Josephine Rowe | |
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Occupation | Author |
Notable works | Here Until August |
Josephine Rowe is an Australian author known for her short story collections, including Here Until August , and her two novels A Loving, Faithful Animal and Little World. [1] She is a two-time The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist and was shortlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize for her short story collection Here Until August. [2] [3] [4]
Rowe's short story collection Tarcutta Wake was published by the University of Queensland Press in 2012. [5] The collection was longlisted for the 2013 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. [6] In a review in Australian Book Review , William Heyward wrote that the collective was somewhat formulaic and monochromatic, but that its stories were mysterious and satisfying. [7] Reviewing the collection for Overland , Tony Birch wrote that Rowe's writing deserved to be read more widely and that she was a talented writer of "micro-fiction". [8]
In 2016 Rowe's first novel A Loving, Faithful Animal was published by the University of Queensland Press. [9] The book was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and was shortlisted for the Voss Literary Prize and the fiction prize at the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. [10] [11] [12] In a review in The New York Times , Samantha Hunt wrote that the novel featured "gorgeous, precise language" and a compelling cast of characters. [13] In The Sydney Morning Herald , Emma Young praised the novel for its "measured and concise writing" and its exploration of grief and trauma. [14] Reviews in the Financial Times and Australian Book Review similarly praised the precision of Rowe's writing style. [15] [16]
Rowe's next short story collection Here Until August was published by Black Inc in 2019. [17] The collection was shortlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize and was shortlisted for the short story collection prize at the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards. [18] [19] In a review in The New York Times , Siobhan Jones praised the collection for its diverse collection of settings. [20] Reviewing the work in The Saturday Paper , Roanna Gonsalves described it as "a superb collection, pared back, astute, yet brimming with life and love and expectation". [21]
In 2025, Rowe's novel Little World was published by Black Inc. [22] The novel received somewhat mixed reviews. In The Guardian , Beejay Silcox wrote that Rowe's writing was characteristically gorgeous, but that the novel felt hollow and lacked answers to the questions it posed. [23] Tony Hughes-d'Aeth gave a more positive review of the novel in The Conversation , writing that it had an exquisite lyricism. [24] In Australian Book Review, Maria Takolander described the novel as "grandly and enduringly enigmatic" and described it as a work of magical realism. [25]