WestWords Varuna Emerging Writers Residency 2025 recipients

Varuna, the National Writers’ House has announced the recipients of the 2025 WestWords Varuna Emerging Writers Residency.

The four recipients are:

• Jasmine Baker for work on multiple projects including poetry, children’s stories and fiction
• Christina Faulk for a work about the history of Sydney’s first mental hospital
• Neen Ramos for ‘gods of the margins’, a poetry collection
• Marianna Saran for her debut crime fiction novel.

All four of the recipients will receive a week-long residency at Varuna from 15–22 September, with live-in mentor.

WestWords creative producer Ally Burnham said, ‘The four selected writers this year are an effortless snapshot of the diversity of voices in our region, and the quality of writing these emerging writers are producing. There are two poets, both of whom have demonstrated a keen eye for the world around them, a sharp analysis of selfhood, and provided a vision for their emerging poetry collections. There are also two long-form writers, one of whom is working in historical fiction, and the other in crime. What these two works both displayed is a strong authorial voice, intriguing creative concepts, clear vision for their development process, and end goal for their project.’

More information is available on the Varuna website.

Category: Awards Local news