In celebration of Cove Park’s 25th Anniversary, our fifth Spotlight on 25 is by writer and Cove Park Associate Tracey Emerson!

‘In 2022, I came to Cove Park for a week-long Open Residency. I had recently been awarded a two-book publishing deal and, for the first time in my writing life, I was writing under contract. I had to produce a novel in less than a year and I was terrified. A week in the tranquil surroundings of Cove Park could, I reasoned, give me the time and space I needed to get to grips with the task at hand.

A few days into the residency, I got a glimpse of the theme of the new novel, and this helped steady my nerves. I try to craft stories that will entertain and keep the reader turning the pages but I’m always most interested in the why. Why write this story? Does it have something relevant to say? Theme is everything for me and understanding it always makes the writing process slightly less uncomfortable.

As further insights into the story kept coming, I realised I had not just my beautiful surroundings to thank for them. There really is something special in the air at Cove Park. The quality of my thoughts there was different, as if all the current and former residents had left traces of themselves on site and I was absorbing them all. As if, for that one glorious week, I’d accessed a hive mind with a greater capacity than my own.

That residency oriented me for the rest of the novel writing process and I’m deeply grateful for it. I wish Cove Park a very happy 25th birthday. May that rarefied air keep inspiring many more artists for years to come.’

Tracey Emerson (T.J. Emerson) is the author of five psychological thrillers, including The Perfect Holiday, which is currently being developed as a limited series for television. Her novels have been translated into Dutch, French, German and Hungarian. Her short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines, and her non-fiction and feature writing have appeared in publications such as Stella magazine and The Sydney Morning Herald.