Four writers and two visual artists will be supported in the creation and development of new work thanks to the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, which has awarded the successful applicants a total of $80,000 through its Create Grants program. This year’s recipients are playwright Daniel Keene, author Sulari Gentill, essayist Eloise Grills, author Tegan Bennett Daylight, artist Debbie Symons and artist Abdul Abdullah. Attracting the highest number of submissions on record this year, Create Grants provides a living allowance to a mid-career or established writer or visual artist.

Daniel Keene. Photo © Alex Nollet 

Keene’s $15,000 grant will allow him to develop a play that explores the ecological and social consequences of climate change, while Gentill’s $15,000 grant will enable her to work on her upcoming novel, a postmodern cross-cultural thriller.

Grills, who was awarded $10,000, intends to use the grant to write a memoir that explores the multiplicity and fragmentation of feminine identity, while Daylight will use her $20,000 grant to create a new work of literary non-fiction.

Eloise Grills. Photo © Leah Jing

Symons’ $10,000 grant will see her create and develop a project called Sing, which...