Villa Templeberg

The fellowship will send an Australia writer to Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka for a month to work on a writing project

The judging panel includes internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan-based author Royston Ellis, renowned Australian journalist Keith Austin and Victorian writer Deborah Robertson.

Royston Ellis is the author of over 60 published books (guides, novels, biographies and volumes of poetry). Originally from England, Royston was the British representative of the Beat Generation. His seminal book, The Beat Scene, was first published in 1961. Royston has been living in Sri Lanka since 1980 and was appointed the Warden of southern Sri Lanka for the British High Commission in 2003. He also writes travel features for inflight, international and Sri Lankan magazines.

Originally from London’s East End, Keith Austin has worked as a journalist in England, Scotland, Beijing and Sydney over the past 30 years. He has been a chief sub, production editor, travel editor, feature writer, regular columnist, news reporter, restaurant and book reviewer, and has edited two cookbooks, ‘Blokes’ and ‘Seafood’. Keith is also the author of ‘Grymm’ (a novel for Young Adults) and ‘Snow, White’ (due out in March 2014). He is currently working on a series of eBooks and the 4th edition of the Pub Food Guide for NSW.

Deborah Robertson was born in Bridgetown, Western Australia. Her first book, ‘Proudflesh’, won the Steele Rudd Award for the best Australian short story collection in its year of publication, and her stories have been widely published at home and abroad. Her first novel, ‘Careless ‘(Picador, 2006), was published to wide acclaim and bestseller status, and was shortlisted for a number of literary prizes including the prestigious Miles Franklin Award in 2007. Her latest novel, ‘Sweet Old World’ was published by Random House last year.

“We had a fantastic response to the Templeberg Fellowship,” said Director of Writers Victoria, Kate Larsen. “We received applications from established and emerging writers from all across Australia and many more people engaging with the discussions and ideas,” she said.

The owners of Templeberg Villa, Christopher Shields and Brent Carey, were also pleased with the result. “We’re grateful that so many esteemed authors and experts are on the judging panel,” said Carey. “The judges will have a difficult time whittling down the applications to just one successful recipient,” he said.

The winner of the Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship will be announced on Friday 19 July 2013.

For more information visit www.templeberg.com , @templeberg

Media contact:
Jack Walden
0428 300 090
[email protected]

Brent Carey
0481 160 031
[email protected]