About
James McKenzie Watson writes fiction with a focus on health and rural Australia. His novel Denizen won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize and was shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2022 Australian Shadows Awards and Best Debut in the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards. It was also named a best book of 2022 by multiple Australian publications.
James’s writing has been published in The Guardian, Meanjin and Kill Your Darlings. His short fiction has been recognised in competitions including the Newcastle Short Story Award, the Grieve Writing Competition and the International InkTears Flash Fiction Contest. He has received residential fellowships from Varuna and the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre.
James has appeared at festivals including Sydney Writers’ Festival, Newcastle Writers’ Festival and BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival. An experienced interviewer, he regularly hosts book launches and author conversations. He teaches creative writing for writers of all ages and levels of experience, from casual workshops to masterclasses for organisations such as Writing NSW.
Since 2020, he has co-hosted the writing and health podcast James and Ashley Stay at Home with bestselling author Ashley Kalagian Blunt. He lives in Sydney and works as a nurse.
Selected Work
Novels
Denizen | July 19 2022 (Penguin Random House)
- Winner of the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize
- Shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards - Best Debut
- Shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Shadows Awards - Best Novel
Non-fiction
Show Your Working | Kill Your Darlings | August 2022
What I'm Reading | Meanjin | July 2022
For The Guardian
James McKenzie Watson’s summer: heat that could roast a chook and wombats hogging the fan | December 2023
Country living is about community – so why are we building inhospitable estates? | January 2023
As a troubled bush teen, I found meaning in an unlikely place: I became a nurse | November 2022
Mental health outcomes are worse in the bush, partly because it’s easier to get a gun than get help | September 2022
Fellowships
2021 Varuna Residential Fellowship | for Denizen
2021 KSP Fellowship | for Denizen
2020 Writing NSW Varuna Fellowships | Highly Commended for Denizen
Short Fiction
Dear Mr Clarke | Brave Voices Magazine, Issue #5 | Published December 2019
The Lumbering Pulse | Baby Teeth Journal | Published April 2019
The Visitor | Highly Commended, InkTears Flash Fiction Contest 2018
Twin Suns | Finalist, Newcastle Short Story Award 2018 (appears in anthology)
Palliation | Major Prize Winner, Lane Cove Literary Awards 2017 (appears in anthology)
Westward | Shortlist, Elyne Mitchell Writing Award 2017 (appears in anthology)
Dysphasia | Selected, Outback Writers' Festival Short Story Competition 2017 (appears in anthology)
Butter Chicken | Major Prize Winner, Grieve Writing Competition 2016 (appears in anthology)
Book Reviews
Ghost Species by James Bradley | Reviewed for Newtown Review of Books
A Bigger Picture by Malcolm Turnbull | Reviewed for Newtown Review of Books
Halibut on the Moon by David Vann | Reviewed for Newtown Review of Books
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara | Reviewed for Newtown Review of Books
The Butcherbird Stories by A.S. Patric | Reviewed for Newtown Review of Books