First Nations writer stripped of $15,000 State Library of Queensland award over Gaza tweet
The First Nations writer Karen Wyld, who now writes under the name K A Ren Wyld, was stripped of her Creative Australia-funded $15,000 black&write! fellowship, less than five hours before it was to have been awarded to her, over comments she made on social media in October about the conflict in Gaza.
The entire ceremony, due to take place in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon, was cancelled without notice.
The future of other First Nations awards and fellowships is now also under a cloud, including the David Unaipon award for an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer, as the library launches 'an independent review of the suite of awards and fellowships we administer'.
Speaking to Guardian Australia, Wyld said she would not be silenced by authorities intent on 'bullying nobodies like me' over their stance on the Gaza war.
The Indigenous Adelaide writer had been awarded the fellowship for her 110,000-word manuscript documenting seven generations of stolen Indigenous children.
But just after arriving at the State Library of Queensland on Tuesday afternoon she was surprised to receive an email from a News Corp journalist asking for comment on the decision to rescind her fellowship.
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Ten minutes later, she said, she was ushered into a private room, where the library's chief executive, Vicki McDonald, informed her that the contract for her fellowship, which had previously been signed by the writer and the library's board, had been cancelled.
'She wouldn't tell me why or who was doing it … whether it was from the minister or the board [of the library],' Wyld said. 'She just said it didn't come from her.'
Wyld said she told McDonald the withdrawal of the fellowship would add to an increasingly divisive public debate over the right of artists to speak out about Gaza.
McDonald said it had been decided that was a risk worth taking, Wyld claimed.
A spokesperson for McDonald said the decision to rescind Wyld's fellowship had been 'respectfully communicated to the writer at that time'.
When asked if the fellowship had been withdrawn at the request of the Queensland government, the spokesperson said in a statement the decision had been made after the arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, told parliament he had 'taken the decision that this award should not be presented' at the state library.
'Based on that decision, State Library of Queensland yesterday postponed the black&write! ceremony,' the statement said.
A story published in The Australian on Tuesday afternoon said the grant had been withdrawn after Langbroek and the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, wrote to McDonald and the library's chair, Debbie Best, voicing concerns about social media posts made by Wyld.
Wyld said at their meeting McDonald referred to a tweet Wyld had posted about the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October, which referred to him as a martyr. Wyld deleted the tweet shortly after posting it.
'I probably could have worded it less emotional,' Wyld told the Guardian. 'It was mostly me being really devastated at the Albanese government's approach to the whole [Gaza] situation.'
Wyld said the tweet bore no relevance to her hefty manuscript on the Stolen Generations, funded to the tune of about $40,000 from Creative Australia, for which she was awarded the fellowship.
'I wrote it to highlight that the Bringing Them Home report is 28 years old next week, and only 6% of the recommendations have been actioned,' she said.
'I wrote it to bring awareness to the stories of the Stolen Generations, to propose some positive features, because it ends in the future, and to talk about justice. It has nothing to do with anything else.'
A statement posted on the State Library's website on Tuesday said the black&write! fellowships, 'awarded solely on the literary merit of submitted manuscripts', were designed to encourage and support First Nations writers in fiction and poetry genres and facilitate publication.
'Regrettably, media coverage and commentary today in relation to the personal views of the recommended recipient has overshadowed the intent of the awards,' the statement said.
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'This has significantly impacted the individual artists and people involved.'
The statement did not name Wyld or state that her fellowship had been withdrawn. The library's statement said it would undertake an independent review of the awards and fellowships it administered.
'It will have specific focus on how we balance our strong commitment to freedom of expression and our role as a state government funded cultural institution,' the statement said.
Crisafulli's office did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Langbroek referred the Guardian to his speech delivered to the legislative assembly on Tuesday, less than two hours before the ceremony was due to begin, confirming the Queensland government had intervened.
Langbroek told parliament it was incumbent on the State Library's board to ensure that the activities and associations of the library reflected community standards and upheld the integrity of the institution.
'Whilst I support the principles of free expression and creative diversity, any perception that taxpayer-funded awards being granted to individuals who justify terrorism undermines public trust, both in our institutions and in the cultural sector more broadly' Langbroek said.
'Whilst individuals are free to hold and express their views, we must ensure that publicly funded arts programs and venues are held to the highest standards, promoting artistic excellence and fostering social cohesion … Words matter, and that's why we've taken the decision that we have said to this board that this award should not be presented at the State Library.'
The federal arts minister, Tony Burke, said in a statement on Wednesday the decision was a matter for Creative Australia.
'On support for artists, I never interfere with the decisions of Creative Australia,' he said.
'We brought back arm's-length decision-making in the arts.
'The moment you start [interfering], you become George Brandis,' he said, referring to a previous Liberal government decision on arts funding that redirected $104.7m from Creative Australia – then called the Australia Council – to a separate kitty, to be dispensed at the discretion of the then arts minister, Brandis.
However, Creative Australia told the Guardian it was not consulted about the decision to withdraw Wyld's fellowship.
'Decisions about recipients are made independently by the library,' its statement said.
'Creative Australia provides funding to the State Library of Queensland's black&write! program, but plays no role in selecting, approving, or rescinding individual fellowships.'
The national black&write! fellowships have furthered the careers of more than a dozen First Nations writers since Creative Australia began funding them in 2014. The fellowships also come with a publishing contract, which this year was to have been signed with University of Queensland Press.
The Guardian has sought comment from UQP.
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