Meet Award-Winning Author Mandy Beaumont

It's the 10th anniversary of The Richell Prize!

Meet the talented authors that have either been awarded or offered publishing through The Richell Prize. Our authors chat through their experiences with drafting and submitting, as well as tips and tricks to make your manuscript stand out!

Hi Mandy! Tell us a little about yourself and your relationship with writing.

I have a complex, loving, faithful and energising relationship with writing. It helps me make sense of the world around me. I’m Melbourne based. I grew up in Queensland. I am a big fan of my darling dog Paisley. I’m also a big fan of liquorice, dismantling systems of oppression, trash TV and literary fiction. I’m also true crime obsessed. I miss Queensland beaches and those cracking late afternoon thunderstorms in summer.

We have published two of your works so far – Wild, Fearless Chests and The Furies – that challenge the male gaze and speak to the representation of women. What would you like to see more of when it comes to feminism and inclusivity in Australian literature?

I want to see publishers take more risks with innovative and political fiction. I also want to read more voices that are not men and that are outside of my own experience as an inner-city white woman. I want to hear readers talking about our books as challenging, anger inducing, confrontational, angry, expansive, big thinking, energising and exciting. And, I also want women—especially working-class women, women from marginalised backgrounds and people who have gender-expansive identities—to have access to and the opportunities that have traditionally been afforded to others.  

Who are your favourite authors?

Australian Andrew McGahan and Gillian Mears loom large in my landscape. I also adore Carmen Maria Machado, Max Porter, Eimear McBride, and books like Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Last Tango in Paris by Robert Alley, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I also am a diehard fan of Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller. And, the list goes on…

Your favourite part of the Richell Prize experience?

When I first met Vanessa Radnidge (Publisher at Hachette and Richell Prize judge) she told me that she was very keen on helping my career develop. From that first conversation, I’m now coming up to releasing my third book with Hachette. She kept her word. It’s my favourite part of this whole prize, that its more than just a wad of cash, its brought a real and tangible career to life.  

What do you think really makes a manuscript shine?

Confidence (and if don’t have it, just pretend you do; no one knows this but you!) Ideas and images that burst off the page. A powerful voice that hooks me in from the first page and won’t let go – no matter the storyline.

Can you share any tips and tricks for those entering this year?

A while back the Emerging Writers Festival asked me this same question. Here are my answers, that still hold true.

1. Find your voice. Write it out until you find it. It may take you years. Keep working to find it. Keep going, keep writing and working on the craft of it. The story will come, and the story can be moved and edited, but the voice will be what makes you a good writer. For me, I know I’m writing voice well when there is a small violence in the way I’m sitting and writing. It’s like a strong rhythm. It’s never hard for me to write when the voice is right.

2. Don’t compromise on what you have written. My work was knocked back for years and years (still is regularly) and I just kept at it, not once compromising on my subject matter, my style or my voice. I think that if you do compromise on your writing then you need to ask yourself, what are you really writing for?

3. Find the heat. The best writing is where the heat is. What is the heat in your work? Where does it sit?  What is going to move the reader to want to read more? For me, the heat is when words fall over each other and make new meanings on the page, when the story moves forward without effort, when the writing moves to some kind of physical response in me. Try and find it every time you sit down to write.

4. When you’re writing it, don’t worry what other people will think of the manuscript. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. (Refer to points 1, 2 and 3, over and over again).

We’re thrilled to be publishing your third book, The Thrill of It, in 2025. What can you tell us about your upcoming novel.

The Thrill of It is a true crime inspired novel. Set in 1989 on the North Shore of Sydney, it reimagines the story of serial killer John Wayne Glover (also known as the Granny Killer) and his connection to the socialite and wallpaper designer Florence Broadhurst. Its dark, very Australian and has a feminist bent. Crime books are some of the best reads out there, so I hope this one is a hit with readers.