STC puts a focus on playwriting with a new Emerging Writers’ Group as well as the Patrick White Fellow and Playwright.

Leading Australian playwright Andrew Bovell, whose many stage credits include his acclaimed adaptation of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River, has been named as the new Sydney Theatre Company Patrick White Playwrights’ Fellow.

^{Back row: Moreblessing Maturure, Lewis Treston, Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Director Kip Williams, Disapol Savetsila. Front row: Emme Hoy, Julian Larnach, Andrew Bovell, STC Literary Manager Polly Rowe. Photograph © Christine Messinesi}

The Fellowship was presented to Bovell at a special event at the Wharf as part of the 2017 Sydney Writers’ Festival. Lewis Treston was announced as the recipient of this year’s Patrick White Playwrights’ Award for his comedy Hot Tub. And in a new initiative, Sydney Theatre Company revealed that it is to oversee an Emerging Writers’ Group, the inaugural members of which are Emme Hoy, Julian Larnach, Moreblessing Maturure and Disapol Savetsila.

The $25,000 Patrick White Playwrights’ Fellowship is awarded annually to an established playwright in recognition of their body of work and achievements. Along with the cash prize, the winner receives a play commission...