Write It Fellowship

This exciting fellowship aims to engage with new writing talent who have interesting and diverse stories to tell. A focus for the 2025 program is aspiring First Nations writers.

Launched by Penguin Random House Australia in 2018 to find writing and authors more representative of the society in which we live, Write It seeks to nurture and develop unpublished voices across all genres (fiction and non-fiction for adult and young readers), focusing on First Nations and CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) writers, writers from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ and writers with a disability.

The successful applicants will be mentored by Penguin Random House Australia editors across twelve months, with the hope of publication. Additionally, as part of the fellowship, each of the successful applicants will receive a $2000 writing grant and the opportunity to participate in a PRHA Open House Session during which they will learn about various facets of publishing, including what goes into acquiring, editing, marketing, publicising and selling a book.

This fellowship is open to writers who have not previously had a book published (please see below for the full list of Terms and Conditions). Submissions will be accepted until 11.59 pm AEST, Monday 14 April 2025.

Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions. For any other questions, you can send us an email at writeit@penguinrandomhouse.com.au

HOW TO ENTER

Follow the prompts on our Write It submission portal at the bottom of this page. You will be required to agree to our entry conditions as part of the process.

Upload a Word document (no bigger than 3MB in size) with the following information:

1. Synopsis

Include a synopsis of the Work of up to 250 words.

2. Pitch

Include a page with the following information:

• Title of the Work
• Genre of the Work
• Brief summary of the Work (two or three sentences)
• Brief author biography (two or three sentences)
• Details of any publishing history and writing awards received
• Indication of whether the Work has been published, or submitted to any other publisher, anywhere in the world
• Indication of whether this, or a similar Work, has been previously submitted to PRHA (if so, provide details)

3. Background

Include a self-defined description of your background and why you consider it to be under-represented in Australian book publishing (up to 250 words). In particular, you may be a writer from a First Nations, CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) or LGBTQIA+ community, a writer with a disability and/or come from a socio-economically marginalised community.

4. Manuscript

Include the first 5000 words of your unpublished manuscript or a complete manuscript if it is under 5000 words.

5. Terms and conditions of entry:

For a complete list of conditions of entry terms, please read and agree to our Conditions of Entry.

Submissions will be accepted until 11.59 pm AEST, Monday 14 April 2025, and judging will take place between April and November 2025. A shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 15 July 2025. Shortlisted authors will be invited to submit their complete manuscript by 9 am AEST, Monday 18 August 2025. Shortlisted authors may be asked to participate in a phone or video conference discussion with a panel of judges about their application. The successful applicants will be notified by email during the week of 10 November 2025 and subsequently the names of those who have been awarded fellowships will be announced to media and on PRHA social media.