest or intent to publish from an Australian-based publisher/theatre company
• Authors must submit their own applications. Publishers cannot apply on behalf of authors.
• Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• Any overdue Cultural Fund grants must be acquitted

• Email: culturalfund@copyright.com.au