Laura Jean McKay: 2025 Frank O’Connor Fellow & judge of the Ó Faoláin Competition

Laura Jean McKay has been appointed as this year’s Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow, which includes a three-month residency in Cork and the delivery of workshops and mentorships. She will also be the judge of the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, which opens for submissions on 1st May.

The opportunity to apply for mentorships with Laura Jean McKay will be posted on our website in the coming months.

Laura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020) – winner of the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. The Animals in That Country has been shortlisted for The Stella Prize and The Kitchies and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Laura’s short story collections are Holiday in Cambodia and Gunflower (Scribe 2023), which was shortlisted for the 2024 Queensland Literary Awards and named one of The Guardian’s best books of 2023. An Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University, Laura now lives in Meanjin (Brisbane), Australia, and serves on the Australasian Animal Studies Association committee. She was a 2024 Queensland Writers Centre Fellow and awarded the NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honours.