Description:
Project Title : First Nations PhD Scholarship opportunity in Creative Writing in the medium of the writer's preference. Attached to ARC Discovery Project entitled 'Re-Mapping the Lost Literary Capital: Darwin/Larrakia Nation’
3 years full-time appointment
Darwin connection preferred, but writer can conceivably be located anywhere
Attached to ARC Discovery Project grant
‘Up to’ $76,402 per year
About the Opportunity:
This an exciting opportunity to join an ARC Discovery Project, ‘Re-Mapping the Lost Literary Capital: Darwin/Larrakia Nation’, to produce a new creative work that utilises Darwin/Larrakia Nation as a location. The broader project to which this PhD is attached yokes together the scores of novels, plays, short stories, poems, and genre fiction titles that have portrayed Darwin from Federation to the present. In so doing, it aims to pull Darwin from the literary void it has sat in for much of the twentieth century and restore it to the national imaginary.
The attached PhD creative writing project provides the opportunity for an experienced First Nations writer or storyteller to add contemporary content to the archive by contributing a new full length creative work – e.g. novella, full length play, short story or poetry collection, or an alternative form of the candidate’s experience in storytelling – that takes Darwin/Larrakia Nation as its setting in whole or in part. There will be opportunities to become actively involved in the other range of community activities associated with the Discovery Project. These might include presenting at relevant conferences, contributing short fiction to Borderlands magazine, guest lectures and/or yarning circles at CDU and major NT arts festivals, and online exhibitions at NT Library and Archives.
About You:
- First-Class Honours or equivalent - The First-Class Honours equivalent criterion can include published critical writing and/or an industry experience.
- The applicant should have an established track record in the chosen literary form of their project and be able to demonstrate publications or professional performances in that field.
- Being willing to live and work in Darwin is not essential but would be an advantage.
- At least one publication in a recognised peer-reviewed journal. Publication in recognised industry literary journals and/or literary/theatrical publishing houses
How to Apply
- A cover letter that includes a brief statement of the applicant’s suitability (max two pages)
- A curriculum vitae, including a list of any peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and relevant work and/or research experience
- A brief statement not exceeding 500-words in length that explains why you are interested in this research project/area
To assist with the cover letter and brief statement, the folllowing information may be of assistance:
The student will be encouraged to explore strategies for activating location and culture in the creative text in a form, genre and style of their own choosing. This could involve speaking back to existing and/or archival works already written about Darwin/Larrakia Nation, or generating new texts that reflect the author’s cultural experience and relationship with the northern capital. The student would be welcomed to consult with local Larrakia elders to incorporate translations of Larrakia language into the storytelling project if this was appropriate to its realisation, but is also free to work imaginatively from within their own areas of interest and expertise. The student is also welcome to adapt or reinvent genre – for instance, crime fiction, historical fiction – into their own contemporary First Nations voice.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please send an expression of interest and a CV to Associate Professor Adelle Sefton-Rowston (adelle.sefton-rowston@cdu.edu.au) or contact her at: (08)89466753.
Note: The supervisor will invite applicants who pass the expression of interest stage to submit scholarship applications before closing date. Please do not submit any applications unless you are invited by the supervisor.
Please do not select the "Apply" button
Diversity and Inclusion
At CDU we actively celebrate our diversity. We innovate, embrace new ideas, and act with courage and kindness. We’re about what we can give to the world rather than what we take, and we believe in the transformative power of education. We work hard to make sure every member of our university community feels that they truly belong. Understanding that it is through our focus on our people and leveraging our differences that will make CDU the most connected university in Australia, we are striving to ensure that our culture and our community is inclusive of all our staff, students and visitors. We are committed to maintaining a culture where everyone feels respected, safe, encouraged to speak up and supported in achieving their professional goals. Applications from First Nations people, women at all levels, culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with disability, neurotypical and neurodiverse people, LGBTIQ+ people, people with family and caring responsibilities and people at all stages of their careers are welcomed. You make CDU. And we want you to be exactly who you are.