Queer Author Fiona Wilkes Shortlisted For 2024 Hungerford Award

Western Australian queer author Fiona Wilkes has been shortlisted for the 2024 Hungerford Awards for her work, I remember everything.

The shortlist for the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award has been announced, with PhD candidate and queer writer Fiona Wilkes among the four finalists. 

Wilkes’ manuscript, I Remember Everything, is a historical fiction novel that poignantly explores queer life during the AIDS epidemic in the decade following 1979, a time when the HIV crisis lacked proper treatment.

Describing her novel, Wilkes said, “The novel is an exploration of what it means to love your found family, at times more than your real one, and the lengths you will go to in order to save them.” This powerful narrative follows protagonist Billie, a young queer woman navigating love, loss, and survival as her friends succumb to the devastating epidemic while she remains uninfected. The novel draws attention to the importance of queer solidarity and the deep, often unbreakable bonds within chosen families.

The City of Fremantle Hungerford Award, a biennial prize recognising unpublished Western Australian authors, offers a $15,000 cash prize, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press, and a fellowship with the Centre for Stories.

Holden Sheppard was previously award the prize for his debut novel Invisible Boys.

Judged anonymously, the award this year saw 81 entries, with four writers—including Wilkes—nominated for their unique and powerful works.

Wilkes’ novel is a personal and profound reflection on both queer tragedy and queer hope. 

She reveals her motivation for writing the book, sharing that she wanted to counteract the typical portrayal of queer stories as overwhelmingly tragic. 

“So often, as queer readers, the literature that we consume (often, it must be said, written by non-LGBQIA+ authors) tells us that the only way to live a queer life is to struggle and barely (if at all) survive the tragedies of a queer life,” she said.

 “I wanted to show that, although there are aspects of living a queer life that are difficult, sad, or, yes, completely tragic, there is also room for intense joy, love and friendship.”

This balance of heartbreak and hope is at the heart of I Remember Everything, a story Wilkes began sketching out in 2021. 

After working on the draft intermittently for a few years, she completed a second polished draft in time to submit for the Hungerford Award earlier this year. 

For Wilkes, making the shortlist is nothing short of a dream come true: “I’ve dreamed of becoming a writer since I was a little girl, so to be recognised with a debut that is so personal and touches on such important issues is truly incredible.”

Wilkes’ strives to give a voice to the LGBTQIA+ community and to showcase a broader spectrum of queer experience. “Despite the sad parts of this novel it is, ultimately, a story of queer hope,” she emphasised. As queer stories face increased suppression in various parts of the world, Wilkes calls on readers to support and uplift narratives created by LGBTQIA+ writers: “Read queer stories by queer folk, and resist attempts to silence queer voices wherever you can!”

Alongside her PhD studies at The University of Western Australia, Fiona Wilkes has already garnered acclaim for her writing in both local and international publications, including Westerly Magazine, Coffin Bell Journal, and The Elevation Review. 

She was also a featured writer at the 2022 National Young Writers Festival and has been nominated for prestigious awards like the Pushcart Prize. 

In 2023, she received high commendation for the Katharine Susannah Prichard Short Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction.

The winner of the Hungerford Award will be announced at the Fremantle Arts Centre in October.

The full list of nominees is below.

• Far From Wonderful by Howard McKenzie-Murray (fiction)
• Screech by Jodie Tes (fiction)
• I Remember Everything by Fiona Wilkes (fiction)
• የተስፋ ፈተና / Trials of Hope by Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes (narrative non-fiction / poetry)