The School of Historical and Philosophical Studies The Australian Centre

The Peter Blazey Fellowship


The Peter Blazey Fellowship was established to honour the memory of Peter Blazey - journalist, author and gay activist - and has been made available through the generosity of Clive Blazey and Tim Herbert, brother and partner of Peter Blazey.

Blazey was born in Melbourne in 1939 and worked for the Australian, the National Times and as a regular columnist for OutRage magazine. He published a number of books, including a political biography of Henry Bolte, and was co-editor of the short fiction anthology, Love Cries. His personal memoir, ScrewLoose, appeared after his death from AIDS in 1997.

"Peter was someone with a lion's head of loose ends that could never fit into some ideologically sound and tidy space. Storyteller, mythomane, and one of the last great conversationalists in a country wary of the free flow of uncensored language, he was a comet who flashed his tail at everyone."

- Tim Herbert, OutRage, 1997


The Peter Blazey Fellowship was launched by the Hon. Justice Michael Kirby in May 2004.

The Fellowship is awarded annually to writers in the non-fiction fields of biography, autobiography and life writing and is intended to further a work in progress. Applications will be judged on literary merit, and the winner will be supported in his or her work by a cash prize of $15 000, and a one-month writer-in-residency at the Australian Centre.

Applications are invited for the The 2013 Peter Blazey Fellowship
Please download the application form (480kb pdf) for information and eligibility requirements. Applications close, Monday, 2 July 2012.

 

2012 Peter Blazey Fellowship

Helen Ennis, for her work in progress biography of Olive Cotton.

The judges commended Ennis' submission:

"Her proposed biography of the renowned Australian photographer Olive Cotton is an exciting project which will explore the life and work of one of few women working in the field in the early to mid-twentieth century.  Her draft chapters are extremely engaging and a joy to read."


Helen Ennis is an ACT writer.

Download the judges' report (255kb pdf)


Judges

 

2011 Peter Blazey Fellowship

Robyn Davidson, for her work-in-progress 'Self Portrait with Imaginary Mother'.

The Judges commended Davidson's submission:

Davidson's finely wrought and 'imaginary' portrait of her monther offers a new and exciting approach to memoir that crosses the conventional boundaries of the genre. This is an intimate and tender study of the bonds between parent and child, and how the intertwining of the past and present, and of memory and history, reflect and shape Davidson's own story. Opening from a child's point of view, the work quickly draws the reader into a narrative that moves from bewilderment to a poetic exploration of loss and rediscovery.


Robyn Davidson is a New South Wales writer.

Download the judges' report(228kb pdf)


Past Winners

 

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