There's been plenty happening in Canberra's literary community recently - some of which is under wraps.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The chief executive of ACT writers centre MARION, Katy Mutton, said, "We have several members who are in the process of signing publishing deals that we can't share yet but it's an exciting time for writers across our region. We continue to see publishing success across genres."
There is, however, plenty we can talk about.
Emma Pei Yin recently had a first-time author's dream come true. She signed a two-book, six-figure publishing deal after a cross-continental bidding war for her novel When Sleeping Women Wake, set in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in 1940.
When Sleeping Women Wake will be published by Hachette Australia and Quercus UK.
"It's a phenomenal achievement."
Qin Qin's first book, Model Minority Gone Rogue, has also been published by Hachette. Launched last week, the memoir is about a first-generation Chinese-Australian who gave up a career in commercial law to discover herself and find her own voice.
"She's a 2023 alumnus of our Hidden Nerve program," Mutton said.
The online program helps participants all aspects of writing with the guidance of seasoned professionals.
Murri writer Lisa Fuller, who won multiple awards including the 2020 ACT Book of the Year award for her young adult novel Ghost Bird, has her first picture book, Big Big Love, on the way. It's a collaboration with illustrator Samantha Campbell.
Fuller has also signed up to Alex Adsett Literary where she will be mentored to become a literary agent.
Another picture book, out now, is Stephanie Owen Reeder's Sensational Australian Animals, illustrated by Cher Hart.
Jen Webb has a new book of poetry, The Daily News, and Adrian Caesar's The Dancing Man is out this month - also published through Recent Work Press.
MARION board member Samantha Faulker, a First Nations writer and arts advocate, edited Growing up Torres Strait Islander in Australia, which will be published at the end of April.
At least one Canberra writer has been encouraged recently at the start of a project. Historian Kate Fullagar received the 2024 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship for her proposed biography, The Secret Life of Marguerite Wolters, about a Dutch spy whose activities contributed to the British decision to establish a penal colony in NSW. Helen Ellis's biography of photographer Max Dupain is at a later stage in the process; it's due to be published in October.
Coming out in May are Smoke, journalist Michael Brissenden's latest crime novel, and Susannah Begbie's debut novel The Deed, in which four adult children must build their dead father's coffin in four days - or lose their inheritance.
In former Canberran Petronella McGovern's The Liars, the discovery of a skull brings up secrets. It's out now, and so are Peter Papathanasiou's outback noir The Pit, Sidelines by Karen Viggers, about the tensions surrounding teenage soccer, and Jackie French's story of murder, mutiny and mystery, The Sea Captain's Wife.
Some books have made the jump from page to screen. An adaptation of Chris Hammer's crime novel Scrublands is now in its second season on Stan and Jack Heath's Kill Your Husbands was recently optioned for TV.
"It's wonderful to see so many writers being recognised for their remarkable work. These successes reflect the excellence we know exists across our region," Mutton said.
Entries for the 2023 MARION book awards recently closed and Mutton said nearly 80 submissions were received across a range of genres - more than any previous year - from Canberra and the surrounding region. It's a fair bet that at least some of the new and forthcoming books from local authors will be entered in next year's awards.
- For more information on MARION and Canberra writers see: marion.ink.