Jane Rawson Jane Rawson i(A117532 works by)
Also writes as: J. B. Rawson
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Novelist and author of short fiction.

Rawson grew up in Canberra, and spent some years living in Phnom Penh, Prague, and San Francisco, before settling in Melbourne.

Rawson is the author of a range of short fiction published in Australian periodicals and anthologies, but is best known as the author of the novella Formaldehyde and the novels A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists and From the Wreck. Her work often falls under the heading of speculative fiction, and she is regularly shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards. Formaldehyde won the Viva La Novella Award and was shortlisted for the Norma K. Hemming Award, and From the Wreck was shortlisted for the Readings New Australian Writing Award.

In addition to her fiction, Rawson has written travel writing that has been published by Lonely Planet. She is also the author of the non-fiction The Handbook: Surviving and Living with Climate Change.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2024 recipient Varuna Fellowships Mick Dark Flagship Fellowship for their narrative nonfiction work ‘Human/Nature’
2018 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships

Literature Arts Projects For Individuals and Groups $34,830.00

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon A History of Dreams Sydney : Brio Books , 2022 24067308 2022 single work novel fantasy

'In 1930s Adelaide, four women turn to witchcraft to undermine a new authoritarian government determined to enforce their marriage and virtual enslavement.

'In the 1930s in Adelaide, sisters Margaret and Esther Beasley and their friend Phyllis O’Donnell are learning to be witches. Their guide is Audrey Macquarie, a glamorous, Communist schoolmate who was taught the art of changing dreams by her suffragette great-aunt, Delia Maddingley. This subtle magic, known only to spinsters, has been passed from aunt to niece for generations. Now this group of young women are using it to power their own small revolution, undermining a system that wants them married, uneducated and at home.

'As Europe begins falling to fascism, these women – the Semaphore Supper Club – stumble on a nest of Nazi sympathisers in the poetry salons of Adelaide. The poets’ political connections help them rise in power, until the Club finds they aren’t just fighting chauvinist writers but have taken on Australia’s new authoritarian government. As the government discovers it too can harness dreams, Margaret, Esther, Phyl and Audrey face an overwhelming force they cannot defeat. Each of them must decide whether – and how – to continue the struggle in the face of almost certain failure.

'The History of Dreams explores female friendship, the power of finding a vocation, and the importance of joy in a time of political darkness. It asks what our responsibilities are when faced with an unjust government, particularly when we have the privilege to look the other way.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2022 longlisted Tasmania Book Prizes Tasmanian Literary Awards Premier's Prize for Fiction
y separately published work icon From the Wreck Yarraville : Transit Lounge , 2017 10409268 2017 single work novel science fiction

'From the Wreck tells the remarkable story of George Hills, who survived the sinking of the steamship Admella off the South Australian coast in 1859. Haunted by his memories and the disappearance of a fellow survivor, George’s fractured life is intertwined with that of a woman from another dimension, seeking refuge on Earth. This is a novel imbued with beauty and feeling, filled both with existential loneliness and a deep awareness that all life is interdependent.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2018 shortlisted Festival Awards for Literature (SA) Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature South Australian Literary Awards Award for Fiction
2020 shortlisted Kitschies Award
2018 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award
2018 longlisted Voss Literary Prize
2018 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
2017 winner Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Science Fiction Division Novel
2017 shortlisted Readings Prizes Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
Lake 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Review of Australian Fiction , vol. 19 no. 2 2016;
2018 shortlisted The Woollahra Digital Literary Award Flash and Short Fiction
Last amended 11 Sep 2018 16:03:21
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X