Meet the shortlist: Fiona McFarlane

The Night Guest is one of the six books included on our inaugural Readings New Australian Writing Award shortlist. Here we ask Fiona McFarlane five quick questions.


If you were opening your own bookshop, what are three titles that would always be kept on your shelves?

The Striped World by Emma Jones; The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper; Futility by William Gerhardie.

What’s the strangest piece of advice you’ve ever been given as a writer? (And did it work?)

No children until you’ve published a book, and then, if you must reproduce, only one child per book until you have as many children as you want. I don’t have children, so I suppose the advisor (a very famous – and childless, and male – writer) might say it worked, but there are so many levels of absurdity in it I don’t know where to begin.

Do you remember the first book that made you want to be a writer?

The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon – a strange, beautiful, melancholy collection of stories for children I loved as a girl.

Do you listen to music while you write? Why or why not?

No – I find it distracting. But if I’m having trouble writing, I often stop trying and listen to Bach for a while. He seems to filter my brain.

If The Night Guest were made into a film, who would you like to see in the starring role?

I find it hard to imagine The Night Guest as a film. Can I wait 30 years and then cast Cate Blanchett?


To celebrate our our inaugural New Australian Writing (NAW) Award shortlist, we’re inviting everyone to take part in our NAW Reading Challenge! Find out more here.

Cover image for The Night Guest

The Night Guest

Fiona McFarlane

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