Hastings wins 2024 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and HarperCollins imprint HQ have announced that Kathleen Hastings is the winner of the 2024 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize for an unpublished manuscript.
Selected from a shortlist of five, Hastings’ winning manuscript, ‘Hendrickje, Rembrandt’s Bathsheba’, is described by the ASA as ‘the vividly told story of Hendrickje Stoffels … in the household of the artist Rembrandt van Rijn, who becomes his model, his employer and his common-law wife’.
Hastings is a retired teacher and deputy principal who holds a master’s degree in fine art, having studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Paris. As the winner of the biennial prize, Hastings receives a publishing contract with HQ, including a $10,000 advance against royalties.
‘I’ve been involved with Hendrickje since my encounter with breast cancer in 1990 when Rembrandt’s image of her as Bathsheba bathing was used by the Cancer Council of Australia to encourage women to self-examine for breast cancer—using her image for my painting and, obviously, this story,’ said Hastings. ‘I am sure that she was the woman behind Rembrandt’s success. I am so amazed and appreciative that ASA and HQ have given me the opportunity to share her story with others.’
‘It’s a thrill to find a manuscript with such potential,’ said HQ publisher Rachael Donovan. ‘This is an insightful and evocative story for anyone interested in painting, European history or the retelling of history through the eyes of women. Kathleen’s historical research is impeccable and her writing paints a captivating portrait of women’s lives in 17th-century Republic of Holland, as well as bringing to life Rembrandt’s conflicting ambition and foibles.’
ASA and HQ also announced a runner-up—Shashini Gamage for the manuscript ‘The Fright of Real Feathers’, which the ASA described as ‘an exquisite and resonant story of a woman returning to Sri Lanka to care for ageing parents and discovering the truths of her life through these loving yet complex relationships’. Gamage receives a $500 cash prize and an annual membership to the ASA.
The ASA/HQ Fiction Prize is a biennial award, first presented in 2020 to Sally Bothroyd for Brunswick Street Blues. The winner of the 2022 prize was Ayesha Inoon for Untethered, published in June 2023.
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