Meet the Hungerford judges: Richard Rossiter

Fremantle Press meets Richard Rossiter, one of the judges of the 2018 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award.

Richard Rossiter is a writer, editor, occasional supervisor, writing judge and mentor. He is a member of the editorial board of Margaret River Press and Honorary Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University. He is an experienced fiction editor and his books Arrhythmia: Stories of Desire and Thicker than Water: A novella are both published by UWAP.

How long have you been associated with the Hungerford Award?

This is the fourth time I will have judged the Hungerford Award. This award’s importance for Western Australian writers and writing cannot be overstated.

What do you like about being a Hungerford judge?

I take much pleasure in discovering the range of interests and topics that currently engage Western Australian writers and the ways in which they approach their work, that is, their stylistic choices. And there’s always the anticipation of a ‘discovery’: some exciting new talent!

What do you look for when judging a manuscript?

For me the judging process is largely intuitive, not driven by clearly articulated criteria or expectations. Nevertheless, something like ‘an authentic voice’ would always be a precondition for success.

What are you reading right now?

Alex Miller’s The Passage of Love.