Hachette Australia, along with Hannah Richell and in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival and Simpsons Solicitors, is delighted to announce Chloe Anne as the recipient of the 2026 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.

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Chloe Anne is a young emerging writer from South Australia whose entry, The House Where Mercy Died, impressed all the judges with its confidence and compelling storytelling. The judges, who were immediately captivated by the work and wanted to read more, said: ‘the literary ability to build tension and atmosphere was apparent from the opening paragraphs’.

The House Where Mercy Died is a gothic novel that focuses on twenty-seven-year-old Evie Hart’s return to her rural hometown for her mother Mercy’s funeral. Evie has spent years distancing herself from her mother, and she expects to stay only long enough to bury her, empty the house and then leave again. But at Mercy’s graveside, an elderly woman whispers something that unsettles everything Evie thought she knew: ‘Your mother wasn’t mad. She was afraid.’ It is a novel about grief, buried truth, and the dangerous difference between forgiveness and silence.

Chloe Anne says of the win, ‘I was genuinely shocked when I found out I had won the Richell Prize. After speaking with the other shortlisted writers and hearing about their incredible work, I honestly didn’t think I had a chance. The Richell Prize is such a wonderful opportunity for emerging writers, and knowing it was created in memory of Matt Richell and his passion for discovering and nurturing Australian writing talent makes being part of it incredibly special. To have The House Where Mercy Died recognised, and to have people within the publishing industry believe in my potential as a writer, means more than I can put into words. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and I also want to congratulate the other shortlisted writers. Getting this far is an incredible achievement in itself, and I feel very lucky to have shared this experience with them.’

Jess Zanoni, Artistic Director & Co-CEO of the Emerging Writers’ Festival says, ‘It is a tremendous privilege as always to administer the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. This prize is one of a kind in Australia. It not only changes the life of a singular writer year after year, but provides much needed affirmation, belief and encouragement to all who are longlisted. Myself and my co-CEO Jes Layton send our sincere congratulations to Chloe Anne for her winning entry The House Where Mercy Died, in what we know was an extremely competitive shortlist. We hope that this accolade and mentorship offered by Hachette Australia and the Richell family is enriching and fortifies what will no doubt be a shining career ahead in literature.’

Joel Naoum, Hachette Australia Publishing Director says, ‘Chloe Anne’s The House Where Mercy Died is exactly what the Richell Prize exists to find − a distinctive new voice with a story to tell and the craft to tell it. The judges were unanimous, and it’s easy to see why: the writing is atmospheric, assured and it was hard to put down. We’re delighted to support Chloe through the Richell Prize mentorship and can’t wait to see where she goes next.’

This year, the Richell Prize received 1022 entries. Each submission was read by two initial readers before the judging panel, which consisted of Cindy Manfong, publishing projects editor from the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF); Simon McDonald, fiction buyer from Dymocks; Jane Turner, bookseller and owner of Gertrude & Alice; Vanessa Radnidge, Head of Non-Fiction & Literary at Hachette Australia; and Hannah Richell, bestselling author, who all read and closely reviewed the longlist. They then met to decide on the shortlist and then on the winner. The judging panel, chaired by Joel Naoum, Hachette Australia Publishing Director, ultimately selected The House Where Mercy Died as the worthy winner.

ABOUT CHLOE ANNE:
Chloe Anne is a twenty-six-year-old writer from Adelaide, South Australia, with a Bachelor of Psychological Science.Growing up through a difficult childhood, Chloe found comfort and escape in books, losing herself in stories and the worlds they offered. What began as a love of reading eventually became a love of creating stories of her own, giving her somewhere to put the ideas that seemed to constantly fill her mind. While her writing has explored everything from historical fiction to romance, her background in psychology and love of crime and psychological thrillers ultimately drew her towards darker, twistier stories. Inspired by authors such as Lisa Jewell and Holly Jackson, Chloe hopes to give readers what she loves most about the genre: the need to keep turning the page and the thrill of a revelation they never saw coming. For Chloe, writing was never something she expected to become a career. It began as a hobby and a place for the many stories constantly building inside her busy, slightly scrambled mind to go. The House Where Mercy Died grew from Chloe’s fascination with the secrets people keep, the stories communities tell themselves, and what can happen when someone finally begins asking questions that others would rather leave buried. At its heart, it is a story about truth, memory and the courage it takes to uncover what has been hidden.

ABOUT THE RICHELL PRIZE:
The Richell Prize has firmly established itself in the Australian literary landscape as a unique opportunity for emerging writers. Created to honour former Hachette CEO Matt Richell, who died in a surfing accident in 2014, the Richell Prize is designed to celebrate and support unpublished writers and in the last ten years it has done exactly that. It is dedicated to removing barriers for unpublished writers, has no age limit and requires only three finished chapters at the time of submission so as to encourage and empower writers to be brave and bold and back their talent. The Richell Prize awards the winning writer $10,000 and a unique mentorship with a publisher from Hachette Australia.