Wikiake

About

Claire Fitzpatrick (Born June 1991, Kogaragh, Australia) is an Australian editor and writer of horror, science-fiction, dark fantasy, and non-fiction. She regularly writes academic speculative non-fiction and has taught several writing courses.

She has published three novels, one collection, over 40 short stories in anthologies and magazines in Australia and overseas, and over 30 non-fiction articles and essays.

She won the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism, was the recipient of the 2020 Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship, and was shortlisted for the 2022 William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review.

Claire Fitzpatrick has been cited as ‘Australia’s Queen of Body Horror’ and ‘Australia’s Body Horror Specialist’. She has been a regular guest at Supanova and Oz Comic-Con.

Career

Drawn to dark fiction at a young age, Claire Fitzpatrick is known primarily as a body horror writer and cites her influences as writers such as Mary Shelley, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, HP Lovecraft, Ursula K LeGuin, and Sonya Hartnett. Fitzpatrick has also cited visual artist Carolee Schneeman and comic book artist Junji Ito as major inspirations for her work. At age 9 her first poem was commended in the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Writing Competition. Fitzpatrick’s work often features anatomical themes, including puberty and neurological issues from first-hand experiences with epilepsy, which she acquired from a brain injury during infancy. Her work regularly addresses themes of isolation, morality, humanist philosophical questions on social order, and Aristotelianism thoughts on what it means to be human.

Claire Fitzpatrick’s writing accolades include being the winner of the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism and working with authors such as former Penguin editor Dmetri Kakmi and Australian screenwriter Aaaron Sterns. She has also edited American writer Nancy Holder and Australian writer Rob Hood.

Fitzpatrick completes academic scholarly research on Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft.

She is currently co-writing a children’s horror series with multi-award-winning Scottish author Jan-Andrew Henderson.

Claire Fitzpatrick is married to a professional video gamer and artist.

Publications

Novels

• 2015:Andromeda (Nebula Rift)
• 2017: Only The Dead (Oscillate Wildly Press)

Collection

• 2018: Metamorphosis (IFWG Publishing)

Poetry

• 2015: Purple Delphiniums and Other Poems (Collection – Unknown Artists)
• 2015: The Ocean and Other Poems (Self-Published Collection). Cover art by Peru-based artist Yulia Katkova.
• 2016: I See (Make Your Mark Magazine)
• 2017: Hanoi (Poetry Nation)

Non-Fiction

• 2021: How Mary Shelley Continues To Influence Modern Science Fiction (Aurealis). Shortlisted for the 2022 William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review
• 2020: Borderline Personality Disorder: When Psychopathy Helps Your Success As A Writer (The Ginger Nuts of Horror). Listed on on This Is Horror’s 5 Must Read Horror Articles June 2020
• 2016: The Body Horror Book (self-published). Winner of the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism

Short Stories

• 2015: Madeline (Midnight Echo 11)
• 2016: Deck The Walls (Hell’s Bell’s: Stories Of Festive Fear)
• 2016: Eat (Breach Zine Issue 3)
• 2016: Flesh (Friday Fears)
• 2016: Oranges (Friday Fears)
• 2017: Synthetic (Breach Zine. Reprinted in Phantaxis Magazine)
• 2017: When The Clock Fell (Zathom Magazine)
• 2017: Jólakötturinn (Things In The Well)
• 2017: Thorne House (Things In The Well)
• 2018: The Dog (Metamorphosis)

Awards and nominations

• The Body Horror Book – (Oscillate Wildly press, compiled and edited, 2017) – Winner of the 2018 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
• How Mary Shelley Continues To Influence Modern Science Fiction – (Aurealis, 2021) – Shortlisted for the 2022 William William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review.
• A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft – (IFWG, compiled and edited, 2023) – Recipient of the 2020 Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship.
• Rainbows – Commended in the 2002 Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition (children’s category).