Media release. 19 September 2023.
Naarm First Nations poet awarded inaugural fellowship to the University of Cambridge
Cambridge Australia Scholarships, in partnership with the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN), is pleased to award Alison J. Barton with the inaugural First Nations Writer in Residency fellowship.
Ms Barton will undertake the world-first fellowship at the University of Cambridge between September and December 2023. The Cambridge Australia First Nations Writer-in-Residence is a new fellowship program that offers a unique opportunity for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer or storyteller to spend a period of time at the University of Cambridge.
Ms Barton is a Wiradjuri poet writing in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), of mixed Aboriginal and German heritage. Ms Barton will be embedded in the heart of Cambridge and have special access to the city’s creative and intellectual life.
Ms Barton said: “I am honoured to be the inaugural winner of the Cambridge Australia First Nations Writer-in-Residence Fellowship”.
“The scholarship will give me the chance to focus on writing my second collection of poetry in a unique learning environment,” she said.
Ms Barton will spend her time in Cambridge working on Reise, a full-length collection of poetry exploring the central question: “How do we reconcile the complexity of relations in a nation founded on violence?”.
Ms Barton’s research will be grounded in the relationship between German Lutheran migrants to South Australia and Wiradjuri, exploring the duality of her identity.
Ms Barton will be based at Clare Hall, one of the University’s 31 colleges, and will work closely with members of the English Faculty.
Ms Barton was selected by Cambridge Australia Scholarships, FNAWN and the University of Cambridge English Faculty, from a strong field of applicants.
Yvette Henry Holt, Executive Chairperson of FNAWN, said: “FNAWN considers this generous appointment by CAS for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer as an instrumental step toward our shared vision for First Nations Australian writers and literature to be jointly engaging on a global academic platform through some 65,000 years of narrative and presence”.
“FNAWN offers our deepest congratulations to Alison J Barton as the first Writer-in-Residence Cambridge Australia Scholarship recipient to Clare Hall. FNAWN very much looks forward to working alongside Alison on this significant journey of writing, networking, and sharing of her intercultural literary engagement at Cambridge,” she said.
Cambridge Australia Scholarships, a not-for-profit organisation funded by private donors, supports Australians to undertake their Masters and doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge.
This First Nations fellowship is the first program of its kind for both Cambridge Australia Scholarships and the University of Cambridge.
For further information contact Vanessa Greenwood, Executive Officer Cambridge Australia Scholarships at executive.officer@cambridgeaustralia.org.au