KAVITA BEDFORD
Writer and journalist based in Sydney
ABOUT
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Kavita Bedford is a writer and journalist based in Sydney, Australia.
She is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship for exploring migrant and refugee narratives. She is currently working on a novel.
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PANELS & GUEST SPEAKING
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She has been spoken and run workshops for The Commonwealth Secretariat UK ( Fiji), YouTube Creators for Change, The Sydney Writers Festival, State Government, National Young Writers Festival, Newtown Festival, The Walkley's Storyology conference, Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney.
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AWARDS & GRANTS
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2018 Churchill Fellowship in Europe
2016 Australia Council for the Arts Development Grant for novel writing residency at San Miguel Poetry Festival, and Under the Volcano Fiction Writing, Mexico
2015 Walkley Foundation Women in Media Mentorship
2015 Multicultural NSW Unity Grant
2015 YEN Magazine Short Story Prize Finalist
2014 Scanlon Foundation Grant
2013 Australia Council for the Arts Grant
2013 Westwords Under 30 Western Sydney Writers’ Fellowship
2012 Macquarie University Anthropology Department Prize for ethnography
2012 Editors' Choice prize in the University of New South Wales Tharunka, Non-Fiction Writing Competition
2009 Winner of The Waverley Words Literary Festival Fiction Prize
2007 The Charles Sturt Foundation, Ron Camplin Academic Major Scholarship for Contribution to Media
Photo credit: Christopher Woe
PROJECTS
My major themes of exploration dwell on place—drawing on how the organization of space and architecture are connected with the politics and lived experience of place and urban experience—and the perspective of the ‘outsider’ and migrant voices in literature.
STORIES OF STRENGTH PROJECT
Workshop facilitator. In order to combat negative perceptions and stereotypes in the region, we have teamed up with a NGO and Sydney’s independent youth broadcaster FBi radio and local Western Sydney high schools, to train up young people to create podcast stories of “strength” from their community.
IN CONVERSATION BINGE THINKING PODCAST
This episode is part of a special Binge Thinking series in collaboration with the Brisbane-based literary journal Griffith Review, Millennials Strike Back edition. Talking all things countering violent extremism and how I got into this field.
ARTICLES
I write in the field of migration, countering violent extremism, and diversity.
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The Guardian, The Modi Express: a modern spectacle, and an attempt to leave the leader's dark past behind
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The Guardian, To prevent homegrownIslamist radicalism, drop the media hysteria
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Roads & Kingdoms , Detained in Suburbia
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Griffith Review, Smiling Faces of Integration
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Women's International Perspective, A voice for the people: Chile's Mural Art
Tharunka, The Rice Barn Is Now Empty: practices of stealing and divorcing women in Lombok
Junkee, Three Stories from Western Sydney you will never read in the Daily Telegraph
Crikey, This is our community’: inside the real Lakemba that Blair ignored
Struggle Street review: poverty porn and the problem with FIFO journalism
The Point Magazine, Pepe the Frog and the rise of alternative-right memes
The evolving threat of violent extremism
Can Denmark's Aarhus approach help Australia combat violent extremism?
Deng Adut Thiak’s journey from child soldier to Australia Day Hero
Film Review: Ali's Wedding
South Sudan: Hope amid the heartache
The human sound project
From Robespierre to ISIS: the Eras of Extremism
Straight Black Atcha: lessons from black comedy
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CREATIVE
"I am interested in literature on place in all its forms, whether city neighbourhoods, borderlands or landscapes of memory. I am inspired by my heritage, mythology, travel, and beauty."
CONTACT
Thank you for visiting my site. With years of experience and love of the written word, I am able to adapt my writing style to suit the needs of my client. I invite you to explore a selection of my most recent work. Get in touch for more information.
I am available for a range of work:
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Editing & Writing
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Public Speaking/ Lecturing
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Workshops
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Research
Please get in touch to find out more.