Current student Laura Flynn was shortlisted for the inaugural Spark Prize, which is a partnership between Hardie Grant Books and RMIT Writing and Publishing.

The Spark Prize was launched earlier this year as an exciting new opportunity to foster talent in the narrative non-fiction genre. The prize received over 200 entries from writers across Australia and was judged by readers from both Hardie Grant Books and RMIT’s Bowen Street Press.

The winner of the inaugural Spark Prize was Youjia Song for her narrative non-fiction book proposal, The Pursuit of Impossible Dreams.

The Spark Prize team was also excited to choose three shortlisted book proposals:

• Dust by Laura Flynn, one family’s pursuit to heal their land in South-West Queensland and shift from traditional farming methods to regenerative agriculture.
• How to Knit a Human by Anna Jacobson, a split-voice, non-linear memoir following the author’s attempts to re-stitch her sense of self and memory after experiencing psychosis at age 23.
• The Mind Has Mountains by Gina Ward, a memoir on the memory of trauma and self in the decades following the deaths of her parents.

The winning prize includes $2000 in prize money, a 6-month editorial mentorship with Hardie Grant Books and a one-month residency at RMIT’s McCraith House on the Mornington Peninsula. Each of the shortlisted writers will receive a book bundle and editorial session with Hardie Grant Books.