Writers Victoria

Often, writers dream of spending time overseas, focused on creative work, but don’t quite know how to make this happen. Many UNESCO Cities of Literature, however, offer funded residencies for writers and translators from other Cities of Literature, including Melbourne, through which you can develop your own work whilst meeting writers and readers from your host city. In this panel, writers Shu-Ling Chua, Ronnie Scott and Oslo Davis will share their experiences of these residencies, and tips on crafting strong applications, while Damjan Zorc, Coordinator at Ljubljana City of Literature, will offer insight from a residency organiser’s perspective.

This seminar will take place online and will be recorded, with the recording sent to registered participants afterward. Detailed instructions for participation will be provided in the week preceding the event.

About the Panellists:

Shu-Ling Chua is a Melbourne-based essayist and the inaugural recipient of Dunedin’s Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency. Her essay collection, Echoes, jointly won the Small Press Network Book of the Year Award. Shu-Ling’s work has appeared in Peril Magazine, Meanjin, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, 4A Papers and elsewhere. She is working on an essay collection on art, intimacy, longing, and the blurry boundaries between private and public.    

Oslo Davis is an illustrator and artist who makes work for publications and projects worldwide.

Ronnie Scott is the author of Salad Days, a Penguin Special; The Adversary, a novel which was shortlisted for a Queensland Literary Award and the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal; and Shirley, another novel. He has been awarded a Montserrat Roig grant from a program administered by the Barcelona City of Literature office and was Reykjavík City of Literature’s writer-in-residence in 2022, as well as previously a two-time MacDowell Fellow in the US.

Damjan Zorc is an English professor and a translator with over two decades of experience in the field. He is currently the coordinator at the Ljubljana Unesco City of Literature office, where he oversees various initiatives to promote Ljubljana as a hub for literary expression and exchange.