With Country, I am better, healthier, whole.
I am indebted to the living cultures of the Gundangara, Ngunnawal and Ngamabri peoples. It is with land, air and water that I live and create. My being is given endless meaning by this place. For that, I am thankful beyond words can say.
Always was. Always will be.
Voice. Treaty. Truth.
Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer for the page, stage, and music.
His most recent major work is The Story of the Oars, a play with music by Jay Cameron; world premiere on 19 September 2025 at The Street Theatre, Canberra. ‘Shrapnel’, his zuihitsu essay about Anzac Day, was published by Griffith Review in 2025. In 2024, Nigel released The Wreck Event, a 16-song spokenword-and-music album under the moniker Hell Herons in collaboration with award-winning poets Melinda Smith, Stuart Barnes, and CJ Bowerbird. His most recent novel, My Heart is a Little Wild Thing, was published by Ultimo Press (Hardie Grant) in 2022. It has been described as ‘Epic in its intimacy–a triumph of a book’ (Peter Polites), ‘A remarkable look at Australian masculinity and its meaning’ (Newtown Review of Books), and ‘Yearning and intimate’ (West Australian).
Nigel’s war novel, Bodies of Men, was published by Hachette Australia in 2019. It was longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, shortlisted for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year, and shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards. His short works - prose and poetry - have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Review of Australian Fiction, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Griffith Review, Overland, Rabbit, Island, The Millions, and The Chicago Quarterly Review. As commissioned by the Hume Conservatorium, Nigel wrote the libretto for The Weight of Light, which was developed by The Street Theatre and had its world premiere in 2018. As a freelancer, Nigel’s work has appeared in a variety of mastheads and journals, including the Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian Australia, and the Canberra Times. He has been supported by artsACT, Create NSW, and Creative Australia. In 2022, Nigel was named the ACT Artist of the Year.
More below.
1.
Nigel’s most recent major work is The Story of the Oars, a play with lyrical monologues and music; world premiere on 19 September 2025 at The Street Theatre, Canberra, Australia. Six years in the making, The Story of the Oars underwent an extensive creative development at The Street Theatre through its First Seen program in 2020. Thanks to support from Create NSW, from 2021 to 2023 this work was further developed by The Street Theatre, especially in terms of the score, which was developed by Perth-based composer Jay Cameron, inspired by song sketches provided by Nigel. Having secured additional funding, this time from artsACT, The Story of the Oars underwent a final creative development at The Street Theatre in late 2024, and then went into production in 2025, with direction by Shelly Higgs. According to Stage Whispers, ‘The Story of the Oars is an eerie, atmospheric tragedy that will keep you thinking long after you leave the theatre. The production was a thing of great beauty’ and from award-winning Arrernte visual artist and poet Jenni Kemarre Martiniello OAM: ‘Extraordinary. Seamless. Powerful.’
2.
In 2024, Nigel released The Wreck Event, a 16-song spokenword-and-music album by Hell Herons together with award-winning poets/peformers/makers Melinda Smith, Stuart Barnes, and CJ Bowerbird. Thanks to funding from artsACT, and with distribution support of GYROstream, The Wreck Event was released on all major streaming services as well as Bandcamp. Hell Herons have been described as ‘A spoken-word + EDM supergroup’ by BMA Magazine. According to Whispering Gums, the album is ‘Charismatic and enigmatic…beautiful and mesmerising’ and ‘The Wreck Event is both wreck and event, destroying boundaries between poetry and music in a way song doesn’t always manage while marking another milestone in Australian poetic practice. It’s also, quite simply, beautiful’ according to Writing West Australia.
3.
Nigel’s latest novel is My Heart is a Little Wild Thing, which was published by Ultimo Press (an imprint of Hardie Grant) in May 2022. The novel has been described as ‘A devastatingly emotional but ultimately hopeful exploration of love, family and place–a compelling and moving read’ (ArtsHub), ‘Yearning and intimate’ (West Australian), ‘Epic in its intimacy–a triumph of a book’ (Peter Polites), ‘A remarkable look at Australian masculinity and its meaning’ (Newtown Review of Books), ‘Powerful, tender, visceral and sublime–a must-read piece of Australian literature’ (Holden Sheppard), ‘A poignant and ultimately hopeful novel’ (Delia Falconer), and ‘With My Heart is a Little Wild Thing, Featherstone has cemented his talent and allowed us an intimate view into another person’s heart–it is a gift’ (Readings)’.
