MARION Writers celebrated at the 32nd Annual ACT Arts Awards

Huge congratulations are in order for our beloved outgoing Creative Producer Nigel Featherstone, our patron Marion Halligan and MARION (formerly ACT Writers) members Sarah St Vincent Welch (HARDCOPY alumni), Kimberley K. Williams, Dylan Van Den Berg and Tabitha Carvan (HARDCOPY alumni). All received Canberra Critics Circle Awards at a special event held at The Canberra Museum and Gallery on Tuesday 22 November.

Nigel Featherstone was named ACT Artist of the Year for 2022 for his "eloquent writing and as a constant champion for his fellow Canberra writers and lovers of the written word”.

Nigel was also awarded a Canberra Critics Circle Award for My Heart is a Little Wild Thing, (Ultimo Press, 2022).

Marion Halligan was awarded for Words for Lucy, (Thames & Hudson March, 2022)

Longtime MARION member and HARDCOPY alumni Sarah St Vincent Welch was also recognised for chalk borders (Flying Islands Publications, 2021) where she transformed her ephemeral chalk-poems, enjoyed by hundreds on the footpaths at art festivals Contour 556 and Noted, into beautiful permanent meditations on art and life.

Kimberly K. Williams was awarded for Still Lives (Gazebo Books, 2022) poems written about departing a place and then living in a very new one, Canberra, and forging a relationship with it. For stepping in to manage Poetry at Manning Clark House; she is a driving force behind Canberra’s poetry scene.

HARDCOPY alumni Tabitha Carvan received an award for This Is Not A Book About Benedict Cumberbatch (HarperCollins, 2022), a book about what happens to women's passions after they leave adolescence, where the author depicts herself unexpectedly falling for the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch while stuck at home with two young children.

We were also delighted that MARION member Dylan Van Den Berg received a Canberra Critics Circle Award for his script Whitefella Yella Tree which explores the effects of colonisation on two young indigenous boys in a love story.

You can read more about Nigel’s award and find the full list of award recipients at Canberra Critics Circle, The Canberra Times and in City News.