Jane Rawson

I have a new story in Review of Australian Fiction. It’s called Amy’s twin and it’s a kind of prequel to my novella, Formaldehyde. Review of Australian Fiction publishes two stories every two weeks in e-book form. My story is paired with Wayne Marshall’s The Magicians, which is a strange and funny book. These two stories are Volume 1 of an experimental-themed series that Review of Australian Fiction is running in partnership with a writers collective I’m part of, Kanganoulipo. Writer Ryan O’Neill and I have curated 12 stories and they’ll be coming out over the next six weeks – we have stories from Patrick Allington, Elizabeth Tan, Nic Low, Julie Koh and all kinds of exciting writers.

Also, if you’d like to come see me at Melbourne Writer’s Festival, I’m doing a session on dystopian fiction on Saturday 2 September. It’s free.

And I’ve just spent a week at Varuna working on a new novel. Varuna is a writer’s retreat in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. It’s a beautiful big old house right by the Blue Mountains National Park. You get a bedroom and an office and all your food, including a delicious dinner cooked for you every night. You can write all day if you want or, if you’re me, you can write some of the day and then go for a walk in the National Park and a drink at the Station Bar (good craft beer) or the Carrington Hotel (luxury and cocktails). Despite my lack of application, I got 11,000 words written and I feel like I might be on to something. Applications are open for next year’s Varuna fellowships program, so apply.