Delighted and honoured to have been awarded the University of Tasmania’s Hedberg Residency! I’ll be in Tasmania from August to October (inclusive) to work on a new novel, do some teaching, and generally be a writer-in-residence for 3 months. I’m also hoping to be able to launch my new Titan novella, The Cold House, while I’m in Hobart!

Here’s the full text of the media release from UTas:

Fantasy author Angela Slatter to be 2025 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence

Multi-award-winning fantasy, horror and supernatural crime author Angela Slatter will be the 2025 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania.

Dr Slatter has been awarded the $30,000 residency and will spend three months in Hobart writing, working with students and taking part in community conversations.

She will use the time to progress work on a new novel titled A Book for the End of the World.

“I’m deeply grateful to be this year’s recipient of the Hedberg residency,” Dr Slatter said.

“Opportunities such as this are rare and the chance to be able to create in a new environment, working on my next novel for a dedicated three months is something I’m very much looking forward to.

“I’m also looking forward to interacting with the university’s creative writing students and hopefully being able to value-add to their study experience.”

Queenslander Dr Slatter’s major publications include the gothic fantasy/horror novels All The Murmuring Bones (2021), The Path of Thorns (2022), The Briar Book of the Dead (2024), The Crimson Road (2025) and the forthcoming A Forest Darkly (2026); the urban fantasy/supernatural crime novels Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018); as well as 12 short story collections and a collaboration with Hellboy Universe comics founder Mike Mignola, Castle Full of Blackbirds (2023).

She has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Shirley Jackson Award, three Australian Shadows Awards, eight Aurealis Awards, and a Ditmar Award. She’s been shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Queensland Literary Awards Book of the Year.

Angela will arrive in Hobart in August to take up the residency, working on her novel, mentoring creative writing students and taking part in public discussions.

Selection committee chair and Senior Lecturer in English Dr Robert Clarke said the University was thrilled to welcome its fifth Hedberg Writer-in-Residence.

“Many Tasmanian readers will already be familiar with and fans of Angela’s award-winning and bestselling fiction,” Dr Clarke said. “And I know our students and staff will relish the opportunity to engage with Angela and learn from a writer of such deep experience.

“I am sure, too, that local writers will appreciate the chance to join Angela in our program of public workshops and masterclasses.”

2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence, selection committee member and recent recipient of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association’s Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award Eugen Bacon said Dr Slatter’s innovative new project showed her great versatility as a writer. 

“Angela Slatter is doing remarkable work in her body of works on feminist gothic fairy tales, new wine in old skins in a postmodern take of retelling stories, where she heroes girls and women,” Dr Bacon said.

The Hedberg Writer-in-Residence program is offered by the English and Writing program in the School of Humanities, with support from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. It is open to established fiction or non-fiction writers, in all genres, who are resident in Australia.

Previous recipients also include Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott, who used the residency to work on his 2023 Age Book of the Year Limberlost and Gail Jones, whose recently released novel One Another was also written during her residency.