Kim Westwood
Encyclopedia
Kim Westwood is an Australian author born in Sydney
and currently living in Canberra
, the Australian Capital Territory
.
She is an Aurealis Award
winner and twice finalist for her short stories, a number of which have appeared in Years Best anthologies in Australia and the USA, as well as broadcast on radio and podcast
.
She received a Varuna Writer’s House Retreat Fellowship for her first novel, The Daughters of Moab, published in 2008 and shortlisted for an Aurealis Award.
Her second novel, The Courier's New Bicycle (2011), has been reviewed as "a disturbingly credible and darkly noir post-cyberpunk tale" with a "brilliantly evoked atmosphere of secrecy and threat" carried by a "strong, empathetic central character [and] fast paced narrative".
Westwood developed her distinctive visual sensibility while working as a theatre performer and deviser. Darkly poetic, her stories are underscored by feminist and gender politics, and have a preoccupation with humanity’s capacity for destruction and equal instinct for survival. Most are set in a near-future Australia. Of this she says, “My imagination has a chemical reaction to living in Australia, and responds strongly to its particular properties.” By example, The Daughters of Moab has been reviewed as “a richly peopled canvas, of which perhaps the real star is the landscape, so intensely depicted as to be almost a presence.”
The Courier’s New Bicycle (HarperCollins, 2011)
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and currently living in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
.
She is an Aurealis Award
Aurealis Award
Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award.-History:...
winner and twice finalist for her short stories, a number of which have appeared in Years Best anthologies in Australia and the USA, as well as broadcast on radio and podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
.
She received a Varuna Writer’s House Retreat Fellowship for her first novel, The Daughters of Moab, published in 2008 and shortlisted for an Aurealis Award.
Her second novel, The Courier's New Bicycle (2011), has been reviewed as "a disturbingly credible and darkly noir post-cyberpunk tale" with a "brilliantly evoked atmosphere of secrecy and threat" carried by a "strong, empathetic central character [and] fast paced narrative".
Westwood developed her distinctive visual sensibility while working as a theatre performer and deviser. Darkly poetic, her stories are underscored by feminist and gender politics, and have a preoccupation with humanity’s capacity for destruction and equal instinct for survival. Most are set in a near-future Australia. Of this she says, “My imagination has a chemical reaction to living in Australia, and responds strongly to its particular properties.” By example, The Daughters of Moab has been reviewed as “a richly peopled canvas, of which perhaps the real star is the landscape, so intensely depicted as to be almost a presence.”
Novels
The Daughters of Moab (HarperCollins, 2008)The Courier’s New Bicycle (HarperCollins, 2011)
Short stories
- ‘The Oracle’ Redsine #9 (2002); Znak Sagite (2005)
- "Temenos" Agog! Smashing StoriesAgog! Smashing StoriesAgog! Smashing Stories is a 2004 speculative fiction anthology edited by Cat Sparks.-Background:Agog! Smashing Stories was first published in Australia in 2004 by Agog! Press in trade paperback format. It was a short-list nominee for best collected work at the 2005 Ditmar Awards but lost to Black...
(2004) - ‘Stella’s Transformation’ Encounters – an Anthology of Australian Speculative Fiction (2004); Year’s Best Fantasy #5 (2005)
- ‘Tripping Over the Light Fantastic’ Orb Speculative Fiction #6 (2004); The Year’s Best Australian SF and Fantasy Vol. 1 (2005)
- ‘Haberdashery’ The Devil in Brisbane (2005)
- ‘1Blue’ Agog! Ripping Reads (2006)
- ‘Cassandra’s Hands’ (2006) in Eidolon IEidolon IEidolon I is a 2006 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy G. Byrne.-Background:Eidolon I was first published in 2006 by Eidolon Books in trade paperback format...
(ed. Jonathan StrahanJonathan StrahanJonathan Strahan is an editor and publisher of science fiction. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986....
, Jeremy G. Byrne) - ‘Terning tha Weel’ Aurealis #36 (2005); The Year’s Best Australian SF and Fantasy Vol. 3 (2007)
- ‘Nightship’ Dreaming Again (2008)
- ‘Last Drink Bird Head’ Last Drink Bird Head (2009)
- ‘By Any Other Name' Anywhere But Earth (2011)
Shortlisted
- 2005 Aurealis Award, Science Fiction Short Story: ‘Terning tha Weel’
- 2008 Aurealis Award, Fantasy Short Story: ‘Nightship’
- 2008 Aurealis Award, Science Fiction Novel: The Daughters of Moab
External links
- The City of Midnight: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mbec/CofM/index.html
- ‘Nightship’ at Terra Incognita, the Australian Speculative fiction podcast site: http://www.keithstevenson.com/coeurdelion/cdlabeindex.html
- http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2005/08/kim-westwood-another-australian-writer.html