Hannah Kent

Kent was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and attended Heathfield High School.[1] In 2010, Kent co-founded the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings with Rebecca Starford.[2]

In 2011 Kent won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award for her novel Burial Rites.[3] Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men, one of whom was her employer, and became the last woman put to death in Iceland.[4] Kent was drawn to the idea of writing her story after a visit to the scene of the woman's execution at Þrístapar, close to where she stayed for some time as a Rotary exchange student when she was 18.[5] The novel crafts a more ambiguous, sympathetic image of the life of a woman widely regarded in popular opinion to have been 'an inhumane witch, stirring up murder'.[6] Burial Rites went on to be translated into thirty languages and in 2017 it was confirmed that Jennifer Lawrence would play the role of Agnes Magnúsdóttir in a film adaptation.[7] A documentary about Kent's experiences in Iceland and writing Burial Rites was aired on the ABC as an episode of Australian Story titled 'No More Than a Ghost,' on 1 July 2013.[8]

Kent's second novel,The Good People, was published in 2016. Set in Ireland's County Kerry in 1825, it is the story of widow's struggle to find a cure for her grandson who has been struck down by a mysterious inability to speak and who is feared by others in this superstitious community as a changeling.[9] The novel takes inspiration from the case of the death of Michael Leahy.[10] It was translated into ten languages and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction (UK) 2017.[11] Aquarius Films will adapt The Good People for screen.[12]

In 2020 it was announced that Elisabeth Moss will star in Kent's screenwriting debut, Run Rabbit Run, developed with Carver Films.[13] The film will be directed by Daina Reid.[14]

THE GOOD PEOPLE (2016)

• Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award 2017 [15]
• Shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2017[16]
• Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction (UK) 2017[11]
• Shortlisted for the Indie Books Award for Literary Fiction 2017[17]
• Shortlisted for the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Award 2017[18]

BURIAL RITES (2013)

• Winner of the Prix Critiqueslibres Decouvrir Étranger 2017[19]
• Winner of the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2014[20]
• Winner of the Davitt Awards Best Debut Novel 2014[21]
• Winner of the Davitt Awards Reader's Choice 2014[21]
• Winner of the ABA Nielsen Bookdata Bookseller's Choice Award 2014[22]
• Winner of the Booktopia People's Choice Award 2014[23]
• Winner of the FAW Christina Stead Award 2013[24]
• Winner of the Indie Books Award for Debut Fiction of the Year 2014[25]
• Winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards People's Choice Award 2014[26]
• Winner of the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist 2014[27]
• Shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2015[28]
• Shortlisted for the Voss Literary Prize 2014[29]
• Shortlisted for the National Book Awards International Author of the Year 2014[30]
• Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2014[31]
• Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2014[32]
• Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction 2014[33]
• Shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal 2014[34]
• Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2013[35]
• Shortlisted for the NIB Waverley Award for Literature 2013[36]

• Author website for Hannah Kent
• Prejudice melts away in a frigid landscape, Burial Rites Review, Sydney Morning Herald. 25 May 2013
• , Author profile, The Age. 8 October 2016