Writer. Author. Poet. Fanboy. Oddball.
Beau Windon is a neurodivergent writer of Wiradjuri descent based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). He writes quirky stories about quirky people and all of the dark goo living inside him. He is more confident on a stage in front of an audience than in social gatherings. Currently, he is looking for a home for his debut memoir (which is best described as the genre-hopping Taylor Swift of memoirs) and his comedic YA novel.
You can view his credentials and publication details below.
If you see him out in the wild, approach with caution and some form of choc orange treat.
Accomplishments
2024 “Melbourne Prize” - The Writers Prize Finalist
Finalist for the 2024 Melbourne Prize’s The Writers Prize for personal essay.
VOTE FOR ME IN THE CIVIC CHOICE AWARD HERE!
2024 “Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups” grant from Creative Australia
Awarded a grant for collaborative YA bisexual fight novel with Arty Owens.
2023 Griffith Review Emerging Voices Winner
One of the winners of the 2023 Griffith Review Emerging Voices competition. Winning piece available to read in Griffith Review Vol. 83. Read more here!
2023 Evolving Arts and Disability Residency
Selected as one of the nine resident artists brought together by AAV and DADAA for a week long residency exploring the arts industry from a disability perspective. Read more here!
2022 Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards
SHORTLISTED: The Dorothy Porter Award for Poetry
RUNNER-UP: Life Writing Award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers
Judges comments- With its skilful fragmentation of form and bracing intimacy, this piece pulls us into the writer’s world. Propelled by a strong, vivid voice, it channels a neurodivergent point-of view while also depicting the sense of waywardness or vertigo that arises from trying to find one’s place.
WINNER: Self-told Stories by Writers Living with a Disability
Judes comments- Arresting, assured, and spectacularly conceived and executed, this piece subverts conventional form to playfully mirror fragmented and unstable mental states. The piece goes beyond traditional memoir and avoids merely defining (and further pathologising) conditions and illnesses; in its eschewal of the didactic, it truly epitomises “show, don’t tell”.
2022 “Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups” grant from Australia Council for the Arts
Awarded a grant for my hybrid memoir: “A Proud Failure”.
2022 Sustaining Creative Workers grant from Regional Arts Victoria
Awarded a grant for my hybrid memoir: “A Proud Failure”.
2022 Arts grant from City of Melbourne
Awarded a grant and residency for my hybrid memoir: “A Proud Failure”.
2021 Grace Marion Wilson Writeability Fellowship
Awarded a Writeability fellowship from Writers Victoria for my hybrid memoir: “A Proud Failure”. Read the announcement here!
2021 Creative Workers grant from Creative Victoria
Awarded a Creative Workers grant for my YA project: “Wild Against the World”.
Highly Commended by Faber Academy for their 2021 Young Adult writing scholarship
Awarded mentorship for my YA project: “Wild Against the World” with Simmone Howell. Read the announcement here!
Varuna Residential Fellowship 2021
Awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship in 2021 based off a sample from my YA project: “Wild Against the World”. Read the announcement here!
EWF ‘At Home’ Residency 2020
1 of 6 writers selected for the Emerging Writers Festival “At Home” Residency program in 2020 (out of 600 applicants). Read an interview about it here!
Publications
Griffith Review 83: Past Perfect
2023 Emerging Voices Winner
“Walking through the mou(r)n(ing of a)tain(ted life)” [Personal Essay]
Available to read online here!
Griffith Review 81: The Leisure Principle
“A World We Must Defend” [Personal Essay]
Available to read online here!
Sunder Journal - Issue 1
“A Gathering of Thoughts and Anxiety and Anxiety and Anxiety and… Anxiety… also Beau (1point0)” [Poetry]
ISLAND Magazine 167
“Alien Language” [Creative Non-fiction]
Griffith Review 79: Counterfeit Culture
“Living in Kayfabe: Beyond Masks and Make-Believe” [Personal Essay]
Available to read online here!
Dear Lover: Edited by Samuel Johnson
“Dear Lover” [Creative Non-fiction]
RESILIENCE: A Mascara Literary Review Anthology
“To Wear A Monument” [Personal Essay]
Writeability: Weathering the Storm Anthology
“A Storm Is Coming” [Personal Essay]
Rabbit 35 - ARCHITECTURE
“In Which I Am Homeless Without Ever Leaving Home” [Poetry]
here & now: EWF X Centre for Stories Anthology
“Party Games and Handicaps!” [Poetry]
Archer Magazine 16: The Disabilities Issue
“Alone in a Crowd!” [Personal Essay]
Emerging Writers’ Festival Blog
“On Confidence” [Guest Blog]
Available to read online here!
VICE AU
“When The World Needed a Hero, It Got an Anxious Millennial Cowboy” [Article]
Available to read online here!
Griffith Review 72: States of Mind
“SURVIVING COVID: Trophy Guide and Walkthrough” [Essay]
Available to read online here!
[Untitled] Issue 9
“It’s Judgement Day, Bitch!” [Short Story]
Rabbit 32 - FORM
“The Audacity” [Poetry]
Appearances
UPCOMING EVENTS
Writing the Heart like an Action Figure - (Free City of Melbourne Workshop)
narrm ngarrgu Library
June 22nd 2024
11:00AM - 2:00PM
Writing Authentically - (Free City of Melbourne Workshop)
narrm ngarrgu Library
June 12th 2024
5:00PM - 7:00PM
PAST EVENTS
Getting to the Heart of it all - (Free City of Melbourne Workshop)
Kathleen Syme Library
March 14th 2024
5:30PM - 7:30PM
Emerging Writers’ Festival: Writing Collaboratively
Kathleen Syme Library
June 23rd 2023
12:30PM - 1:30PM
Emerging Writers’ Festival Program Launch: New Growth
The Wheeler Centre
May 16th 2023
6:30PM - 7:30PM
Deakin Downtown
February 10th 2023
12:00PM - 12:30PM
LOOP Bar
December 8th 2022
6:00PM - 8:00PM
Authenticity Writing Workshop (with Community Reading Room)
Arts Mildura
November 20th 2022
1:00PM - 4:00PM
Arts Access Victoria
October 30th 2022
3:15PM - 4:00PM
Melbourne Arts Centre
October 7th 2022
3:15PM - 4:00PM
The Big Anxiety Festival: Writing the Future of Health
The Wheeler Centre
October 3rd 2022
6:30PM - 7:30PM
Online Event
June 18th 2022
7PM - 8PM
EWF X Thin Red Lines: Left on Red
LOOP Project Space & Bar
June 16th 2022
7:30PM - 8:30PM
Blak & Bright 2022: Yarn Bombers
Wheeler Centre
March 19th 2022
12:30PM - 1:30PM
Be a Thief, Not a Mimic: Using your Influences to Create Compelling Stories and Characters (WORKSHOP)
Writers Victoria
March 5th 2022
10AM - 4PM
Melbourne Writers Festival: New Beginnings
Footscray Community Arts Centre
September 10th 2021
7PM
Emerging Writers' Festival Closing Night Event
Moved to online
26th June 2021
7PM
Emerging Writers' Festival: Owning the Story
Moved to online
June 20th 2021
1PM