Author photo: Joanne Manariti Photography
Meg Mundell is a writer and social researcher. Born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, she lives in Melbourne with her partner and their son.
Her second novel The Trespassers (UQP, 2019) won the 2020 Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel. The book was also shortlisted for the Voss Literary Prize, an Aurealis Award (Best Science Fiction Novel), and a Norma K. Hemming Award. It received critical acclaim and was optioned for a TV series. Her first novel Black Glass (Scribe, 2011) was also shortlisted for several prizes, and her short story collection Things I Did for Money (Scribe, 2013) has been used internationally as a university teaching text.
Meg also conceived and edited We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place & Belonging (Affirm Press, 2019), a world-first collection of true stories by people who have experienced homelessness. The book arose from her research project We Are Here, which used creative writing to explore understandings of place with people who have gone without a home.
Right now she’s working on her next book, a work of non-fiction investigating public attitudes to homelessness, and exploring creative strategies to combat the blame, stigma and hate directed at the people who experience it.
As head of one-woman research consultancy Hatch Insight, Meg consults to the community, academic and government sectors. A casual Research Fellow with Deakin University’s HOME Research Hub, she holds a PhD (creative arts), a Master of Arts (creative writing), a BA (psychology and philosophy), and a Diploma of professional writing and editing. Past day jobs include academic, journalist, policy analyst, nightclub DJ, ventriloquist’s assistant and deputy editor of The Big Issue Australia.
RECENT NEWS…
- Plausible Deniability: Dark comedy series about homelessness and social change (Random Pictures/ Screen Australia). Screenwriter: Episode 3: The Politician and script producer (series).
- The Burning World: The Spinoff, extract from ‘Living With the Climate Crisis’ (ed. Tom Doig, BWB)
- The Trespassers wins 2020 Davitt Award! Best Adult Crime Novel
- 2020 Voss Literary Prize: The Trespassers makes the longlist!
- Norma K. Hemming Award, 2020: The Trespassers a finalist
- Aurealis Award 2019 (Best Science Fiction Novel): The Trespassers shortlisted
- Screen rights sold: Triptych Pictures and Fremantle acquire TV rights for The Trespassers
- Anna Krien launches The Trespassers: 8 August 2019, Readings, State Library Victoria
- UQP acquires Meg’s second novel from agent Martin Shaw