inSITU: Darebin's Creative Writing Program

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Announcing inSITU 2026

We’re excited to announce inSITU 2026 - our annual creative writing program, full of exciting offerings for writers in Darebin to connect, build community and grow their literary practice.  

Whether you’re tinkering away in your iPhone notes app or have a published novel under your belt, the aim of this program is to provide opportunities for exploration and connection for people at all stages of their writing journey.     

This year we will be running our highly anticipated Workshop Series and our open access print publication, dSCRIBE, with a fresh new theme. We hope that you’ll make the most of the free workshops to work on making your submissions for dSCRIBE the best they can be.  

Explore the inSITU program here

Make sure you follow us on Instagram @darebin_arts and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!   


About our community consultation

In 2023 we conducted some research and consulted with our community, speaking to local writers from all walks of life. We ran a focus group with writers in Darebin and industry professionals, asking them how Council could best support the literary community and sector. We got some incredible feedback that has informed the shape of the new program. 

This illustration by Maddison Kitching was created during that conversation:

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Darebin Mayor's Writing Awards

2025 Award winners

  • Winner: Bradley Visaka David: "Ode to Flinders St, Wurundjeri (Thornbury)"

  • Honourable Mention: Abbra Kotlarczyk: "Eponymous Tree [Excerpt]"

2024 Award winners

  • Liza Dezfouli - Baby Bird (Winner)
  • Terry Donnelly - The Fire Within (Runner Up)
  • Haneen Mahmood Martin - Map of Kuala Lumpur, 2000 (Runner Up)