Gunnedah-born writer wins black&write! Fellowship

Kamilaroi author Jacob K Gallagher from Ngunnawal Country (Canberra), and Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr author Dakota Fereir accepted the black&write! Fellowships at a State Library of Queensland ceremony on Wednesday.

Jacob's manuscript The Doubles follows a demon-hunting detective as she investigates a string of deaths and draws on the writer's memories of Werris Creek near Tamworth.

"It began as a 15,000-word novella, but as I wrote more of myself and my experiences into the characters and the setting, it felt more like a sculpture being revealed from a larger block of stone," Jacob said.

"During the expansion of the novella, I began focusing more on the character's connections to Country.

"I hope The Doubles is read by someone from Werris Creek or Tamworth or Gunnedah, and they can visualise the hills and plains and sun-dried houses and people.

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"I hope everyone else who hasn't seen the hills can see in some way their own homes, their own Countries, represented by these few towns in NSW, and these few people I have invented.

"I also hope that Indigenous Australian people, especially those people who had little or no contact with their own traditional cultures growing up, and are only coming to terms with their own identities as adults, can see themselves in my crude allegories, and might feel the same struggles of identity that I do: How can you be yourself, when you don't know who you are?"

Jacob said he was honoured to receive a black&write! Fellowship.

"I feel my writing and my identity as a Kamilaroi man are being recognised and validated by the community even as I'm still finding my feet in it," he said.

"It feels like the stories I want to tell are worth telling."

"The feeling of sharing my writing is a terrifying but rewarding experience, and one I've been chasing since the first time a teacher encouraged me to read out my writing to the class."

State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald AM said black&write! alumni were carving out a strong path for a new generation of aspiring First Nations storytellers.

"For 12 years, black&write! has been making its mark on the Australian literary scene, introducing the world to new and exciting First Nations writers," Ms McDonald said.

"State Library is committed to respectful processes of truth-telling and having a First Nations-led writing and editorial practice is an important part of this process."

The fellowships include manuscript development with State Library of Queensland's black&write! editors and a publication opportunity with Hachette Australia.

black&write! is supported by the Australian Government, through the Australia Council for the Arts, Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund and Fellowships publishing partner Hachette Australia.

Dakota, based on Dharawal and Yuin Country, is a Wollongong writer, researcher and educator whose winning poetry collection 'Arsenic Flower' interrogates history, colonialism, and trauma.

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