The Next Chapter 2026 recipients announced
The Wheeler Centre has announced the 2026 recipients of The Next Chapter fellowship program.
The fellowships aim to encourage “voices who aren’t getting heard through conventional publishing channels”, according the the organisers. This year’s fellows are:
- Jamil Badi (fiction)
- Lou Garcia-Dolnik (poetry)
- Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker (fiction)
- Maya Hodge (poetry)
- Ledya Khamou (fiction)
- Simone King (poetry)
- Neika Lehman (poetry)
- Lucy Norton (poetry)
- Amanda Tink (nonfiction)
- Panda Wong (poetry).
The fellows each receive $15,000, a residency at Varuna, the National Writers’ House, a mentor and opportunities to connect with agents, publishers and readers.
The judges for this year were Robert Skinner, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, Sisonke Msimang, Bebe Oliver and Leah Jing McIntosh.
Three entrants were highly commended, including Aimee Knight, Chloe Mayne and Taonga Sendama.
The last round of fellows, announced in 2024, were Raqiya Ahmed, Claire Cao, Jake Corvus, Laniyuk and Maria van Neerven.
More information is available on the Wheeler Centre website.
Category: Awards Local news
