Chuckie Raven has won the 2025 Fogarty Literary Award. The announcement was made at a special presentation at the Western Australian Government House Ballroom earlier this week.
Raven receives a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $1500 writing fellowship from Centre for Stories for their winning manuscript Glimmers in the Sea Glass.
Raven described the novel as being about family and how we define and redefine it. They said, “It’s about the strength of young queer people and the importance of our queer elders and our community. It’s also about silence, and the ways it creeps into our lives, our circles, and how we can speak it out of existence.”
Chuckie Raven’s queer YA novel Glimmers in the Sea Glass takes us from the oppressive silence of small towns to the locked wards of a children’s hospital, immersing us in the lives of two young protagonists separated by twenty years. This engrossing page-turner pulls the reader deep into the heart-wrenching, heartwarming rollercoaster lives of its characters.
Chuckie Raven is a prominent figure in Perth’s LGBTIQA+ community through their work as a youth worker and craftsperson. They’re the founder and lead of the Perth Pride Shed, Perth’s first LGBTQIA+ community shed.
They are passionate about protecting queer kids and, through their work with The Freedom Centre, have met many brilliant young minds who give them endless hope for the future. Raven writes stories they wished they’d had growing up. Their debut novel Glimmers in the Sea Glass is born out of their own queer experience and their family’s experience of living in WA’s South West.
Raven said they were still processing their shortlisting, much less the win. They said, “It feels like the world of writing has opened up to me and I can’t imagine where that’s going to lead. It feels so validating and humbling to have my work read and noted. I’m also really excited about the possibility of bringing another queer West Australian story to the world.”
Executive Chairperson of the Fogarty Foundation, Annie Fogarty AM, said Chuckie Raven was a talented writer with a passion for sharing the kinds of stories they wish they’d had when growing up.
“Through their work as a youth advocate, Chuckie is already having a positive impact on the world. We are proud to play our part in helping Chuckie reach the readers who need this book.” Fogarty said.
Fremantle Press CEO Alex Allan said, “Once again the Fogarty Award has unearthed a unique manuscript that we’re excited to publish. The judges were so impressed with this novel that highlights how lived queer experience has changed across decades as well as how that experience can be so strongly affected by the community in which you live.”
Glimmers in the Sea Glass is scheduled for publication in 2026, while shortlisted writers Jessica Baker, Seth Malacari and Serena Moss will work with publishers Georgia Richter and Cate Sutherland to further develop their manuscripts.
The Fogarty Literary Award is for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35. Since its inception in 2019, it has attracted 145 entries, and eleven previously unpublished writers have released books, with three – Karleah Olson, Josh Kemp and Michael Burrows – going on to win or be shortlisted in major national literary prizes.
Three novels were also highly commended by the judging panel, which consisted of Fremantle Press publishers Georgia Richter and Cate Sutherland, Fogarty winner and author Brooke Dunnell, and Centre for Stories Program Coordinator Camila Egusquiza Santa Cruz.
The highly commended novels were Dark Red by Kayla Browne, Wagger’s Champloo by Patrick Marlborough and Encore, Encore by Elliot Stone.
