Creative Arts Fellowship

This Fellowship offers support to practising writers to develop a new creative work using or inspired by our collections. It offers a writer the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the collections, including music, maps, rare books or ephemera, or original sources like pictures, manuscripts, oral histories and folklore recordings.

Applications for 2027 National Library of Australia Creative Arts Fellowships will open on 23 February and close on 7 April 2026.

About the Creative Arts Fellowship program

Creative Arts Fellowships support the development of creative works inspired by our unique, rare or comprehensive collections.

Works can be at any stage of development but must require access to the collections to progress or be completed. The final work, which does not have to be finished within the residency period, should showcase the collections in unique or interesting ways, and acknowledge their contribution.

The collections can be used to:

reimagine or repurpose existing materials
research original sources that underpin or inspire new work
arrange, adapt or transform collection content for another purpose
develop an innovative artistic concept.

Person in a colourful shawl and large hat laughing

2025 NLA Creative Arts Fellow Mx Scott-Patrick Mitchell

Types of Fellowships

One Creative Arts Fellowship is offered for 2027.

Fellowship in Australian writing, supported by the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust: Using our collections, writers working in any literary genre can progress a new creative work. This may include writing for performance, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction (non-fiction which is sufficiently innovative, writerly or reflective), personal essays or graphic novels, but does not include works of general non-fiction, such as history or biography. See examples of creative non-fiction.

What Fellows receive

$35,000 to support sustained research at the National Library
- Funding is based on 12 weeks onsite at the Library but Fellows are welcome to extend their research period as required without additional funding. Fellows have 24 months to complete their research.
Supported access to our collections
Use of the Petherick Reading Room
Increased borrowing privileges to maximise access to the collection
A Copies Direct allowance of $1,500 to request high resolution digital copies of collection materials for publication or other public uses (subject to copyright, licensing and access conditions)

Who can apply

To be eligible to apply for a Creative Arts Fellowship, you must be:

an individual creative writer practising in a professional forum, i.e. your writing is available and subject to public and peer review
an Australian Citizen or permanent resident.
able to undertake your Fellowship in Canberra between 18 January 2027 and 8 December 2028.

Potential applicants should consider carefully whether their work will be competitive at the national level.

You cannot apply if:

you are currently undertaking PhD studies.
- Your PhD must be conferred before 7 April 2026 to be eligible to apply. Proof of completion may be requested
you have received a research Fellowship or Scholarship from the National Library of Australia within the last 5 years, i.e. funding was received in one of the Library’s 2022-2026 program rounds
your research supports writing a work of non-fiction
- These projects are supported by the National Library Fellowships program
you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

Selection criteria

Your application should demonstrate the following.

An innovative artistic concept relative to the genre you are working in, including the application of our Indigenous Cultural and Intellectural Property (ICIP) protocols and ethical research principles where appropriate.
Evidence of a professional writing practice.
A clear explanation of both research and creative goals and expected progress during the Fellowship, including a timeline of when you plan to be working onsite at the Library.
The relevance and value of our unique, rare or comprehensive collections to support the research outcomes, along with an awareness of any access permissions that may be required for collection material.
The project’s potential to be communicated to a general audience, its ability to increase public knowledge of our collections, and its capacity to showcase the collections in unique or interesting ways that acknowledge and celebrate their contribution.