Fogarty shortlister Serena Moss on how to rebuild after the wreckage is cleared
When she heard she’d been shortlisted regional writer Serena Moss said she’d been inspired to enter after seeing another ‘Gero’ writer, Holden Sheppard (also from Geraldton), build a writing career. The comparison is apt because this Waggrakine resident gives an equally unapologetic take on small town Australia: from the burn-outs to the booze and from the massive highs of living fast to the irreparable lows of being a young man making bad choices.
In this conversation with Katherine Allum she shares that grief is messy – and while you must own your bad decisions, it is what you build from the wreckage that ultimately defines you.
Serena’s reading from her manuscript Wreckage is a must-listen!
Tune in here or on your favourite podcast app to find out more.
Show notes
About Serena
Serena Moss (she/her) spent her childhood between Perth and a string of small Western Australian towns, and now lives in Waggrakine, WA, north-east of Geraldton. Her work explores the intersections of grief, disability, and small-town legacy. Serena writes from sheds, servo cafes, and the backseat of her Nan’s car while waiting for her between medical appointments. She believes in messy boys, wild girls, and fiction that starts after the worst thing has already happened. Wreckage is her debut novel.
Serena on socials: Instagram @stories.by.serena
About the hosts
Katherine Allum is an award-winning fiction author. Her debut novel, The Skeleton House, won the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award. American-born, she grew up in four different states, but has strongest ties to Portland, Oregon and regional southwest Nevada. After spending several years in the UK, where she completed an MA at City, University of London, she now lives in Perth with her husband. She does her best story plotting while swimming.
Katherine’s website: www.katherineallum.com
Katherine on socials: Instagram @Katherine.Allum
Georgia Richter has an MA (Creative Writing) from the University of Western Australia and is an IPEd Accredited Editor. She has taught creative writing, professional writing and editing at the universities of Melbourne and Western Australia, as well as at Curtin University. Georgia joined Fremantle Press in 2008 as the fiction, narrative non-fiction and poetry publisher.
Books by Georgia Richter, Fremantle Press publisher
How to be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia
About the award
Read more about this year’s shortlist here.
The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial prize for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author aged between 18 and 35 for a work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. The winner receives a cash prize of $20,000 from the Fogarty Foundation, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a Fellowship with the Centre for Stories.
The Fogarty Foundation was established by Brett and Annie Fogarty in 2000 to support and provide educational and leadership opportunities for young people across the spectrum of the Western Australian community. As well as partnering with a range of organisations, the foundation has initiated its own programs that include the UWA Fogarty Scholarship Program, CoderDojo WA and Fogarty EDvance.
Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.
Producer: Claire Miller
Mastered by: Aidan d’Adhemar
