The Richell Prize Winner 2024

HACHETTE AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES MYLES McGUIRE AS WINNER OF THE 2024 RICHELL PRIZE

At the Tenth Anniversary Celebratory event held in Sydney, Hachette Australia, along with Hannah Richell and in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival and Simpsons Solicitors, announced Myles McGuire as the recipient of the 2024 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.

In judging the Prize this year, all the judges were impressed by McGuire’s talent and assured touch and believe that readers of The Slap and Love & Virtue will love this story.

Myles McGuire is a writer from Brisbane. In 2024 he was a winner of the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award, and the Griffith Review Emerging Voices competition. He has also been nominated for the Glendower Award for an Emerging Writer and the Peter Carey Short Story Award. He is the Programs and Development Manager at Brisbane Writers Festival.

McGuire says of the win, ‘It’s very rare, as a writer, to get an objective sense of whether something is working while it’s still in development. Winning the Richell Prize has been a massive boon to my confidence; given the number of entries, I already felt like a winner for having made the longlist. That the judges deemed Stroke to be the best in this field is frankly astonishing, and I’m so grateful that they loved the characters in this story as much as I do.’

Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh says, ‘To be trusted with the legacy of Matt Richell, and indeed this prize, has been a huge privilege for the Emerging Writers' Festival over the past decade. To encounter new talent and to give it a space to be nurtured and developed is something that touches the very heart of our organisation. For ten years, we have administered this singular prize, and have watched the careers of many entrants flourish beyond winning or placing on the long and shortlists. To place in this prize is no small feat, especially in this anniversary year, with a record number of entrants (over 1,100). Congratulations to all listees and gratitude to our readers and judges, who have the brilliant and difficult job of reading all the entries and finally, selecting a winner. As we know, to win this prize is simply the beginning. Our immense congratulations to Myles McGuire for the winning entry, Stroke. We are thrilled for you, and excited to see where this journey takes you.’

Joel Naoum, Hachette Australia Publishing Director, says, ‘In this tenth anniversary year, it was wonderful to have over one thousand entries. The standard was incredibly high, demonstrating that the Richell Prize is now one of the most important awards for emerging Australian writers because it is a development prize and not restricted by age or genre. As the Chair of the judging committee I can say that there were long discussions about the shortlist, and every writer on that shortlist was impressive, so choosing the winner was not easy, but Myles’s talent and evocative story gave him the edge. We are thrilled that Myles will now be mentored by Hachette and that this Prize will provide him the space and support to complete the novel.’

ABOUT STROKE:

Stroke is a powerful work of fiction. Evocative and addictive, it offers a layered exploration of morality, perception, class, sexuality and abuse. Using multiple perspectives to reveal the story adds great depth and complexity to a thought-provoking and nuanced examination of a scandal at a privileged all-boys school. The characters are fully formed and the dialogue faultless.

ABOUT THE JUDGING:

This year, the Richell Prize had 1,180 entries. Every entry was read by two readers before the judging panel – Bianca Valentino, editor and writer; Lindy Jones, senior buyer at Abbey’s Bookshop; Anjelica Rush, bookseller at Avenue Bookshop; Hannah Richell, bestselling author; and Vanessa Radnidge, Hachette Australia Head of Literary – were presented with the longlist of twenty-one writers. After reading through the longlist carefully, the judges, chaired by Joel Naoum, Hachette Australia Publishing Director, met to carefully consider all twenty-one entries and discuss the strengths of each work. After selecting seven shortlisted writers, the judges determined Stroke the winner of the 2024 Richell Prize.

ABOUT HACHETTE AUSTRALIA:

Hachette Australia is part of the international Hachette publishing group and, over the past ten years, has focused on growing the Australian list with around 100 new titles now published each year. The stellar line-up of local authors includes bestselling two-time Golden Dagger winner and ABIA Fiction winner Michael Robotham; award-winning ABIA Picture Book of the Year winners Davina Bell and Hilary Jean Tapper; Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks; Australia’s bestselling non-fiction writer Peter FitzSimons; Walkley Award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie; New York Times bestselling novelist Natasha Lester; Miles Franklin shortlisted author Michael Mohammed Ahmad; the Lothian Children’s Books author and illustrator and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Shaun Tan; and the New York Times bestselling children’s author and illustrator Sophie Blackall. Hachette Australia proudly supports emerging writers of all ages through the Richell Prize, in association with the Emerging Writers’ Festival; the State Library of Queensland’s black&write! program; and in partnership with Express Media, the Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers. Hachette Australia also represents an array of A-list authors on the international list, including Matthew McConaughey, Stephen King, Delia Owens, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling and Rebecca Yarros.