Fiona McFarlane (born 1978) is an Australian author, best known for her book The Night Guest and her collection of short stories The High Places. She is a recipient of the Voss Literary Prize, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Nita Kibble Literary Award.

Fiona McFarlane
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Sydney, Australia
OccupationAuthor
Notable workThe Night Guest (2013)
The High Places (2016)

Life and career edit

McFarlane was born in Sydney, Australia in 1978.[1] She studied English at the University of Sydney, the University of Cambridge and the University of Texas at Austin.[2]

Her debut novel, The Night Guest, was published in 2013 and is about a retired widow who lives alone and suffers from dementia.[3] It won the Voss Literary Prize and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.[4] It was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award,[5] The Stella Prize[4] and the Guardian First Book Award.[6]

In 2017, McFarlane won the Dylan Thomas Prize for her collection of short stories, The High Places.[4]

McFarlane's writing has also appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, Southerly and The New Yorker.[2]

She was shortlisted for the Fiction Book Award at the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards and for the Fiction Award at the 2023 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for The Sun Walks Down.[7][8]

Bibliography edit

Novels edit

  • —— (2013). The Night Guest. Penguin Group (Australia). ISBN 9781926428550.
  • —— (2022). The Sun Walks Down. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781761185427.

Collection of short stories edit

Short stories in anthologies edit

  • "The Movie People" in Kennedy, Cate (2010), The best Australian stories 2010, Black Inc, ISBN 978-1-86395-495-2
  • "Exotic Animal Medicine" in Tuffield, Aviva (22 November 2010), New Australian stories 2, Scribe (published 2010), ISBN 978-1-921640-86-5
  • "I Will Tell You Something" in Adelaide, Debra, ed. (June 2015), The Simple Act of Reading, Vintage Books (published 2015), ISBN 978-0-85798-624-5
  • "Good News for Modern Man" in Wood, Charlotte, ed. (7 November 2016), The best Australian stories 2016, Black Inc (published 2016), ISBN 978-1-86395-886-8
  • "Buttony" in Furman, Laura, (author of introduction, etc.); Bradley, David, 1950–, (writer of supplementary textual content.); McCracken, Elizabeth, (writer of supplementary textual content.); Watson, Brad, 1955–, (writer of supplementary textual content.) (5 September 2017), The O. Henry Prize stories 2017, New York Anchor Books (published 2017), ISBN 978-0-525-43250-0 {{citation}}: |author1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Online short stories edit

  • Art Appreciation - published in The New Yorker on May 6, 2013
  • Buttony - published in The New Yorker on February 29, 2016
  • Demolition - published in The New Yorker on May 25, 2020

References edit

  1. ^ "Fiona McFarlane". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Fiona McFarlane". milesfranklin.com.au. 1 March 2015. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. ^ Maier, Heidi (21 May 2014). "Fiona McFarlane: 'I wanted to explore dementia from the inside'". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Morris, Linda (11 May 2017). "Australia's Fiona McFarlane wins $50,000 Dylan Thomas prize". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Miles Franklin Award 2014 Short". milesfranklin.com.au. 15 February 2015. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. ^ Flood, Alison (14 November 2014). "Guardian first book award 2014 shortlist covers neurosurgery, China, rural Ireland and more". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Queensland Literary Awards 2023 shortlists". Books+Publishing. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2023 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.