Kirsten Tranter is an internationally acclaimed author, editor and critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and co-founder of the Stella Prize for Australian women’s writing. Her creative work engages closely with literary tradition and the idea of writing as practice of critical re-reading and revision. Kirsten is the author of the novels Hold (2016), longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Voss Literary Award, A Common Loss (2012) and The Legacy (2010), a contemporary adaptation of Henry James’ classic Portrait of a Lady. The Legacy was praised by The Guardian as “a seductive contemporary literary thriller… a knowing, classy debut” and named a Kirkus Review debut novel of the year, shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal and the ABIA literary fiction award, and longlisted for the Miles Franklin award. Kirsten’s short fiction is widely published in collections including her Edgar Award-nominated story in Sydney Noir (2019) and the recent anthology of stories inspired by songs of Nick Cave, Into Your Arms. She has mentored authors and taught creative writing and literary studies around the world at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Technology, Sydney, and many workshops.
