Johnson wins Australian Fiction Prize
Katherine Johnson has won the inaugural Australian Fiction Prize for her unpublished manuscript A Wild Heart, receiving $20,000 in prize money and a $15,000 advance.
‘A Wild Heart is the story of a remote Tasmanian island, a teenage daughter kept captive by her overprotective father, and a handsome shipwreck survivor who is not who he seems,’ said HarperCollins. ‘Against the backdrop of a mysterious death, A Wild Heart is a propulsive and emotional novel of a young women’s perilous attempt to break away from an island she loves, with nature and courage at its heart.’
A Tasmania-based author, Johnson has written several previous novels, including Pescador’s Wake (HarperCollins), The Better Son (Ventura), Matryoshka (Ventura), and Paris Savages (Ventura). She has won two Varuna HarperCollins Manuscript Development Awards (in 2007 and 2013). The Better Son was also awarded the University of Tasmania Prize for an unpublished manuscript at the 2013 Tasmanian Literary Awards. Paris Savages was shortlisted in the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), and this title has also been published in the UK, the US and Italy.
Johnson has degrees in science and journalism, and holds a PhD in creative writing. She is also a feature writer, with her work appearing in publications including the Conversation, Good Weekend, Island and Forty South. She works part-time in alumni and philanthropy communications at the University of Tasmania, and on the Writing Better Judgments program of the National Judicial College of Australia. A Wild Heart was written with the support of a grant from Arts Tasmania.
Johnson said: ‘I am absolutely thrilled and enormously grateful to receive this award. I’ve been living and breathing this novel for a few years, around part-time work. To know that Min’s story of courage and resilience, as well as the hope of rewilding, will now reach readers means the world. The prize will provide precious writing time and a connection with new readers, which is one of the really lovely things about being a writer.’
Australian literary editor Caroline Overington said: ‘I was enchanted by Katherine’s main character, Min, a girl with a wild spirit, from the first few pages. I could see readers taking her into their hearts, and cheering her on, as she takes tentative steps toward freedom, and a life of one’s own. I adored the descriptions of her home on remote Maria Island, which presents in the manuscript as a precious jewel. Upon finishing Katherine’s book, I went straight to Google, to find out whether you can actually visit (you can, by boat!), and I will carry the characters Katherine has created with me when I go there.’
HarperCollins Australia head of fiction Catherine Milne said the manuscript ‘stood out straightaway as a serious contender’. ‘We all loved the evocative, wild setting of Maria Island, the beautiful nature writing, the plot propelled by a mysterious death, and the entwined themes of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, extinction and rewilding. It’s a sweeping, beautiful and emotional novel of the struggle between independence and control, nature, love and courage, which echoes Where the Crawdads Sing, The Last Migration and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. It will be a joy to publish and bring to readers everywhere.’
Presented by HarperCollins and the Australian, and ‘building on the legacy of the Vogel Award’, the Australian Fiction Prize is open to all Australian writers for an unpublished, book-length work of fiction.
Category: Awards Local news
