2023.05

Every Version of You optioned for film + wins USyd People's Choice Award, a new short story, and hey, I'm in Best of Andromeda Spaceways Vol. 5!!!

Every Version of You optioned for a film adaptation

OK, so you may have seen me screaming about this on my socials already, but I’m going to continue screaming until it sinks in (may take years, sorry folks)...

Every Version of You has been optioned to adapt into an international feature film by Cognito Entertainment!!!

I'm so grateful that my book came to the attention of the amazing team at Cognito, and that their creative vision is to interweave the story's scientific elements with a tender portrayal of love and loss. (Aside: I’m currently reading David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives and it is brilliant, I can’t believe I hadn’t read it sooner.)

Fingers crossed for the journey ahead!

• Official announcement

• Cognito’s official launch in Variety and C21 media

Every Version of You wins University of Sydney People’s Choice Award

I went up to Sydney for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards ceremony last week and it was wonderful. All I can say is: thank you so, so much—to the judges of the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, to everyone behind the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, to the University of Sydney for sponsoring the People’s Choice Award, and most of all, to the readers who read and voted for Every Version of You. It’s such an encouraging award for a debut author to receive. I’m floored.

The Devil’s Hair: A New Short Story

I actually wrote The Devil’s Hair a few years ago, and I’m so glad it has found a home in Where the Weird Things Are Vol. 2! I’ve always wanted to have a story published by Deadset Press, who are doing a lot of work to showcase speculative fiction from downunder. Thank you so much, Austin and Clare!

What’s missing in your life? A bunch of strange, spooky stories set in Aotearoa and so-called Australia, of course. It’s out now! Paperbacks will be available soon too.

The Ethnographer in Best of Andromeda Spaceways Vol. 5

I am so, so excited about this one! ‘The Ethnographer’ follows a solitary researcher who visits a far-flung planet to study its alien inhabitants and discovers deep social divisions that mirror our own. The team at Andromeda Spaceways were kind enough to pop it into their latest Best of anthology. I’m hanging out for my contributor copy to arrive so I can dive into the stories. Clicky here for table of contents and to snag a copy. (PS. That cover!!!)

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Reading Recs!!!

Recently, I did a lot of reading of my co-panellists works and discovered some truly awesome stuff. Here are a few of my favourites:

• Here Be Leviathans, by Chris Flynn. Chris is that rarest combination of talents: ridiculously funny and wildly creative.

• The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka. This Booker Prize-winning novel needs no introduction. Satire, the afterlife, ghosts, lovers, and a harrowing account of the Sri Lankan civil war. (I was lucky enough to join Shehan and Jason Reynolds on a live episode of ABC RN’s The Bookshelf last week.)

• Everything Feels like the End of the World, by Else Fitzgerald. Not only are Everything Feels and Every Version of You debut buddies, but we overlap in so many themes. This short story collection will sweep you away with its humanity and imagination.

• Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI, by Toby Walsh. Exactly what the title says. In his usual sharp, straightforward style, Walsh spells out current dilemmas in AI for the layperson.

• Sub-Imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena, by Clinton Fernandes. This slim volume (it’s only ~100 pages) was incredibly memorable. Positions Australia as a sub-imperial power to America’s military and economic imperialism and Western colonisation.

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Phew.

It’s been such a whirlwind since Every Version of You was released in August last year. Toddling along to a bunch of literary festivals and meeting writers and readers has been a huge privilege, but also incredibly anxiety-provoking and foreign to this socially-selective introvert (heh) who’s more accustomed to prowling around her study, thumbing through books, and tapping away at her clicky, iridescent keyboard.

I’m taking a month or so off to travel with family and do some stuff that’s Just For Funz. I won’t be online much. The best place to keep on top of big updates is ths newsletter; you may find some snapshots of what I’m eating, reading, and doing over on my Instagram.

Come July, I hope to hit the keyboard again. I’m excited to start working on the second novel.