My story “Walk Beside Me” has been shortlisted for the 2013 Overland Victoria University Short Story Prize for New and Emerging Writers.

The four judges from Victoria University and Overland magazine — Enza Gandalfo, Jennifer Mills, Jeff Sparrow and Jacinda Woodhead — “read blind” and chose from 830 entries what they believed to be “12 exceptional stories” for the shortlist.

Winning stories for the $8,000 prize will be announced toward the end of November and published in Overland’s final issue for this year.

I wrote the first part of my very Australian story in Greece in July and August; the sound of the cicadas on Samos Island transporting me back to the cicadas at home.

Here’s the one-sentence synopsis of “Walk Beside Me” I provided for Overland:

Sam’s life in an outlying Aboriginal community is idyllic until the local mine and a family illness threaten what he needs most — which is to stay by his friend Djiny’s side forever.

See more about Overland and the prize here.