ABOUT

I'm a writer based in Melbourne. I recently finished my PhD (on life-writing and teenage experience) at La Trobe University. My non-fiction is regularly published in the Age Spectrum/SMH and journals such as Island, Kill Your Darlings, Overland and the Sydney Review of Books. I write about movies, houses, pop culture and 20th century nostalgia

My YA books are published in Australia, UK, North America, Amsterdam, Brazil and Germany. Notes from the Teenage Underground was a CBCA Notable book, and won the inaugural Gold Inky award for best teenage fiction and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for YA fiction. Take Three Girls, a collaborative novel with Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley won the 2018 CBCA Book of the year. It was also short-listed for the Gold Inky, the Indie Book Awards and was selected for the White Ravens International Youth Library Catalogue. Everything Beautiful was a finalist in the Melbourne Prize for Best Writing, shortlisted for the Inky Awards and Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Girl Defective was a finalist in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, shortlisted for the Gold Inky and the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards for Women's Crime Fiction. In 2021, it was selected for the Adaptable Program through Queensland Writing Centre.

I have been a grateful recipient of grants from the Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria,  Melbourne City of Literature and the Copyright Agency. I was awarded a Varuna fellowship in 2017, and have undertaken writing residencies at The Varda Artists Residency (Sausalito), and the Ionion Centre for the Arts, (Kefalonia).

I have taught creative writing at La Trobe University, RMIT and The Faber Academy, and participated as panelist/presenter/writing tutor in high schools, universities, libraries and community centres and at literary festivals.

On instagram I am @simmonehowell

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For rights enquiries contact Jill Grinberg Literary