Hungerford shortlisted author Michal Stone discusses her verse novel Torch
In this episode, Michal Stone talks about how her experiences working in mental health helped her create a strong foundation from which she created her verse novel Torch. Her and podcast host Holden Sheppard also discuss how Michal spent over a decade creating this novel, and how this experience is helping her approach her next book.
Fremantle Press publisher Cate Sutherland said the verse novel about unrequited and fierce love and about growing up in a world that is far from perfect.
Tune in here or on your favourite podcast app to find out more.
Show notes
About Michal
Michal Stone grew up in Perth and spent the summers of her childhood and teenage years in Dunsborough. She is a doctor working in mental health and has been telling stories for as long as she can remember. Her writing explores mental illness, loss, sexuality, and the complexities of human connection. Torch is her first novel, and it is a novel in verse. She is currently working on a second novel about girlhood, desire, and digital identity, set in Perth and Dunsborough.
About the hosts
Holden Sheppard is an award-winning author born and bred in Geraldton, Western Australia. His debut novel, Invisible Boys, won the Hungerford Award in 2018 and has now been adapted for television as a Stan Original Series (2025). Holden has won national acclaim for the raw, blokey honesty of his four emotional novels about the modern experiences of Aussie men. His writing has been widely published in books, journals, the media and on screen. Holden is an outspoken advocate for artists’ rights, gay rights and men’s mental health, for which he was recognised in the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards as a WA finalist in the Australia’s Local Hero Award.
Holden’s website: www.holdensheppard.com/
Holden on socials: Instagram https://instagram.com/HoldenSheppard Facebook https://facebook.com/HoldenSheppardAuthor
Cate Sutherland has worked in publishing for more than twenty years, in a variety of roles from publicity and marketing to production and editorial. Cate has been the children’s book publisher at Fremantle Press since 2007 and her list includes award-winning picture books, novels for younger readers and young adult fiction.
About the award
Read more about this year’s shortlist here.
Proudly sponsored by Fremantle Press, the biennial Hungerford Award is Western Australia’s most prestigious award for an unpublished work of adult fiction, narrative non-fiction, young adult fiction or verse novel by an unpublished writer offers a cash prize of $15,000 from City of Fremantle, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a fellowship at the Centre for Stories.
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: Tim Scott with Aidan d’Adhemar
