For research that engages deeply with the rich collections at the Library to produce a work of fiction or non-fiction.

$50,000 - For creative writing – fiction or non-fiction, across any genre – utilising the collections of the State Library of NSW.

Imago is Latin for ‘image’ and is used to refer to the last stage of an insect’s metamorphosis; imago (plural imagines), as the final step of growth and development is when insects gain their wings.

The Imago Fellowship, dedicated to supporting emerging creative writers, was established in 2024 with a generous endowment from an anonymous benefactor. An emerging writer is a writer who is yet to publish a full-length work, or who has had a debut full-length work published in the last five years (at the time of application). 

It is expected that Imago Fellows will:

• be researchers and writers who are able to demonstrate a capacity – through experience, publications in any genre and/or training – to produce an original project, of high literary merit, that will contribute to important conversations on Australian cultural life and writing
• be able to demonstrate a high-level capacity to promote their work through a variety of media channels in collaboration with the Library
• agree that the Fellowship is a priority during their tenure and that a concentrated period of effort, in the one-year tenure, will be made to deliver the Fellowship
• actively promote the research and writing undertaken during their tenure
• make a presentation about the project at the conclusion of the Fellowship
• ensure any publications, outcomes or media coverage which result from the Fellowship prominently acknowledge the support of the Library and the Fellowship
• contribute to Library's print and online publications
• submit, to the Mitchell Librarian, a four-page summary of their completed project, copies of any research outcomes (presentations and publications) and a bibliography
• acquit their Fellowship in a timely manner.

• Phone: 02 9273 1765
• Email: scholarship.library@sl.nsw.gov.au