New Australian Stories 2 (47 page)

Peggy Frew
has been a musician and songwriter for over ten years with critically acclaimed Melbourne band Art of Fighting. She has recently completed a diploma in Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT. Her story ‘Home Visit' won
The Age
Short Story Competition in 2009, and her novel ‘House of Sticks' won the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer.

Julie Gittus
is the author of the young adult novel
Saltwater Moons
. Her short stories have been included in
New Australian Stories
as well as
Best of the Best
. She is currently working on her second novel. Visit her at
www.juliegittus.com.au
.

Marion Halligan
has published twenty books: ten novels, including
Spider Cup
,
Lovers' Knots
,
The Golden Dress
,
The Fog Garden
,
The Point
,
The Apricot Colonel
and
Murder on the Apricot Coast
; collections of short stories, including
The Hanged Man in the Garden
and
The Worry
Box
; books of autobiography, travel and food; and a children's book,
The Midwife's Daughters
. Her most recent novel is
Valley of Grace
. She has received an AM for her services to literature.

Jacinta Halloran
is a general practitioner and writer. She has published both short stories and a novel,
Dissection
. She is now writing her second novel with the assistance of an Australia Council grant.

Karen Hitchcock
is a writer and doctor. Her collection of short stories,
Little White Slips
, won the Steele Rudd Award in the 2010 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, and was shortlisted in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the Dobbie Award for women writers. Her first novel,
Read My Lips
, will be published in 2011. ‘Blackbirds Singing' first appeared in
The Big Issue.

Anne Jenner
lives in Adelaide. She is currently undertaking an MA in Creative Writing at Macquarie University, while writing short stories and working on her first novel.

Myfanwy Jones
has published numerous short stories and her debut novel,
The Rainy Season
, was shortlisted for the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Best Writing Award. She is also co-author of the ABIA-winning
Parlour Games for Modern Families
.

Lesley Jørgensen
is a medical-negligence lawyer and mother of two, based in South Australia. Her short story ‘Pure Gold' was published in
New Australian Stories
. She is currently completing her first novel, just as soon as she can.

Cate Kennedy
is the author of the highly acclaimed novel
The World
Beneath
, which won the People's Choice Award in the 2010 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She is an award-winning short-story writer whose work has been published widely, and her collection,
Dark Roots
, was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award in the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards. Cate is also the author of the travel memoir
Sing, and Don't Cry
, and the poetry collections
Joyflight
and
Signs of Other Fires
.

Zane Lovitt
has a Masters degree in Screenwriting from the Victorian College of the Arts. He works as an adviser at the Tenants Union of Victoria and studies law at the University of Melbourne. ‘Leaving the Fountainhead' won the S.D. Harvey Short Story Award in 2010.

Scott McDermott
has had stories about invisibility, mouse herding, mermaids, the elderly, operational expenditure and old gods published by Cardigan Press, Sleepers,
Cutwater
and UQ's
Vanguard
. ‘Fidget's Farewell' won the S.D. Harvey Short Story Award in 2009.

Fiona McFarlane
is from Sydney. Her stories have been published in
Southerly
,
Zoetrope: All-Story
and
The Missouri Review
. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas. ‘Exotic Animal Medicine' first appeared in
The Missouri Review
.

Jane McGown
has travelled extensively throughout Asia and is a teacher of the Japanese art of ikebana. Success in short-story competitions has convinced her to pursue her craft more seriously. She lives in Sydney and is working on a discontinuous narrative.

A.G. McNeil
is currently working on his PhD at the University of Western Australia. His work has appeared in
New Australian Stories
and
Best Australian Stories
.

Susan Midalia
is a writer, editor and teacher. Her collection of short stories,
A History of the Beanbag
, was shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier's Literary Award in 2007. She is writing her second collection with the assistance of a grant from the Australia Council. ‘Parting Glances' first appeared in
Westerly
.

Jennifer Mills
is the author of the novel
The Diamond Anchor
and a chapbook of poems,
Treading Earth
. Her second novel,
Gone
, will be published in 2011. Her work has appeared in
Meanjin
,
Overland
,
HEAT
,
Griffith REVIEW
and
Best Australian Stories
. She blogs at
www.jenjen.com.au
and at
Overland
. She lives in Alice Springs.

Meg Mundell
is a Melbourne-based writer who grew up in New Zealand. She has published journalism in
The Age
,
The Monthly
,
The Sydney Morning Herald
and
The Big Issue
; and fiction in
Meanjin
,
The Sleepers Almanac
and
Best Australian Stories 2010
. Her first novel,
Black Glass
, will be published in 2011. Meg is currently completing a PhD and a trucking memoir.

Peta Murray
lives in Melbourne. Her best-known work is the stage play
Wallflowering
. Other plays include AWGIE winners
Spitting
Chips
and
The Keys to the Animal Room
, and
Salt
, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Drama. Peta's short fiction has appeared in anthologies, including
The Sleepers Almanac
.

Ruby J. Murray
is a writer, researcher and co-founder of the-democracy-project.org. Her writing has appeared in Australian newspapers, magazines, online, and in Australian journals, including
Torpedo
,
The Lifted Brow
and
Meanjin
. Ruby blogs at
rubyjoymurray.wordpress.com
.

Mark O'Flynn's
poetry and short stories have appeared in a wide range of journals. His novels include
Grassdogs
, which was published in 2006. He has had seven plays professionally produced and has also published three collections of poetry. Recently Picaro Press published a selection from these in
Wagtail 100
.

Ryan O'Neill's
stories have appeared in various journals and anthologies. His collection,
A Famine in Newcastle
, was shortlisted for the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.

Paddy O'Reilly
is the author of a short-story collection,
The End of
the World
; a novel,
The Factory
; and a novella,
Deep Water
. Her stories have won national and international story awards and been widely published and broadcast. ‘How to Write a Short Story' first appeared in
Southerly.

Kate Ryan
has worked as a freelance and in-house editor, and has written a number of children's books. She is now completing a novel as part of a PhD in Creative Writing at RMIT, where she was selected for a mentorship with Robert Dessaix.

Emma Schwarcz
is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. Her work has been published most recently in
The Age
,
harvest
magazine and
Hide & Seek Melbourne
, and she teaches writing at RMIT.

Jane Sullivan
is a Melbourne-based writer specialising in literary journalism, who writes a Saturday column and features for
The Age
. Her novel
The White Star
was published in 2001. You can meet the characters in ‘Fallen Woman' again in
Little People
, which was shortlisted for the inaugural CAL Scribe Fiction Prize in 2010 and will be published in 2011.

Chris Womersley
is a Melbourne-based author. He won the 2007 Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature with his short story ‘The Possibility of Water', and the 2008 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction for his novel,
The Low Road
. His second novel,
Bereft
, was published in 2010. ‘Theories of Relativity' first appeared in
Kill Your Darlings
. Visit him at
www.chriswomersley.com
.