Kathryn Heyman

Kathryn Heyman is a novelist, essayist and scriptwriter. Her fifth novel Floodline was published in September 2013 and has been compared by the Australian to the work of Cormac McCarthy. Her first novel The Breaking was shortlisted for the Stakis award for the Scottish writer of the year and longlisted for the Orange prize. Other awards include an Arts Council England writers’ award, Wingate and Southern Arts awards, and nominations for the Edinburgh Fringe Critics’ Awards, the Kibble prize, and the West Australian Premier’s book awards.

Kathryn Heyman’s several plays for BBC Radio include Far Country and Moonlite’s Boy, inspired by the life of bushranger Andrew Scott (known as Captain Moonlite) and his desire to be buried with his ‘one great love’ James Nesbitt. Two of her novels have been adapted for BBC Radio: Keep Your Hands on the Wheel as a play and Captain Starlight’s Apprentice as a five-part dramatic serial.

Kathryn Heyman speaks at conferences and festivals internationally, including the Cheltenham Writers’ Festival, the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, Edinburgh Book Festival, Worlds Writing Festival, British Council/Australian Embassy readings in Singapore. As well as directing the fiction programme for the Faber Academy in Australia, she is the director of the Australian Writers’ Mentoring Program and a member of the Folio Prize Academy.