© 2018-2022 Kerry Sunderland
Jesse Blackadder
Award-winning novelist, the late Jesse Blackadder, PhD (Creative Arts), led two Write Across New Zealand retreats, in 2018 and 2019.
About Jesse
The late Dr Jesse Blackadder was an award-winning Australian literary talent. She played a pivotal role in bringing into being Write Across New Zealand, and is greatly missed.
During her lifetime, Jesse wrote critically acclaimed adult novels Sixty Seconds (HarperCollins 2017, also published in the USA, China, France and Canada), Chasing the Light (HarperCollins 2013), The Raven's Heart (HarperCollins 2011) and After the Party (Hardie Grant 2005). She submitted a manuscript for her fifth adult novel shortly before her death on 10 June 2020.
For younger readers, Jesse co-wrote, with Laura Bloom, two middle grade novels, Dream Riders: Frankie and Dream Riders: Storm, as well as three of her own middle grade novels: Dexter The Courageous Koala (ABC Books 2015), Paruku The Desert Brumby (2014) and Stay: The Last Dog in Antarctica (2013).
Jesse won literary awards including the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Historical Fiction (USA) and the Guy Morrison Prize for Literary Journalism (Australia). She was twice been awarded the prestigious Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship.
Jesse was also a writer-in-residence in Alaska, Antarctica, outback NSW, Varuna The Writers' House, Charles Sturt University and Byron Bay. Her Doctor of Creative Arts thesis explored using real historical characters in fiction, and she was an adjunct senior lecturer at Southern Cross University. Among her many professional and personal accomplishments, Jesse was a passionate creative writing teacher who ran workshops for all ages in Australia, New Zealand and at international literary festivals. She was also the leader of Byron Writers Festival StoryBoard, a program that takes authors into schools to teach creative writing to young people.
During her lifetime, Jesse wrote critically acclaimed adult novels Sixty Seconds (HarperCollins 2017, also published in the USA, China, France and Canada), Chasing the Light (HarperCollins 2013), The Raven's Heart (HarperCollins 2011) and After the Party (Hardie Grant 2005). She submitted a manuscript for her fifth adult novel shortly before her death on 10 June 2020.
For younger readers, Jesse co-wrote, with Laura Bloom, two middle grade novels, Dream Riders: Frankie and Dream Riders: Storm, as well as three of her own middle grade novels: Dexter The Courageous Koala (ABC Books 2015), Paruku The Desert Brumby (2014) and Stay: The Last Dog in Antarctica (2013).
Jesse won literary awards including the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Historical Fiction (USA) and the Guy Morrison Prize for Literary Journalism (Australia). She was twice been awarded the prestigious Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship.
Jesse was also a writer-in-residence in Alaska, Antarctica, outback NSW, Varuna The Writers' House, Charles Sturt University and Byron Bay. Her Doctor of Creative Arts thesis explored using real historical characters in fiction, and she was an adjunct senior lecturer at Southern Cross University. Among her many professional and personal accomplishments, Jesse was a passionate creative writing teacher who ran workshops for all ages in Australia, New Zealand and at international literary festivals. She was also the leader of Byron Writers Festival StoryBoard, a program that takes authors into schools to teach creative writing to young people.
Jesse Blackadder's latest novel, Sixty Seconds, is out now.
The Brennans - parents Finn and Bridget, and their sons, Jarrah and Toby - have made a sea change, shifting from chilly Hobart to a sprawling purple weatherboard in subtropical Murwillumbah. Feeling like foreigners in this land of sun and surf, they are only just starting to settle when, one morning, tragedy strikes - changing their lives forever.
Determined to protect his wife, Finn finds himself under the police and media spotlight. Guilty and enraged, Bridget spends her nights hunting answers in the last place imaginable. Jarrah - his innocence lost - is propelled suddenly from his teens into frightening adulthood.
As all three are pushed to the limit, questions fly: Who is to blame? And what does it take to forgive?
A haunting and ultimately redemptive story about forgiveness and hope.
Reviews
Buy Sixty Seconds on Booktopia
Find out what readers have said on Goodreads
PRAISE FOR SIXTY SECONDS
'Quite simply a masterpiece.' - Kate Forsyth, author of Beauty in Thorns, Bitter Greens, The Wild Girl.
'This achingly beautiful novel broke my heart. And then put it back together.' - Wendy James, author, The Golden Child.
'A beautiful work. One of the most moving and artistically satisfying endings I've read in a long while.' - Susan Johnson, author, My Hundred Lovers and The Landing.
'A novel that will get into your bones - captivating, heartbreaking and immensely beautiful.' - Eliza Henry-Jones, author of In the Quiet and Ache.
The Brennans - parents Finn and Bridget, and their sons, Jarrah and Toby - have made a sea change, shifting from chilly Hobart to a sprawling purple weatherboard in subtropical Murwillumbah. Feeling like foreigners in this land of sun and surf, they are only just starting to settle when, one morning, tragedy strikes - changing their lives forever.
Determined to protect his wife, Finn finds himself under the police and media spotlight. Guilty and enraged, Bridget spends her nights hunting answers in the last place imaginable. Jarrah - his innocence lost - is propelled suddenly from his teens into frightening adulthood.
As all three are pushed to the limit, questions fly: Who is to blame? And what does it take to forgive?
A haunting and ultimately redemptive story about forgiveness and hope.
Reviews
Buy Sixty Seconds on Booktopia
Find out what readers have said on Goodreads
PRAISE FOR SIXTY SECONDS
'Quite simply a masterpiece.' - Kate Forsyth, author of Beauty in Thorns, Bitter Greens, The Wild Girl.
'This achingly beautiful novel broke my heart. And then put it back together.' - Wendy James, author, The Golden Child.
'A beautiful work. One of the most moving and artistically satisfying endings I've read in a long while.' - Susan Johnson, author, My Hundred Lovers and The Landing.
'A novel that will get into your bones - captivating, heartbreaking and immensely beautiful.' - Eliza Henry-Jones, author of In the Quiet and Ache.