Poet // Performer // Creative
I love Varuna in the springtime, I love Varuna in the fall...
Photographic collaboration with @TexasLightFilms
VARUNA INTERNATIONAL LAMPLIGHT SHANGHAI RESIDENCY
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Paris was recently one of three Australian writers selected to participate in the inaugural International Lamplight Shanghai Residency, co-presented by Varuna The National Writers' House, the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) and the Shanghai Writers Association, with generous support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia Council for the Arts.
During this residency, Paris immersed herself in an enriching cultural and literary exchange with her counterparts in Shanghai, engaged in fascinating Q&A sessions with multi award-winning authors Gail Jones and Ye Xin, and had some of her poetry translated into Chinese for group discussions and personal mentorship sessions. An excerpt from one of Paris's translated poems appears below.
Through this International Lamplight Shanghai Residency, Paris was able to explore the nuances of writing, styles and themes across international cultural landscapes, to discover areas both of difference/uniqueness and of commonality/universality. Paris is most grateful to Varuna, IAC, the Shanghai Writers Association and generous sponsors for giving her this incredible opportunity and for making this extraordinary international literary exchange program possible.
When Paris was awarded her very first Fellowship at Varuna the National Writers' House in September 2022, it marked the biggest creative breakthrough in her trajectory as an emerging writer. For the very first time, she was regarded as a real writer, provided with a beautiful writers' space in which to work uninterrupted (the ultimate room with a view!), shared delicious three course dinners and invigorating conversations with fellow creatives and was incredibly blessed to have been taken under the wing of the best mentor she could have wished for: ali whitelock.
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Paris first stayed at Varuna under the WestWords/Varuna Emerging Writers' Residency 2022. A WestWords Mini-Masterclass Podcast from Paris's creatively enriching week at Varuna may be found here.
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It was an honour for Paris to have been named runner up in the Writing NSW x Varuna Fellowship 2022 (she was the only poet amidst longer-form writers to have been selected!).
This year, Paris is thrilled to have been awarded a Varuna Writer's Space Residential Fellowship 2023 because it means that she shall have the opportunity to immerse herself in the magic that is Varuna once again. It blows her mind that this time when she stays at beautiful Varuna, it will be to work on her second collection of poetry!
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Paris Rosemont