Australian Writers Mentoring Program

We are delighted for Julia Levitina whose debut novel, The Girl From Moscow will be published by Pantera Press in February 2024. Julia was previously mentored by Kathryn Heyman and has been involved in several of our programs throughout the process of her novel. We are thrilled to see Julia's success and look forward to seeing more of her work. 

We are thrilled to celebrate the publication of Su-May Tan's debut novel, Katie Goes to KL this November.

Su-May was mentored by Kathryn Heyman at the Australian Writers Mentoring Program and has secured a book deal with Penguin South East Asia. It's always a special moment when our writers are published, and we can't wait to see this glorious book in stores soon. Kathryn says, "She's a genuinely original writer" and we're sure you'll agree.

Lucy Campbell, mentored by James Bradley, has been celebrating the success of her debut novel, Lowbridge, published by Ultimo Press. A Canberra Times media noted Lucy's longing to write this novel: "So she quit work and signed up for the Australian Writer's Mentoring Program and was paired up with James Bradley, the author of Ghost Species. 'He was great, he was so good at clarifying things, he made me look at the things I thought I knew in a different way.’"

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8247059/how-a-carton-of-canberra-milk-inspired-a-mystery-novel/

Winner of the inaugural Kathryn Heyman Mentorship Award, Kirsty Jagger, has been receiving wide acclaim for her debut novel, completed during her mentorship, Roseghetto and published by UQP. We are thrilled about Kirsty's success.

While mentoring with Jacqueline Kent, Lindsay Smelt won the Gippsland Writers’ Prize for a short story! We are thrilled for Lindsay and are eager to witness his next work emerge. 

We are delighted to share Kim E. Anderson's novel, The Prize published by Pantera Press in early 2023. Kim's poignant book, inspired by real-life events, is already gaining wide readership and we look forward to seeing much more success! 

Helen Signy, mentored by James Bradley, has signed a two book deal with Simon and Schuster with the first novel to be published in 2024. We know how hard Helen worked on this book and are so thrilled for her success!

Sally Colin James celebrates the launch of her "enthralling and powerful" debut, One Illumined Thread after being mentored by Kathryn Heyman. HarperCollins published the novel in March 2023 and is being received as one of the most exciting historical fiction works of this year!

After completing a mentorship with James Bradley, Lauren Chater published her historical fiction novel, The Winter Dress in March 2022 with wide acclaim.

Michelle Johnston announced a book deal with HarperCollins after completing her mentorship with Kathryn Heyman. The publishing house acquired world rights for Tiny Uncertain Miracles as well as a second nonfiction book. 

Mentored by Kathryn Heyman, Kylie Orr developed her manuscript with Kathryn's guidance and secured a book deal with HarperCollins. Her debut novel, Someone Else's Child was published in June 2022 with her second novel due in 2023.

Sienna Brown mentored by Kathryn Heyman, won the MUD Literary Award and was shortlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize for her debut novel, Master of My Fate, published by Penguin Random House. In November 2021, Sienna was commission by the ABC’s Radio National, to create a podcast borne of her research for that novel : Caribbean Convicts in Australia which can be listened to via the RN, History Listen website.

Previously under the mentorship by Kathryn Heyman, Rae Cairns was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Fiction for her breathtaking thriller, The Good Mother. HarperCollins will republish The Good Mother in March 2022, so you have another chance if you missed out on the first publication!

Christine Sykes was mentored by the legendary Stephanie Dowrick and Kathryn Heyman for her memoir Gough and Me which was published in May 2021. It has since been featured widely in the press and at writers festivals, winning the best non-fiction book in 2022 by the Society of Women's Writers NSW. 

AWMP alumni, Pip Williams, won the 2021 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards People’s
Choice Prize for The Dictionary of Lost Words. The novel has since sold over 300,000 copies in Australia alone and was the first Australian book selected in Reese Witherspoon's Book Club. In 2022,  the book was presented by the State Theatre Company SA and Sydney Theatre Company for theatre. Later in the year, South Australian production houses Highview Productions and Closer Productions acquired screen rights to adapt the novel into a television series.

Lisa Emanuel’s stunning novel The Covered Wife was published early this year by Pantera
and has received rave reviews.

We are delighted to hear that Pantera Press has bought world rights for The Scarlet Cross, a gripping psychological thriller written by Lyn McFarlane who was mentored by Kathryn Heyman. The Scarlet Cross won the Arthur Ellis Prize for Best Unpublished Manuscript in 2019 and will be published in 2022.

