Fiona McFarlane

Fiona McFarlane (born 1978) is an Australian author, best known for her novel The Night Guest and her collections of short stories The High Places (2016) and Highway 13 (2024). She is a recipient of the Voss Literary Prize, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Nita Kibble Literary Award.

Life and career

McFarlane was born in Sydney, Australia in 1978. She studied English at the University of Sydney, the University of Cambridge and the University of Texas at Austin.

Her debut novel, The Night Guest, was published in 2013 and is about a retired widow with dementia who lives alone. It won the Voss Literary Prize and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, the Stella Prize

In 2017, McFarlane won the Dylan Thomas Prize for her collection of short stories, The High Places.

In 2025, her short story collection Highway 13 won The Story Prize.

McFarlane's writing has also appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, Southerly and The New Yorker. Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Fiction New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize for Fiction Miles Franklin Award — ALS Gold Medal — Prime Minister's Literary Awards Fiction Voss Literary Prize —