The Big Issue’s milestone 20th Fiction Edition is on sale now from vendors and online.
The Fiction Edition – which boasts 16 more pages than usual editions – contains new short fiction from 13 writers, who were selected from an incredible entry pool of 808 submissions. Submissions were anonymously judged by Melissa Fulton, Daniel James and Claire Cao, as well as The Big Issue editorial team.
Since starting in 2004, the Fiction Edition has become the biggest-selling fiction magazine in Australia. The Edition is a rare opportunity for new and emerging writers to see their work published in a national print magazine, often for the first time. The Fiction Edition has provided a launchpad for writers such as Jane Harper, Melissa Manning and more who’ve gone on to have prolific literary careers.
Copies are available for $9 from The Big Issue vendors around the country. Vendors are equipped for cash, card and app payments.
Readers who aren’t close to a vendor can purchase the magazine through our online store or subscribe and support our Women’s Workforce.
Congratulations to our successful writers!
AIDAN PREWETT
Aidan Prewett teaches music in Melbourne’s southeast, and is the author of non-fiction titles Woodstock at Fifty, To Know John Lennon and Our Jimi. Prewett’s debut novel is moments away from completion.
X: @aidanprewett
CHRIS AMES
Chris Ames is a writer from California. His work has been featured in The Saturday Paper, The Big Issue, Kill Your Darlings and elsewhere. A 2024 Hot Desk Fellow, he lives in Melbourne with his wife and son.
X: @_chrisames
MURRAY MIDDLETON
Murray Middleton is the author of No Church in the Wild, which is out now. The novel was recently named Readings’ April Fiction Book of the Month. Murray’s first collection of short stories, When There’s Nowhere Else to Run, won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. His next collection of short stories – each one about an artist in a state of despair – will be released by Pan Macmillan in 2025.
NATASHA SEYMOUR
Natasha Seymour is an emerging writer and arts worker with Australian and Indo-Trinidadian heritage. Her writing is usually about family, place and identity, but sometimes she writes about sharks. Her love of Australian literature is fed into her Substack, Tell Me What to Read. She lives and works on Wurundjeri land.
X: @natashadseymour
MAX EASTON
Max Easton is a writer from Sydney. He is the creator of underground music zine and podcast series Barely Human, and the author of two novels: the Miles Franklin-longlisted The Magpie Wing (2021), and its loose sequel Paradise Estate (2023), both published by Giramondo.
RT WENZEL
RT Wenzel is a writer on Melukerdee country, exploring folklore and ecology from an animist perspective. Recent publications include Dark Mountain, Island and Folklore for Resistance.
Instagram: @the_quiet_wilds
JAMES NOONAN
James Noonan is a writer and editor based in Melbourne. His short fiction has appeared in Kill Your Darlings, Award‑Winning Australian Writing, Talent Implied and elsewhere. He is a dog dad to cavoodle Maggie and is currently at work on his first novel.
Instagram: @jimmynoonz
DANIEL RAY
Daniel Ray was shortlisted for the 2023 and 2024 Griffith Review Emerging Voices Competitions and is the recipient of the 2024 Faber Academy Writing a Novel Online Scholarship, where he is developing his debut novel about H and co, supported by a Create NSW Grant.
Instagram: @danielraywrites
CONSTANCE HUNTER
Constance Hunter grew up in a small town called Eldorado. Although she does not live there now, she returns when she can. This is her first time being published professionally. She writes cold-blooded short fiction, and her work is about mud and hexes, strange women and hunger, power and beasts.
Instagram: @conhunterart
ALICIA GADD-CAROLAN
Alicia Gadd-Carolan is a writer in Naarm. She recently completed a Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing at the University of Melbourne. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Voiceworks, The Suburban Review, Stereo Stories and ABC Online.
Instagram: @alicia.g_c
MEREDYTH TAMSYN
Meredyth Tamsyn has a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing from RMIT University. She has written about the conflicts in Timor-Leste and Aceh for The NZ Listener, Eureka Street and New Matilda; as well as film and TV for Metro and Screen Education.
AMELIA MCBRIDE BAKER
Amelia McBride Baker is an emerging writer who lives in an old milking shed in the Otway Ranges in Victoria. She is completing a Master of Arts in Writing and Literature at Deakin University. After adapting classic novels into stage productions for many years, this is her first short story.
Instagram: @ameliamcbridebaker
ELEANOR EDSTROM
Eleanor Edstrom is an editorial assistant and French teacher based in Sydney. Her travel writing has been featured in Vacations & Travel, Signature Luxury Travel & Style, Holidays With Kids and Ski & Snowboard With Kids print magazines. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in philosophy and English at the University of Sydney.
Instagram: @eleanoredstrom
ALICE LINDSTROM
Alice Lindstrom is an artist and illustrator working in Adelaide. Alice generally works in paper and digital collage. Her work draws on diverse influences, including mid-century illustration and design, folk art and twentieth-century art movements.
Instagram: @alicemlindstrom
The Fiction Edition was made possible by the generous support of the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. The Agency’s Cultural Fund provides grants to creative individuals and organisations for a diverse range of projects which aim to enrich Australian cultural life.
