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UQP and black&write! announce new partnership
Posted 06.12.2024

UQP and black&write! announce new partnership

UQP is proud to share that we have been selected as the black&write! program’s new publishing partner.

The appointment is a result of an Expression of Interest process, which sought innovative proposals from Australian publishers to partner on the development and advancement of First Nations-led writing and editing through black&write!

black&write! is a highly regarded national project based at State Library of Queensland. Over the past 13 years the program has delivered significant benefits to Australian literature through extensive development of new First Nations writers and editors.

The program has played a crucial role in launching and amplifying the careers of extraordinary writers, including Ali Cobby Eckermann, Sue McPherson, Nardi Simpson, Jared Thomas, Claire G Coleman, Alison Whittaker, Tylissa Elisara and many more.

State Library awards two black&write! Writing Fellowships annually to two Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers through a national unpublished manuscript competition. Each Fellowship includes a prize of $15,000, manuscript development with black&write! editors and publication opportunities. The Fellowships aim to increase the publishing pathways for First Nations writers and increase the number of First Nations-authored books.

UQP Publishing Director, Madonna Duffy says:

We are delighted and honoured to be the new publishing partner for the black&write! program. The work it does aligns perfectly with the publishing and mentoring that UQP is already doing and we are excited about the ways in which we can contribute to the program, particularly being based in Magandjin/Brisbane also.

UQP has a long history of supporting and championing First Nations writers and editors. This new partnership with black&write! will provide strategic opportunities to develop career pathways for black&write!’s trainee editors, adding skills to the sector in a culturally informed authoring environment.

In collaboration with the Queensland Literary Awards, UQP is also the publishing partner for the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer, and the David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander Writer.

Applications for the 2025 black&write! Writing Fellowships open on Monday 9th December.

For more information visit: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/awards-and-fellowships/indigenous-writing-fellowships-and-editing-internships