About

Author photo by Jonny Lewis

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer of adult fiction – his contemporary dramas plunge into family dynamics, new relationship types, masculinity, history, and the lure of secrets.

Nigel is the author of three thematically linked but standalone novellas. The Beach Volcano (Blemish Books, 2014) has been described ‘Elegant and original’ (Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Accomplished – an intense fiction range’ (Canberra Times), ‘Utterly enthralling’ (Newtown Review of Books), and ‘Unforgettable’ (Verity La), and was recognised with a 2014 Canberra Critics Circle Award. I’m Ready Now (Blemish Books, 2012) was short-listed for both the 2013 ACT Book of the Year and the 2013 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction. Fall on Me (Blemish Books, 2011) won the 2012 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction.

Nigel’s novel Remnants (Pandanus Books, 2005) was published to acclaim, as was his story collection Joy (2000). He is also the author of nearly 50 stories published in Australian literary journals including the Review of Australian Fiction (three times), Meanjin, Island, and Overland, as well as in the US. Between 2007 and 2015 Nigel was a frequent contributor to Panorama, the weekend magazine of the Canberra Times, and the Fairfax Media network more broadly; he has also written for Australian Book Review, BMA Magazine, Capital, and The Millions.

In 2014 Nigel was commissioned by the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium to develop the concept and write the libretto for an original song-cycle, with the score being composed by James Humberstone from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. This work, titled The Weight of Light, is currently going through a creative development process at the Street Theatre in Canberra and will be premiered in November 2017.

Nigel has been awarded residencies at Varuna (Blue Mountains, New South Wales), Bundanon (Shoalhaven River, New South Wales), and the Kingsbridge Gatekeeper’s Cottage, courtesy of the Launceston City Council, Tasmania. In 2013 he was a Creative Fellow at UNSW Canberra/Australian Defence Force Academy.

He was the founding editor of Verity La (2010-2014), for which he received a 2012 Canberra Critics Circle Award.

Contact/connect

Nigel is represented by Gaby Naher, The Naher Agency, Sydney.

For non-contractual matters, you’re welcome to contact Nigel direct on contact@opentopublic.com.au. You can stay in touch via Twitter or Facebook. An online portal is at Open To Public.

Home

Nigel lives on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, and spends considerable time in Canberra, the national capital of Australia.

Reading

This isn’t a definitive list, and it changes regularly, but writers that regularly inspire include: Anton Chekhov, Steven Carroll, John Clanchy, JM Coetzee, Michael Cunningham, Anne Enright, William Faulkner, Richard Ford, Aminatta Forna, Helen Garner, Marion Halligan, Mark Henshaw, Alan Hollinghurst, Kazuo Ishiguro, Philip Larkin, Cormac McCarthy, Mike McCormack, Roger McDonald, David Malouf, Toni Morrison, Flann O’Brien, Michael Ondaatje, Dorothy Porter, Annie Proulx, JD Salinger, Randolph Stow, Colm Toibin, Leo Tolsoy, and Evelyn Waugh.

Blog acknowledgements

Author photo by Jonny Lewis (2012).

The header image used from 2009 to 2013 was a detail of Genuine Texture 1985 by Philippe Reichert and used with kind permission of the artist.

Other images used are either those taken, produced and prepared by Nigel Featherstone, or are presented for educative purposes only.

The National Library of Australia archives Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecot in the National Bibliographic Database as part of the PANDORA Archive, which ensures that all the material published here is safeguarded against changes in hardware and software, and that the blog as a whole is protected in perpetuity.

Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, all work on Under the Counter or a Flutter in the Dovecot by Nigel Featherstone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.