The DJ (Dinny) O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship

Established in 1994, the DJ (Dinny) O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship is a biennial award that offers a residency at the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne, to emergent Australian writers. The Fellowship has a current value of $5,000, and is awarded to a writer of fiction, poetry or drama. It was set up to honour the memory of the late Dinny O'Hearn, one of the founders of the Australian Centre, and a tireless enthusiast for Australian writing.

2007 DJ (Dinny) O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship Awarded to Meg Mundell. Meg Mundell has worked as a freelance journalist, mostly for The Age, and spent four years as deputy editor of The Big Issue. Her short stories and poems have appeared in journals and collections including Meanjin, Sleepers Almanac, Modern Australian Short Stories and Strange 3. Currently she works as an academic research assistant and lectures at RMIT university. Download the judges' report (pdf 139kb).

PAST WINNERS

Jane Williams - 2005
Jane Williams is a poet and short story writer living in Tasmania. Her first collection of poems 'outside temple boundaries' received the Anne Elder Award in 1998. She is the author of three collections of poems and one of short stories. More information and samples of her work can be found at www.janewilliams.wordpress.com. Jane can be contacted on jcmgw@msn.com

Libby Hart - 2003
Libby Hart's first collection of poetry, Fresh News from the Arctic, was published in 2006 by Interactive Press and received the Anne Elder Award as part of the FAW National Literary Awards. For further information see: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~libbyhart. Libby can also be contacted at: email_libby@optusnet.com.au.

On hearing of her win, Libby said: 'I feel honoured, not only to be chosen for this year's fellowship but also because of its associations. My introduction to Dinny O'Hearn was through his television program, 'The Book Show' on SBS. As a teenager I watched this program avidly and grew to admire Dinny O'Hearn for his passion for and commitment to Australian writing as well as his dedication to social equity.'

During her residency at the Australian Centre, Libby worked on completing a book of poetry for publication.

Tom Cho - 2001
Tom Cho writes short fiction, edits text, produces arts projects, and performs his words onstage. His short stories have been published in Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, France, and Italy. He has also won numerous grants and awards for his short fiction. His current project is a collection of short fiction about identity and popular culture. This is being written as part of his PhD in Professional Writing at Deakin University. He has worked for various arts organisations including Melbourne Fringe and National Young Writers� Festival. In addition, he was Chair of the Victorian Writers' Centre from 2000 - 2004. He currently works at Footscray Community Arts Centre. His website is at http://www.tomcho.com

Alison Goodman - 1999
Alison Goodman is the author of Singing The Dogstar Blues which won the 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, was listed as a 1999 C.B.C. Notable Book and was short-listed for the 1999 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. Alison has also published feature articles in the Age and various magazines, and her short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies.
Alison is currently working on her second novel, Killing The Rabbit, a comedy thriller for adults which is due to be published in 2002, and a fantasy novel for young adults, due in 2004.

"The D J O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship provides many things to a young author: space and facilities to work, a supportive and nurturing atmosphere, a network of contacts, and money towards living expenses. But perhaps the fellowship's most valuable contribution is its validation of one's choice to live and work as an artist."

Jordie Albiston - 1997
Dr Jordie Albiston's first collection of poetry, Nervous Arcs, was published in 1995 by Spinifex Press and won the Mary Gilmore Award. In late 1996, her second collection, Botany Bay Document: A Poetic History of the Women of Botany Bay, was released by Black Pepper Publishers. The project she worked on whilst writer-in-residence at the Centre was The Hanging of Jean Lee - another documentary poem published by Black Pepper in 1998. Jordie's poetry is non-fictional, bringing together her fascination with history and her passion for language.

She makes grateful acknowledgment "to the D J (Dinny) O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship, and the staff of the Australian Centre (University of Melbourne) for providing research funding and a quiet place to work..."

Beth Spencer - 1995
Beth's first book of fiction, How to Conceive of a Girl, was published in 1996 by Vintage (Random House Australia), and was runner-up for the 1997 Steele Rudd Award. In 1993 she won the Age Short Story Award and in 1995 was the recipient of the inaugural D J O'Hearn Fellowship. In recent years she has been awarded two fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. Her essays and criticism have been published in Australia and overseas, and she is an occasional contributor to ABC Radio National and audio arts programs such as Radio Eye and The Listening Room.

Beth is currently writing a novel, A Short (Personal) History of the Bra and its Contents, as part of a PhD at the University of Ballarat. You can find her website at www.bethspencer.com

" ... the fellowship gave me time, money, an office, resources, new friends, new contacts and over-all... a clearer sense of who I am as a writer and where my priorities lie for the new few years."