Winner Best Collection, Ditmar Awards 2024

Winner Best Collection, Ditmar Awards 2024

Returned from hols yesterday to learn The Measure of Sorrow (Meerkat Press) won Best Collection in this year’s Ditmar Awards!
 
And as if that wasn’t enough, Let The Cat In won the Ditmar for Best Fan Publication. Kudos to Kaaron Warren and Aaron Dries for three years of shit-talking banter…
 
Congrats to all the winners and shortlistees, but a special shoutout to Kaaron for the Bitters love, and to CH Pearce for the Ditmar trifecta. Huge thanks to all who voted – and to all the volunteers who’ve kept these awards alive since 1969.
ACT Book of the Year Awards 2024

ACT Book of the Year Awards 2024

Wonderful morning at the Tuggeranong Library, celebrating the ACT Book of the Year Award. Huge congrats to Chris Hammer for his win, to Ayesha Inoon for her HC for Untethered, and to all the shortlistees. So lovely to meet everybody!

I may have squeaked when the Minister announced that #TheMeasureOfSorrow was Highly Commended. A massive result for a humble spec fic collection…

If you’re so inclined, you can watch the full ceremony (c/o of Libraries Act) below. Worth it for Tara Cheyne’s opening speech and Chris Hammer’s acceptance – inspiring stuff!

Aurealis shortlist

Aurealis shortlist

Downright chuffed to learn The Measure Of Sorrow is on the Aurealis Award shortlist for best collection. There’s some esteemed company on the list, and it means the world to even get a nod.

Congrats to all the shortlistees and a big shout out to my homies on the list – some with 2, 3 and 4 noms!

Check out the full list here…
Lost in a world of darkness…

Lost in a world of darkness…

“The Measure of Sorrow is full of parents and children lost in a world of darkness, grasping for meaning and connection, and often using the latter as a proxy for the helplessness of the human condition writ large. Throughout these ten stories Ashley-Smith exhibits a real gift for character and setting, adroitly situating readers in the headspace and isolating surroundings of his protagonists.”
 
It truly blows my mind when readers and reviewers commit to so deeply, thoughtfully (and critically) analysing my work. Really loved this intelligent, considered reflection on The Measure of Sorrow over at Seize The Press.
AsylumFest 2023

AsylumFest 2023

Another year, another road trip to beautiful Beechworth Asylum with notorious Canberra hoodlums Kaaron Warren, Aaron Dries, Robert Hood, Cat Sparks.

Raved about Shirley Jackson and Daphne du Maurier on a panel on the modern gothic, with Kyla Lee Ward, Kellie Beat and Paul Sheldon. Hosted the Australian Shadows Awards with Let The Cat In co-hosts Kaaron Warren and Aaron Dries – with much celebration to follow when Aaron won best short story for little Balloons (my personal favourite from his killer collection, Cut To Care). MC’d the Mayday Hills Ghost Story Competition, and subjected the captive audience to a reading of The Whatnot Shop. And in between it all, chatting to readers, selling books, shooting the proverbial with the many excellent guests. 

Check out photos of the weekend courtesy of the inestimable Cat Sparks (from whom these pictures were lovingly stolen).

J. Ashley-Smith, Cat Sparks, Kaaron Warren, Robert Hood and Aaron Dries in a really big car on the way to Beechworth
Inside the haunted asylum at Beechworth, book tables and punters
Paul Sheldon and Kellie Beat on the Modern Goth Panel
Robert Hood and J. Ashley-Smith at the book tables
Kaaron Warren and J. Ashley-Smith at breakfast
Kellie Beat and J. Ashley-Smith on the Modern Gothic panel
J. Ashley-Smith, Kaaron Warren and Adrian Collins
J. Ashley-Smith and Jason Nahrung at the pub