Brittany Searle is an English teacher from the Campbelltown region who writes about Western Sydney with great affection and is working on a memoir. Samara Lo lives in the Hills, and was one of our WestWords-Varuna residents last year, working under the guidance of Wai Chim. Samara is a passionate fantasy fan and is writing her second middle-grade fantasy novel. And Belle Butler is a musician, photographer and writer who lives in the Blue Mountains.

In addition to the financial support included in this program, Brittany, Samara and Belle will be paired with carefully selected mentors to help them get their projects to where they need them to be, and in preparation to help them take their careers to the next stage. We have secured one of the three mentors, but we won’t say which – you’ll need to read next week’s newsletter to get that information.