Holden Sheppard was born and bred in Geraldton, Western Australia. His debut novel, Invisible Boys, won multiple awards, including the 2019 WA Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer and the 2018 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. Invisible Boys has been adapted for television as a Stan Original Series.
Holden’s second novel The Brink won the 2024 Ena Noel Award and the 2023 Indie Book Awards YA Category Prize. Holden’s books have been shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the South Australian Literary Awards, and Invisible Boys was named a CBCA Notable Book.
Holden’s 2025 novel King of Dirt is his third book. He has received grant funding from the Minderoo Foundation and the WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries to write a forthcoming fourth novel, which is a sequel to Invisible Boys.
Holden’s writing has been widely published in books, journals and the media. He served as Deputy Chair of Writing WA from 2019 – 2023, and is an Adjunct Creative Fellow at Edith Cowan University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honours. He featured in the 2022 “Bogans” episode of the ABC television series You Can’t Ask That.
When he’s not writing or reading, Holden can be found working out at the gym, playing video games or watching footy.
He lives in Perth’s far north with his husband and his V8 ute.
