Angela Slatter

Education

Slatter is graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing. In 2013 she was awarded one of the inaugural Queensland Writers Fellowships.

Slatter occasionally teaches creative writing at the Queensland University of Technology.

Writing

Angela Slatter's short stories have appeared in anthologies and journals in Australia and internationally. Her work has been listed for Honourable Mention by Ellen Datlow, Gavin Grant and Kelly Link; and she has been nominated three times for the Aurealis Award for best fantasy short story. Along with the Aurealis Awards, Slatter has been nominated for the Ditmar Award on two occasions: as Best New Talent in 2008, and for Best Short Story in 2010.

In 2010, Slatter published two short story collections: Sourdough & Other Stories with Tartarus Press (UK) which received a Starred Review at Publishers Weekly, and The Girl with No Hands & Other Tales (Ticonderoga Publications). She is currently working on a "duopoly" consisting of the novels Well of Souls and Gate of the Dead.

In 2016, her first solo full-length novel Vigil was released. She is currently working on its sequel Corpselight and the final book in the "Verity Fassbinder" trilogy.

Reception

Slatter's works have been well received. She has received praise from Publishers Weekly for her "evocative and poetic prose" in Sourdough & Other Stories, and her writing garnered similar comments from Jeff Vandermeer, who described it as "brilliant, muscular, and original". In particular, Slatter has received critical acclaim for her style of retelling or "reloading" fairytales.

Individual short stores have, at times, been highlighted by reviewers: in particular, her story "The Jacaranda Wife" was perceived as one of the best stories in Jack Dann's Dreaming Again anthology by The Australian, as well as being praised by The Cairns Post and The Sydney Morning Herald, who wrote: "The collection's trump card is the quality of its new writers, many of whom produce stronger stories than some of the veterans ... Particular standouts are ... Angela Slatter's haunting The Jacaranda Wife, set in colonial Australia, seems to build towards a climax truly sinister, yet instead leaves you with beautiful imagery that is as otherworldly as it is strangely touching." Similarly, Scoop Magazine described her collaborative story, "The February Dragon" (with Lisa L Hannett) as being a "highlight" of Scary Kisses.

Kim Wilkins has cited Slatter as a SF author of note in a forthcoming chapter in the Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing.

Slatter was the subject of an extensive feature in Issue 21 of Black Static Magazine, which had her photograph on the cover. Its review of Sourdough and Other Stories states, "The effect is almost as if Quentin Tarantino had decided to write fairy stories instead of scripting Pulp Fiction." (page 44)

Her collection, The Girl With No Hands and other tales was a finalist for the 2010 Australian Shadows Award for Long Fiction, and her story "Brisneyland by Night" is a finalist for Short Fiction.

In May 2011, Slatter was the winner of 2010 Aurealis Award for Best Collection with The Girl With No Hands and other tales and Best Fantasy Short Story for The February Dragon, co-written with L.L. Hannett. This award was jointly awarded to Thoraiya Dyer for Yowie.

Her collection, Sourdough and other stories was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award.

Slatter was awarded the British Fantasy Award in 2012 for her short story "The Coffin-Maker's Daughter".

The collection, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings was co-winner of the World Fantasy Award, Best Collection, 2015.