Sarah Holland-Batt awarded Judy Harris Fellowship
Congratulations to Sarah Holland-Batt, who has been awarded the University of Sydney’s $100,000 Judy Harris Writer in Residence fellowship at the Charles Perkins Centre.
Sarah Holland-Batt, who is associate professor of creative writing at Queensland University of Technology, is the first poet to be awarded the year-long fellowship. She will use it to complete her fourth book of poetry and a book of personal essays, exploring subjects including deep brain treatment, the unknown side of Parkinson’s disease, ageing and mortality.
The fellowship comprises a year-long residency, a $100,000 grant, and access to the university library and to clinicians at the Charles Perkins Centre, which conducts research aimed at easing the burden of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and related conditions.
Sarah told The Australian:
'Poetry can help foster empathy and understanding towards older people. Most people are moved by stories such as my father’s, yet they still can’t conceive that it could happen to them.
'A poem is something you can read in one sitting – it can provide a moment of calm contemplation, a little escape. And it can bring you into closer contact with the lives of others, including those whose experiences may initially seem distant from your own.'
Sarah Holland-Batt's new book Fishing for Lightning is out in October.