Kim Westwood is an Australian author born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and currently living in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

She has won the Aurealis Award twice, a Scarlet Stiletto Award and a Ditmar Award. She was shortlisted for six awards including the

Aurealis Awards The 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 The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 b ...

, James Tiptree, Jnr., the Ned Kelly and the Davitt awards for her short stories and novels, a number of which have appeared in Years Best anthologies in Australia and the US, as well as broadcast on radio and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. She received a Varuna Writer's House 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), was selected for the Honour List of the 2011

James Tiptree, Jr. Award The Otherwise Award, formerly known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science f ...

, and won an Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel as well as a Ditmar Award for Best Novel (

Ditmar Award results The Ditmar Award is Australia's oldest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and horror award, presented annually since 1969, usually at the Australian "Natcon". The historical nominations and results (listed in boldface) of the Award follo ...

). It 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 ndfast 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".

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Daughters of Moab'' (HarperCollins, 2008) * ''

The Courier's New Bicycle ''The Courier's New Bicycle'' (2011) is a novel by Australian author Kim Westwood. It was shortlisted for the 2012 Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Crime Novel, and won the 2011 Aurealis Award and the 2012 Ditmar Award for Best Novel. Plot summar ...

'' (HarperCollins, 2011)

Short stories

* "The Oracle", ''Redsine #9'' (2002); Znak Sagite (2005) * "Temenos", ''

Agog! Smashing Stories ''Agog! Smashing Stories'' is a 2004 Australian 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 nomi ...

'' (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 I ''Eidolon 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. It was a short-list nominee for the 2007 Ditm ...

'' (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G. Byrne) * "Cassandra's Hands", (author's revised version) ''Escape anthology'' (2011) * "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)

Fellowships

* Varuna Writers' House Fellowship (2004)

Awards and nominations

Award

* 2002 Aurealis Award, Horror Short Story: ''The Oracle'' * 2011 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, Judges' Prize: ''Trouble in Nine Acts'' * 2011 Aurealis Award, Best Science Fiction Novel, ''The Courier's New Bicycle'' * 2012 Ditmar Award, Best Novel, ''The Courier's New Bicycle''

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'' * 2011 James Tiptree, Jnr. Award: ''The Courier's New Bicycle'' * 2012 Ned Kelly Awards: ''The Courier's New Bicycle'' * 2012 Davitt Award: Best Adult Crime Fiction ''The Courier's New Bicycle''

References

External links

VanderWorld (under occupation): KIM WESTWOOD: ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN WRITER ON THE RISE
* http://tiptree.org/award/2011-james-tiptree-award/honor-list {{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, Kim Year of birth missing (living people) Australian science fiction writers Living people Australian women short story writers Australian women science fiction and fantasy writers Australian women novelists Scarlet Stiletto award winners