Hodder UK/Hachette have offered Ali Lowe, mentored by Kathryn Heyman, a two book deal, with the first novel being The Trivia Night which Ali worked on with Kathryn. Ali's second novel, The Running Club was published in 2022 with great anticipation. 

Hannah Bent, mentored by Kathryn Heyman, has sold the rights to her first novel When Things Are Alive They Hum to Ultimo Press. Hannah's beautiful novel about the deep bond of two sisters will be published in August 2021.

Pip Williams has had extraordinary success with her first novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, which has sold all around the world and debuted on the fiction bestseller lists in Australia. Pip was mentored by Toni Jordan during the writing of the novel, and we are thrilled for her success. Read what she had to say about working with Toni here.

We are delighted to hear that Helena Fox’s debut novel How It Feels to Float won the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in the Writing for Young Adults category. Helena was mentored by Kathryn Heyman.

Hearty congratulations to our outstanding mentor, Dr Mark Tredinnick, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for “service to literature, and to education” in the 2020 Australia Day Honours roll. Well deserved recognition of Mark’s ongoing dedication in his field. Read more about Mark on our Mentors Page.

We are thrilled for Andrew Mackie, whose novel, The Tour, will be published by Penguin Australia in June 2020. Kathryn Heyman mentored Andrew under the Headway program.

We are thrilled about the publication of Jane Riley's debut novel The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock. After an international auction, Jane is published by Lake Union. Jane was mentored by Kathryn Heyman under the Headway Program. Read what she had to say about mentoring here

Congratulations to Christine Sykes, who was mentored by Stephanie Dowrick for her memoir and whose first novel, The Changing Room was released by Ventura Press in November 2019. Read Christine’s testimonial here

We are delighted for Rob Donnelly who was mentored during 2017 by Kathryn Heyman. His novel, Out of Order was published in 2019. In September 2019, Richard Fidler of ABC Conversations interviewed Rob about his memoir and his experience of joining a contemplative monastery in Melbourne. Listen to the podcast at Conversations with Richard Fidler, Sarah Kanowski on the ABC.

Congratulations to Nick Gadd mentored by Nick Earls, whose second book, Death of a Typographer, was published in September 2019 by Australian Scholarly Publishing. Read Nick’s testimonial here.

Exciting news from Cait Duggan mentored by James Bradley. Cait’s first book, a young adult fiction, The Last Balfour, was published in July 2019. We are delighted to hear this wonderful news.

Congratulations to Sienna Brown mentored by Kathryn Heyman, 2018. Sienna’s book, Master Of My Fate published by Vintage Australia, May 2019.

Congratulations to Tanya Heaslip, mentored by Kathryn Heyman, who has signed a two memoir book deal with Allen and Unwin. Her first memoir is a Girls’ Own Adventure and love story set in Prague, not long after the Berlin Wall fell, and the bittersweet search for identity and belonging and the ultimate meaning of where home lies. This memoir was published in May 2019. The second book is to be a memoir of growing up on an outback cattle station in Central Australia during the 1960s and 70s. It will celebrate a land of blue skies and red earth, a time of no communication with the outside world except by two-way radio, life on a horse in the stock camp and the joys of learning through School of the Air. This memoir will be published in June 2020.

Double congratulations and good luck to our mentor Mark Tredinnick and also to Kevin Smith, who is currently working with Mark. Both have been shortlisted (more than once) in the nation’s most significant poetry competition, the Newcastle Poetry Prize.

Congratulations to Nicole McAlinden, mentored by Kathryn Heyman, whose novel Little Did I Know was the winner of the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Nicole says, “I am completely stunned and delighted by the news, and I know that I wouldn’t be on the short list without your wonderful guidance.”

AWMP mentee Michelle Johnston was a winner of the Hachette/QWC Manuscript Development Award for her novel Dustfall. We’re very excited for Michelle who says of the mentoring program, “It felt like psychotherapy for my characters and bootcamp for my structure. I could not recommend the process more highly, particularly for the writing of a first novel.”  Dustfall was published by UWA Press and is receiving rave reviews’ (2018)

We are delighted to share the news that Emma Harcourt’s debut novel, The Shanghai Wife was released in June 2018. Emma was mentored by Kathryn Heyman and has signed a two book deal with Harlequin. 

