Member Spotlight: Melissa Manning

2.03.22

Our March Member Spotlight features Melissa Manning, who was recently awarded the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction for her short story collection, Smokehouse!

Melissa Manning is a Melbourne-based author and lawyer. Her debut interlinked story collection, Smokehouse, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the USQ Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection.

What inspired you to begin writing?

I’ve always been a reader, a lover of stories and language, and I’ve long thought I’d write one day. When my mother died at 59, I resigned from my job and enrolled in RMIT’s Diploma of Writing and Editing where I learnt so much from teachers and fellow students, not the least of which was that I didn’t need an idea to be able to start. It turns out the trick was to actually write. I’ve been working on craft, and unpicking the way I feel about the world through writing ever since. 

What does it mean to have won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction?

It’s a huge honour, especially when considered in the context of previous winning books and authors, and the amazing writers who were shortlisted and commended this year. I feel very humbled. It’s also a great reminder, in those inevitable swells of self-doubt that seem to plague most writers, that I have created something of beauty that has resonated with readers. 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the beginning of your writing career?

I wish I’d had a clue about the depth of generosity and kindness of the writing community. If I’d known this it was where I’d find my tribe, I might have started a lot earlier. Also, I wish I’d known how purely joyful the writing process can be, the way it’s possible to fall in love with your characters, to submit yourself to following the roads they take you down.

Which Australian authors or illustrators have been influential on your writing career?

This is such a fraught question. There are so many and I feel a bit caught. I studied European and American literature in the early nineties and the first Australian book I fell in love with was Tim Winton’s Cloud Street. 

I deeply admire all of Helen Garner’s work, and the work of Richard Flanagan, especially his mastery of point of view in The Narrow Road to the Far North. 

I’m awed by the intelligence of Maria Tumarkin’s Axiomatic, and by the ability of Robbie Arnott, in Flames, and The Rain Heron to show how delightfully clever, fantastical and wonderful stories can be. 

The powerful command of language of poets such as Evelyn Araluen, Eileen Chong, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Rachael Mead, Thuy On, Maria Takolander, and Chloe Wilson leaves me always wanting to do better. 

Short fiction masters Josephine Rowe, Tony Birch, and Jennifer Down are such are inspiration in the form. 

I hold in the highest esteem the writing of Carrie Tiffany, especially her most recent work, Exploded View. On a very personal level, as the first writing teacher to make me believe I could do this thing, I owe Carrie a great deal. 

Finally, I have learnt more than I can say from the incredible writers I’ve workshopped with over the years. There’s so much talent yet to be published and I look forward to seeing their work in bookshops and on awards lists. 

Find out more about Melissa on her website: https://lissmanning.com/