Meet Island's new Fiction Editor

We are absolutely  thrilled to announce that Jane Rawson has joined the Island team. Jane will be taking on the role of Fiction Editor for the print issues.

Jane lives in the Huon Valley, Tasmania, and works as a writer for a conservation organisation. Her latest novel, A History of Dreams, was published by Brio in 2022 and longlisted for the Tasmanian Literary Awards. Her first novel, A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, won the Most Underrated Book Award and her second novel, From the Wreck, won the Aurealis Award and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin. She is also the author of a non-fiction guide to surviving and living with climate change called The Handbook and a novella, Formaldehyde. Her stories and essays have been published widely.

Jane said about the role: "Ever since I wrote an essay for Overland in 2018, attempting to answer the question 'What is an Australian short story?', I've been a little obsessed with the role played by literary journals and the stories they publish in the Australian fiction ecosystem. Tasmanian fiction is having a real moment, lighting up the scene with surreal stories, tales of wild creatures and wild places, and highly crafted works of art. I'm excited to see more from the writers of Tasmania (as well as the mainland, of course) and to do my small part to keep fiction flourishing."