On 5 March at Adelaide Writers' Week Dr Michelle Staff was announced as the recipient of the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship for 2025. The fellowship will support her research for a biography of sisters and feminists, Bessie Rischbieth and Olive Evans. 

One of the judges, Professor Clare Wright, commented: “The judges all agreed that Michelle Staff’s application was an outstanding choice ... Michelle’s project thrilled us, creatively and conceptually, as it seeks to resurrect the historical importance of Bessie Rischbieth, a woman who dedicated her life’s energy and resources to ensuring that women’s political activism was not lost to history. But more than that, investigating the lives of the two sisters – Bessie and Olive, one a childless widow, one a mother of six – promises a nuanced reading of both the random and systemic forces that have shaped women’s lives.”

Read the full announcement on the fellowship website.