Suzi Fox, who was mentored by Toni Jordan shares the good news that her novel, Mine, was published by Penguin Random House in June 2018. Suzi credits Toni’s help for enabling her to deliver the best possible manuscript to the publisher.

Congratulations to Glenna Thomson,  mentored by Toni Jordan who has secured a 2-book deal with Penguin Random House. Her first book, Blueberry, was published in January 2017.

 Lisa Bigelow who was mentored by Kathryn Heyman has had her debut novel, We That Are Left, published by Allen and Unwin. Set in inner Melbourne and rural Victoria, We That Are Left is a moving and haunting novel about love and war. Read more here. Congratulations Lisa!

Amanda Webster was mentored by Kathryn Heyman under The Intensive program, working on her second non-fiction book. A Tear in the Soul , which was published by New South Books in September 2016. We wish Amanda great success with this important exploration of race in Australia.

Caroline Beecham was mentored and taught by Kathryn Heyman and James Bradley, and her first novel, Maggie’s Kitchen, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2016. We’re thrilled about Caroline’s success!

Kathryn Heyman mentored Sarah Armstrong during the writing of her beautiful third novel, Promise. Sarah worked with Kathryn via the Intensive Program, and the rights to Promise have been sold in Germany.

For the second year, one of our mentees has been shortlisted for the prestigious Impress Prize in the UK. Rudrani Tooth has been shortlisted for the international novel award for her manuscript "The Year of the Metal Bird". Rudrani says simply “I could not have done it without Kathryn”.

Deborah Biancotti was taught by James Bradley and signed a three-book deal for a series co-written with Margo Lanagan and Scott Westerfield. The series, Zeroes, has been sold in the UK, USA, Turkey, Spain and Germany and the first in the series is a New York Times bestseller. Deborah says “James is a smart, insightful and compassionate coach whose breadth of knowledge about fiction—in all its forms—is hard to beat.”

Sally Collin-James has signed with top literary agent Gaby Naher of the Naher Agency. Sally says “The mentorship helped me clarify critical plot issues, sharpen the writing word-by-word and produce a taut, toned manuscript that gained me a first-class agent.”

PJ Tierney, mentored by Kathryn Heyman 2011 – 2013 signed a three-book deal after a three-way auction. Rights to her YA series are now being sold internationally. The first in the series – Jamie Reign: The Last Spirit Warrior – was published on July 1st 2013 and has been shortlisted for the Readings Children’s Book Prize. She continued her mentorship working on the second and third books in the series Jamie Reign – The Hidden Dragon, and Jamie Reign – The Lost Soul.

We were thrilled to hear that mentee Bernadette Williamson was shortlisted for the 2014 Impress Prize for Fiction. Bernadette says that mentor Kathryn Heyman was "always enthusiastic and encouraging, she swooped on faults from structure to punctuation and enabled me to write a much better novel. I’m so grateful to be shortlisted for the Impress Prize for New Writers and it’s all Kathryn’s doing!"

Jo Riccioni, taught by James Bradley, continues to receive reviews for The Italians at the Cleat Street Corner Store (Scribe) and is now working on her second novel. Jo wrote: “I believe his lack of pretension and genuine openness to the role of fiction and its capabilities puts James at the forefront of writing teachers and mentors working today.”

Kathryn Heyman taught Cherise Saywell as part of a residential program in the UK, during the writing of her first novel, Desert Fish, published by Random House. We are delighted by her ongoing success.

Kathryn Heyman mentored Ondine Sherman, during the writing of her memoir, Miracle of Love. The memoir was published by Murdoch books in 2013, with coverage in the national press.

Kathryn mentored Ed Siegle in the writing of his first novel, Invisibles (Myriad Editions). The novel was  shortlisted for the 2012 Waverton Good Read Award in the UK.

Kathryn mentored Maggie Freeman during the writing of her historical novel, Cymberie. We were thrilled to see Cymberie published by Indigo in the UK.

Kathryn Heyman mentored Jane Rusbridge throughout the writing of her first novel, The Devil’s Music. The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Impac International Award. Jane’s second novel, Rook, has recently been published by Bloomsbury and was brilliantly  reviewed in August in the Times Literary Supplement. 

Martha Lea was taught by Kathryn Heyman and Gold Dust founder Jill Dawson on an Arvon residential course in the UK. Her novel, The Specimen, was published by Canongate in 2013.