How a nomadic lifestyle inspired Jessica Baker’s Fogarty Literary Award manuscript

Out There, In Here by Jessica Baker wins most travelled manuscript in this year’s Fogarty Literary Award shortlist. Begun in Manjimup, the story survived a van journey across the country and expat life in London before being submitted from Kununurra. It’s a testament to Jessica’s need to tell this story that it survived the upheaval to make the shortlist.

Describe the manuscript in your own words.

Out There, In Here is a coming-of-age story about Beth Green, a 25-year-old court news reporter who feels trapped by her life in Brisbane, and her younger sister Alex, a contrastingly sunny person. A series of ordinarily draining days in courtrooms spur Beth to do what many daydream about but do not have the courage, or are not defeated enough, to attempt: leave her home and comforts, switch off her phone, hire a van and drive without a plan to wherever her curiosity takes her.

Beth’s story gives a voice to the quiet unravelling that follows unresolved trauma, and explores themes related to disillusionment, love, abuse and the fantasy of escape, with a humour, warmth, and levity that makes it an accessible and engaging read. It offers one answer to the question of whether it is possible to solve the problems that live In Here by being Out There – can one outrun their own mind?

What inspired you to write it and what did your writing process look like?

Beth’s story was inspired by my own fantasies of escape and drastic change, which have cropped up at various points in my life from when I was a teenager. It is a confusing – but, by many anecdotal accounts, common – experience to be living a privileged existence and still feel dissatisfied and want more, or at least something different. Perhaps you work a corporate job in the city but dream of a simpler life on a farm, or you live in a country where it’s always cold but believe you would thrive somewhere it’s always hot, or you are a lawyer but have always wanted to be a painter. I think writing Out There, In Here was my way of traversing a path that I suspected I wanted to take but didn’t yet have the guts to do.

My writing journey began at a time of personal upheaval. I had just quit my job and flown across the country to visit my boyfriend, who was living in a small town in Western Australia, before I was to move overseas. I have wanted to write books for as long as I can remember, and Manjimup seemed as good a place as any to start. When my month there was up, I put away my laptop, and my boyfriend and I drove back across the country in a van, then went overseas. I did not resume working on the manuscript until several months later, when I had settled into my new job and flat in London. I worked on the manuscript in the hours around work – including on the Tube in the mornings and evenings. It has been a scrappy process. I moved back to Australia (regional WA) in 2024 and spent a couple of months completing the first draft of the manuscript. I continue to edit in the hours around my day jobs.

Tell us what it means to you to make the 2025 Fogarty Literary Award shortlist.

It is surreal to know that someone has read my manuscript (who isn’t my mum), and that they liked it enough to select it for the 2025 Fogarty Literary Award shortlist. It is a very private and personal experience to write a book, to spend so many hours – years! – entrenched in the lives of fictional people no one else knows, deep in the weeds of your own words.

I feel honoured and truly grateful to have made the shortlist. It is suddenly dawning on me that Out There, In Here does not just exist in my head, but is a tangible work that others can read and have opinions on. This is a scary but exciting thought!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I would like to thank Fremantle Press and the Fogarty Foundation for this opportunity – and encourage other writers to start or keep chipping away at whatever project inspires them.

Jessica Baker commenced her career as a journalist in 2020, transitioning into court and crime reporting before becoming a foreign news reporter. When Jessica is not writing, she works as a marketing and media officer and spends time exploring the dramatic landscapes of the northwest.

To meet Jessica in person, join us at the Fogarty Literary Ceremony on Tuesday 3 June at the Government House Ballroom. Tickets are free and available from Humanitix here.