“There is an overwhelming need for us to demonstrate and bear witness of God’s love and care for his people in the literary community. The public engagement of Christian women in the intellectual arts environment has extraordinary potential to challenge the secular perception that Christianity subjugates and devalues a women’s intellect and agency. It is imperative that we publicly offer an alternative viewpoint.”
About Claire
Claire is the author of three novels for young adults. Her first novel, The Sky So Heavy, was a 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book for Older Readers and shortlisted for both the 2013 Aurealis Awards for Best Young Adult Novel and the 2014 Inky Awards. Her second young adult novel, The Protected, was the winner of the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the West Australian Premier’s Book Award and the 2015 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers. Her most recent novel, One Would Think the Deep was awarded the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, The Queensland Literary Award, and the Gold Inky Award.
After graduating from Western Sydney University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Claire began studying fashion and textile design at UTS, however after becoming dissatisfied with the elitist nature of the fashion industry she cut her study short. It wasn’t until 2006 that she began to pursue a literary career and graduated from UTS with a post graduate diploma in writing in 2007. Claire secured her first publishing contract with University of Queensland Press in 2012.
Claire’s first picture book, No Place for an Octopus, which she both authored and illustrated is to be released November 2019.
Fellowship project: ‘The unauthorised autobiography of Stella Q’
Claire will use her Fellowship to write her first novel for an adult audience while developing her profile of public engagement at events and in the media. The novel (working title: 'The Unauthorised Autobiography of Stella Q') will centre on a highly successful and critically acclaimed (fictional) contemporary artist, Stella Q. Stella's position in the conceptual arts is akin to (non-fictional) artists such as Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst.
Claire’s novel will explore the fashionable concept of artistic and personal authenticity, something which has become elevated in recent times and is somewhat juxtaposed with society’s embrace of post-modernist theories of relativism and post-truth. Concurrent to this will be an investigation into the ethical crisis we experience when an artist’s personal failings cloud the integrity of their work.
In a return to Claire’s background in the fine arts, the novel will touch on the eternal question: ‘what is art?’ and poke gentle fun at the conceptual art movement which peaked in the late nineties and arguably drowned out much of the more aesthetically centred works of the period. Intertwined with this theme will be an exploration of the artist as a celebrity (a concept which emerged with Andy Warhol and peaked with artists such as Emin and Hirst) and the currency this celebrity holds within both the art world and the fashion industry.
This novel will be Claire’s first to be aimed at an adult audience and will endeavour to tap into both the commercial and literary market. Claire hopes it will open up for her further opportunities for public engagement at festivals, events and in the media.