- Posted on 9 Apr 2025
- 3-minute read
Dr Eda Gunaydin has been awarded the Copyright Agency – UTS New Writer in Residence fellowship for 2025.
This program is run by the Creative Writing discipline within the School of Communication in partnership with the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. The successful writer is awarded $30,000 and an office to work on a second or third book while embedded within the school.
“This is the highlight of my career to date. There are so many talented Australian writers that I am lucky to call my peers – and because I know exactly how talented they are, I’m honoured and humbled to have been awarded this Fellowship. There aren’t many other creative development opportunities like it,” says Eda.
“Since publishing my debut, the pathway forward to a second book hasn’t always seemed clear. At this new, exciting and unfamiliar career stage, opportunities like this are so precious because they provide much-needed structure, space, guidance and permission to grow. Given the calibre of UTS’ creative writing community, I’m brimming with excitement to see what this year yields.”
Eda is a Turkish-Australian essayist and researcher whose writing explores class, Western Sydney, intergenerational trauma and diaspora.
She has been published widely in publications including Meanjin, HEAT, Sydney Review of Books, Cordite, and others.
Her debut essay collection Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance won the 2023 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards' Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year. She lives on Wangal land.
I’m honoured and humbled to have been awarded this Fellowship. There aren’t many other creative development opportunities like it.
During her fellowship, she will be working on her second essay collection, This is Where I Leave You: Notes on Polycrisis. Drawing together memoir and criticism, This is Where I Leave You considers the multiple, overlapping crises of the past five years.
These ‘unprecedented times’ have changed (and renewed) how people live. At the same time, they have laid bare cleavages within Australian society – of class, gender and geography – as well as triggering shifts in our personal lives, in relationships, housing and work. The book asks: how do we go on? And what new selves are emerging as a result of these world-historical changes?
Eda holds a Bachelor of Arts (Languages), with First Class Honours and University Medal in Government and International Relations, and a PhD in Social Sciences from The University of Sydney.
Completing a second or third book is often difficult. The Copyright Agency – UTS New Writer in Residence fellowship is a unique opportunity that provides a writer with the financial security to complete a new work, to take creative risks, and to connect with Australia’s leading creative writing program.
As part of the Creative Writing discipline, Eda will also consult with students on their writing and participate in the Writing program where students will study her work.
Past fellows include celebrated novelists, storytellers and essayists such as Vogel Award winner Christine Piper, Bri Lee, Christopher Raja, Nardi Simpson, and Vivian Pham.