Writer in Residence

North Sydney Council offers writers the opportunity to pursue their inspiration in the tranquil, historic Don Bank Museum - a heritage building in a Victorian remnant garden setting.

If you have any questions regarding this program please contact [email protected]

The 2020 Don Bank Studio Writer In Residence is - Mascara Literary Review 

Mascara Literary Review is a literary journal based on the North Shore in Wahroonga and have been publishing literary work by leading and emerging writers for over a decade. 

The residency will be shared between four of Mascara’s writers;

Debbie Lim whose poems have appeared in numerous Australian journals and anthologies and have received recognition through winning the Rosemary Dobson Prize (2009), The Inverawe Nature Poetry Prize (2008 and 2010) and the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize (2008 and 2010).

David Ades is a widely published poet and short story writer in Australia, the US, Israel, India, England Romania and New Zealand. He is the author of Mapping the World and Afloat in Light. He won the Wirra Wirra Vineyards Short Story Prize in 2005.

Michelle Hamadache is a lecturer at Macquarie University and managing editor for Mascara Literary Review. She has had publications in Australian and International journals including Southerly, Cordite, Parallax and Antipodes. She will be working on her manuscript in progress, The Jasmine Alphabet.

Michelle Cahill is an Australian author who made the shortlist for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize 2015, with her work Borges and I. She won the 2017 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, with her book, Letters to Pessoa. 

Mascara Literary Review will be collaborating with Stanton Library to produce an engaging community program for 2020 as well as working on their own writing projects. This is a great opportunity for our community to connect with this group of culturally rich writers.