Moya Costello
Writer
Books
Moya Costello has five books – two of short creative prose (Kites in Jakarta, Sea Cruise Books and Small Ecstasies, UQP), two short novels (The Office as a Boat, Brandl & Schlesinger and Harriet Chandler, Short Odds Publications), one collection of prose poems (pressed specimens, Beir Bua Press) – and many pieces individually published in scholarly and literary journals, and anthologies. She has been awarded writing grants and fellowships by government departments and literary organisations. She has been a guest at many writers’ festivals, read her work at various venues, been as writer-in-residence at Monash University, and judged many literary competitions. She is an adjunct lecturer with the Faculty of Business, Law and Arts, Southern Cross University. See also an academic publication site; a general wine quaffing blog, and a local wine drinking blog.
Bio
Brief CV
pressed specimens:
Prose Poems from the Medicinal Plant Herbarium, Southern Cross University
In the Media
Don Anderson, The National Times on Kites in Jakarta: 'In the dominant drab landscape of Australian realistic writing, these volumes come like a fresh breath of wind. A southerly buster.'
John Hanrahan, The Age
on Small Ecstasies: 'There is wit, irony and comedy in the writing, but also an assured seriousness and high intelligence.'
Katherine England,
The Advertiser
on The Office as a Boat: 'The writing is beautifully clear and visually precise.'
Nicholas Jose, Sydney Review of Books and The Australian Face: Essays from the Sydney Review of Books on Harriet Chandler: 'This bold, uncompromising author …. this brilliant, beautiful book.'
In Sydney Review of Books by Catriona Menzies-Pike: 'an incarnation of avant-garde and experimental writing'.
In Rochford Street Review by Anna Counai
Andrew Paul Wood, NZ Listener on 'Of Ants and Black Cockatoos' in Scorchers: 'Costello's prose is richly poetic, unforced.'
On Twitter, academics, editors and writers of my Overland review of Bail's He.: Emmett Stinson, 'fantastic and fascinating piece'; Susan Lever, 'This is terrific. All your deep knowledge of Bail behind it.'; Jonathon Dunk: 'This essay is a striking study in/performance of the border between entanglement, intimacy and complicity in Australian literary history'.
First review of pressed specimens 2022, in Buzz by Mab Jones.
Events & News
EVENTS
2020-2021
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Read. April 17, 2020 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm AEST, via ZOOM. -
See also some recent past events.
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I have a statement on a Tony Tuckson Untitled for an exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery from its permanent collection, co-curated by the Friends committee. September 2020.
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My microlit text 'Rain in the Northern Rivers' (inspiring the film Hard Times) was a finalist in the Microflix Festival and Awards for writing. Spineless Wonders Short Australian Stories, the filmmakers: Animation – Caitlin Cao, Charmaine Kwok, Irina Vlachoulis, Jacob Taylor. Sound Design – Julian Oliver. October 2020.
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I read at Deloraine, in one of the Tasmanian heats for Australian Poetry Slam. August 2021.
2022
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Here is the launch of Tinfish Journal no 22 with me and other poets. February 2022.
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Launch of pressed specimens: Prose Poems from the Medicinal Plant Herbarium, Southern Cross University from Beir Bua Press.
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Impromptu reading at the Chow Chuck Wing Museum, Sydney University, June 2022
NEWS
2019-2020
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Australian Book Review ran a poll of favourite 21thC Australian novels: Harriet Chandler among them. 2019
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Review essay of Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, published in Sydney Review of Books, April 2020.
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Spineless Wonders publishing featured 'Rain in the Northern Rivers', a prose poem, read here by Eleni Schumacher and composer Victoria Pham provides the soundtrack, May 2020.
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Review of Helen Garner's Yellow Notebook in TEXT, May 2020.
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A prose poem in The Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry from Melbourne University Publishing, September 2020
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Short fiction in Eunoia Press: Scorchers: A Climate Fiction Anthology, September 2020.
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Three microflix texts selected for filmmakers to choose from for the Microflix Film Festival: 'Northern Rivers', 'The Family Regiment', and 'Roadkill', September 2020. 'Northern Rivers' is in the longlist for Microflix October 2020.
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Review of Susan Lever's book Creating Australian Television Drama: A screenwriting history in Australian book Review, October 2020.
2021-2022
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Finalist, with 'Splitting Hairs', in the 2021 joanne burns Microlit Award (Spineless Wonders) and to in the 2021 anthology Pulped Fiction.
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Review of Murray Bail's He. in Overland 2021.
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Review of Helen Garner's 2nd diary volume, One Day I'll Remember This p54, and Linda Adair's poetry collection The Unintended Consequences of the Shattering p39. TEXT 2021.
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Creative catalogue essay for Emma Walker's exhibition Distillations at Glasshouse Gallery, Port Macquarie, and Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, May-August 2021.
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Prose poem published in Adelaide: Mapping the Human City, ed by Deb Stewart, Gininderra Press, 2021.
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My short novel was mentioned in Claire Robert's Ian Fairweather and China, The Miegunyah Press, as 'Fairweather continues to inspire writers ... [m]ore laterally Moya Costello's novel Harriet Chandler', in which Fairweather is mentioned, 2021.
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Two prose poems from the 'pressed specimens' ms published in Poetry for the Planet: An Anthology of Imagined Futures, ed by Kaylock and O'Hagan, 2021.
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Quoted on the covers of three books from Spineless Wonders, and for the catalogue entry for Upswell Publishing for Marion May Campbell's new poetry collection (page 10 in the catalogue). 2021
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Review of Fairweather and China by Claire Roberts in Art Monthly Australasia 2021/22 Issue 330.
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Longlisted for the Beir Bua Press Laurence Sterne Prize 2021 for 'pressed specimens': a collection of prose poems written with the pressed specimens in the Southern Cross Plant Science Herbarium.
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Two poems from the 'pressed specimens' ms published in Tinfinsh Journal no. 22. February 2022.
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Review of Helen Garner's third diary volume in Overland. 2022
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'Matilda' in Travel anthology from Spineless Wonders. 2022
Contact
For inquiries, please contact Moya Costello
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