2024 Fresh Ink Prize Shortlist

Two Hunter region residents are among four writers shortlisted for the 2024 Fresh Ink Prize. This is the fourth year Newcastle Writers Festival has offered the prize, which is open to emerging regional NSW writers aged over 18.

This year’s judges were writers Anna Downes and David Owen Kelly.

The winner will be announced at a special event on 28 September at Watt Space Gallery and they will be awarded $5000 for professional development thanks to the generosity of Newcastle wine label Elephant in the Room, as well as a week-long residency at Varuna. The prize is also supported by Create NSW.

The shortlisted writers are:

Carly McTavish, The Shifting Tides of Fathom Black

Carly (she/her) is a sociologist and freelance journalist whose work has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend, Mamamia.com.au and ABC Radio National. She works remotely as a sessional tutor at the University of New South Wales for the school of arts and media, and lives with her partner and two kids in a small coastal hamlet called Bawley Point on Yuin Country.

“My work, The Shifting Tides of Fathom Black, elevates the perspectives and experiences of women who exist on the social fringes of regional Australia. Set against a backdrop of pristine coastal wilderness, traditional values, a steady rumour mill, and an undercurrent of violence and dysfunction, the story explores women’s belonging in wild places and the ways in which these places can gently heal and become a place of empowerment and solace.”

Judges’ comments: The Shifting Tides of Fathom Black tells of the unlikely connection that forms between two women as they seek new lives: a pregnant woman seeking refuge in a rural town, and the cancer survivor who will deliver her child. Quietly devastating, it speaks to isolation, marginalisation, and the healing power of the natural world. We were also captivated by the depiction of female roles within regional townships and the slow emergence of new hope.”

Acey Monaro, The Charm

Acey Monaro is a Newcastle musician, housepainter and emerging writer originally from Wonnarua country. She is currently undertaking her MA in Creative Writing at the University of Sydney and is interested in Australian Gothic and the weird. Acey was also shortlisted in 2023.

“My submission is an excerpt from an Australian Gothic short story called The Charm, in which the protagonist, Gus, has just moved to a new town with her mum and twin siblings. On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, she discovers a charm in her bedroom drawer which seems to trigger a sexual awakening. However, she soon discovers a grim divergence between the sensual life she fantasises about and the reality of exploitation.”

Judges’ comments: “Beguiling the reader with its curious mix of innocence and foreboding, The Charm performs its namesake perfectly as a girl rewarded with an orange bikini for her thirteenth birthday goes to the local pool and tries to negotiate relationships with the inhabitants of a new town. We loved the evocative writing, excellent characterisation, and the spellbinding vulnerability conjured by a young protagonist struggling to understand her place and value in the world.”

Monique Wallace, Something You Should Know (submitted as When We Are Together)

Monique (she/her) likes to think she’s funny. When she’s not gaining a medical education from Grey’s Anatomy, she works as a communications specialist. Her work is featured in the Teacher, Teacher anthology published by Affirm Press and Kill Your Darlings. She is a student in the 2024 Faber Writing Academy Writing a Novel course. Monique lives in Newcastle with her husband and two children and can be found on Instagram and TikTok @monwallacewrites

“My submission is part of my work-in-progress young adult novel Something You Should Know, which is about love, grief, and how there’s the right song for everything. It draws heavily on my own experience of losing my mum when I was a teenager, exploring how acute grief continues to feel a few years down the line when people’s sympathy has waned. It’s the book my grieving teenage self was searching for.”

Judges’ comments: “When We Are Together is a perfectly pitched and polished narrative about a teenage girl and her sister navigating their mother’s terminal illness; brave and funny, the story is bittersweet without sentimentality. We especially admired the author’s ability to balance heavy subject matter with a deft lightness of touch, and the confidence with which they structured the piece.”

Sylvia Wilczynski, The Bullet

Sylvia has spent more than 25 years in the film/TV industry, starting as a researcher and becoming a producer, primarily on character-driven films inspired by social/human rights issues. She produced the 90-minute documentary Bomb Harvest, screened on ABC and in Australian cinemas to 4-star reviews, and produced drama feature film The Rocket, which won 50 awards, including Best Debut Feature and the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the Audience Award at Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals, and sold to more than 40 territories. She lives in Byron Bay.

“My entry is part of my debut novel The Bullet that I’m currently writing. Set between contemporary northern NSW and Nazi-occupied Poland, it weaves literary and historical fiction with a supernatural edge. It explores the legacy of violence and is inspired by my family history.”

Judges’ comments: “The Bullet captures the reader’s imagination immediately with its mutually enriching dual timelines. In one, a teenager in 1940s Poland escapes a train bound for a concentration camp and disappears into the wintery surrounds; in the other, an Australian mother of two begins unravelling her family history following an unexpected discovery. We were impressed by the high quality of the writing, emotional tone and the exploration of intergenerational trauma.”