4.
Nigel’s second novel, Bodies of Men, was published by Hachette Australia in 2019 and has been described as ‘A thoroughly humanising depiction of Australians during World War II’ (Australian Book Review), ‘A remarkable story–action at break-neck speed and a bitter-sweet ending’ (Canberra Times), ‘A timeless novel of love between men in wartime’ (Newtown Review of Books), and ‘A page-turner underpinned by a fundamental understanding of humanity’ (Whispering Gums). Bodies of Men was longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, runner up for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year, shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards and received a 2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award.
5.
Nigel’s debut novel, Remnants, was published by Pandanus Books in 2005: ‘Featherstone is the inheritor of one of Australia’s greatest articulators of Australian middle class, Randolph Stow; he is like Stow too, in his rejection of the larger-than-life characterisation for the precision of a finely drawn reality’ (Wet Ink).
6.
Nigel is the author of three thematically linked, limited-print-run novellas: The Beach Volcano (Blemish Books, 2014), which was described as ‘Elegant and original’ (Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Accomplished–an intense fiction range’ (Canberra Times), and ‘Utterly enthralling’ (Newtown Review of Books); I’m Ready Now (Blemish Books, 2012), which was short-listed for the 2013 ACT Book of the Year; and Fall on Me (Blemish Books, 2011).
7.
Nigel is also the author of nearly 50 short stories published in Australian literary journals including the Review of Australian Fiction, Meanjin, Island, and Overland. His collected stories are Joy (2000) and Homelife (1999). A new story, ‘The Garden’, was longlisted in the 2025 Lane Cove Literary Awards.
8.
Nigel has written over 120 creative non-fiction stories, reviews and experimental essays, which have been published in various outlets. ‘Shrapnel’, his zuihitsu essay about Anzac Day, was published by Griffith Review in 2025. Also in 2025, Nigel’s reflective review (and accompanying podcast discussion) of Timothy Conigrave’s Holding the Man was commissioned and published by Kill Your Darlings, as part of its Queer Critics series. His commissioned essay on the audacity of Christos Tsiolkas appears in Reading like an Australian Writer, which was published by New South Books in 2021. Nigel’s commissioned essay about his family life and childhood in the Blue Mountains was published in the Australasian Issue of the Chicago Quarterly Review (2020). In 2020 the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in the ACT commissioned Nigel to write about his father, visual artist Jack Featherstone, to accompany a survey exhibition and short film of the latter’s work; the essay was published in 2021 as an ephemeral multi-media digital essay titled ‘The Gift of a Father’ and designed by Australian visual artist Katy Mutton.
9.
In 2014 the Hume Conservatorium commissioned Nigel to write the libretto for an original song cycle, with the music composed by James Humberstone from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. This work, titled The Weight of Light, was developed by The Street Theatre in Canberra and had its world premiere in the national capital in March 2018; it was also performed at the Sydney Conservatorium (July 2018) and the Hume Conservatorium (March 2018). ‘An enthralling visual and aural experience’ (Australian Arts Review), ‘A stunning piece of work–bravo’ (Sydney Voice Project), and ‘A gem of a piece’ (Canberra Times). The work received a 2018 Canberra Critics Circle Award.
10.
In 2013 Nigel was a writer-in-residence at UNSW Canberra, which provides the campus for the Australian Defence Force Academy. He has also held residencies at Varuna (Blue Mountains, NSW), Bundanon (Shoalhaven River, NSW), and the Cataract Gorge Gatekeeper’s Cottage (Launceston, Tasmania). Along with novelists Robyn Cadwallader and Julie Keys, and as initiated by the Byron Writers Festival, Nigel was awarded the inaugural 2020 Write North Residency, receiving direction and mentorship from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author Charlotte Wood.
11.
At the 2022 ACT Arts Awards, held at the Canberra Museum of Gallery, Nigel was named the ACT Artist of the Year.
12.
Nigel has received generous funding from artsACT, Create NSW, and Creative Australia.
13.
A queer artist, Nigel lives with Gundangara Country, Ngunnawal Country, and Ngambri Country.
14.
He is represented by Gaby Naher, The Naher Agency, Sydney.
~
Image credit: Shelly Higgs (2024).