Zhan wins 2023 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize

Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has announced Xiaole Zhan as the winner of the 2023 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize for their essay ‘Think an Empty Room, Moonly with Phone Glow’.

Described by KYD as a ‘lyrical personal essay on digital spaces and family’, Zhan’s essay explores ‘the fine line between the private and the public’ while reflecting on keeping in touch with overseas family through the internet.

Judge and 2022 winner Caitlin McGregor said: ‘Zhan deftly weaves collected moments and reflections into a beautifully executed, cleverly structured essay. Deceptively subtle and accessible, it’s ultimately a complex piece about the lines that connect and separate people—train lines, bloodlines, borders, online connections, lines of poetry—and distils its themes with a lyricism that feels both fresh and controlled.’

Zhan is a Chinese New Zealander writer and composer completing third-year university studies in Naarm (Melbourne). They receive a prize of $3000 for their winning essay.

KYD also announced two runners-up from the shortlist of eight essays (announced last week): Ria Kealey’s ‘Revelation: On Trepanation’ and Coco Stallman’s ‘Unholy Anorexia’. Each runner up receives $1000.

KYD has published the winning essay to coincide with the announcement. The two runner-up essays will appear later this year.

Category: Awards Local news