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cover of Grieve vol 9

August is Grief Awareness Month

Each year, Hunter Writers Centre calls for stories and poems about grief and loss. The best 100 works are published in the annual anthology and launched in August.
The 2022 competition – the 10th anniversary – will open February 14th, 2022.

 

Winning this prize is very significant for me for many reasons. For one, I have never had any of my writing published before. Yesterday I celebrated my third year wedding anniversary. The wedding ceremony was held while I was undergoing chemotherapy, wearing a wig - and so, yet another reminder of how far I have come over the past few years.
Emily Noske – prizewinner, Grieve 2021
Grief is not something to shy away from or be denied, but something to be embraced as a measure of our love and respect for others.
David Terelinck – prizewinner, Grieve 2021
In the 5 years since my daughter died … I had thought I may need to draft and then re-draft and re-write, but after an hour of pouring my soul onto the page it was done, and I knew it was exactly what it was meant to be.
Catherine Irvine - prizewinner Grieve 2021
Grief can be open-ended, and manifests in many different ways.
Hannah Koskinen - prizewinner Grieve 2021
Grief never disappears, we just learn to live our lives around it.
Emma Simpson - prizewinner Grieve 2021
My piece mourns my grandfather, but it also mourns for my grandmother's loneliness.
Tahlia Dent - prizewinner Grieve 2021
The bushfires of the 2019 summer on Kangaroo Island had a significant impact on me. Following the active defence of our home I realised how much I valued the natural world over the built, and how important the telling of people’s personal stories was in their journey through grief and recovery.
Jeanette Gellard - prizewinner Grieve 2021
I would buy this anthology every year. I find the poems to be so comforting.
Damen O’Brien - prizewinner Grieve 2021
Reading this wonderful anthology it’s really hit home what a universal, even uniting, thing grief is – I’ve found it very moving. And I relate to so much of it.
Russ Talbot
I found some of the pieces very moving and it has been good to once more find myself not alone in my pain but in a fellowship of travellers on a journey. I think that is what Grieve does so well - it alleviates the sense of isolation we feel and comforts us when others are able to describe the all too familiar landscape of our own grief.
Linda Harding
I feel better when I read this book. I take comfort from the many questions I see raised in the pages: we ask ourselves, could it, should it have been different? What do I do now with these feelings? Some of us, we turn them into words and put them on the page and, hopefully, the words help someone else feel a bit better, or heard, or understood, or less alone in sadness.
Kate Olivieri
I experienced the death of my husband and both parents over the time span of 10 years. I turned to writing poetry which somehow made life bearable. Pen and a blank paper became my companion. There was some kind of resolution, something was settled. It was a minute advancement, another step in the longest journey.
Susan Chamie
I love seeing all the different ways people interpret or express grief.
Melissa Willings
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2021 prize winners

Meet the judges

grieve vol 8 anthology front cover showing bird with breeding feathers - great egret
Grieve vol 7 book cover
Grieve volume 6 cover photo
Grieve Volume 5 book cover
Grieve vol 3 book cover
Grieve vol 4 book cover
Grieve vol 2 book cover
Grieve vol 1 book cover 
The 2022 competition opens 14th February, 2022.
Read the Terms and Conditions 
and Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

History of the Grieve Project

 

Since 2013, Hunter Writers Centre and our wonderful partner-sponsors have supported this publishing opportunity for first-time and published writers.

Each year, Australians living here and abroad 
submit poems and stories/personal essays. Up to 120 works are published in the annual anthology.

There is now a dedicated Grieve Project website 
where you can read the wonderful writings by Australians 
and buy the books.

The competition opens on Valentine's Day each year 
and the anthology of selected works is launched in August 
(Grief Awareness month).

The team of judges work in either the grief and loss industries 
or are published writers. Some are both.

The prizes are kindly donated by 
not-for-profit organisations, businesses and individuals working in or related to the grief and loss industries.

Would you like to donate a prize 
in memory of a loved one or colleague? 
Click here for more information
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We acknowledge the Awabakal and Worimi as the custodians of the lands on which we live, work and write.

Hunter Writers Centre
ABN 44 903 609 935

Postal Address:
​PO Box 494
The Junction NSW 2291 Australia

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