https://samuelcooney.com/home daily 1.0 2026-03-11 https://samuelcooney.com/about daily 0.75 2026-03-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1562815986831-OZ6XMGNKVC8B6RUBY640/SamCooney-3.jpg About Photo credit: Shannyn Higgins https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/4142755d-bb66-499c-8aed-2ed79cf97eac/Photo+on+3-2-21+at+3.02+pm+%234.jpg About https://samuelcooney.com/writing daily 0.75 2022-08-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/6bae370f-cd50-43ee-a95d-239f25818966/Screen+Shot+2022-08-14+at+8.43.45+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – Oliver Mol’s “memoir” Train Lord https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1625207822785-7KN7STKGL928BWEF9T5E/Screen+Shot+2021-07-02+at+4.33.16+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in the Nine/Fairfax newspapers – Campbell Mattinson’s We Were Not Men https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/628e663b-15c0-4ace-98bf-bb6de386332a/Screen+Shot+2021-12-15+at+4.21.55+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out feature interview with Wild Abandon author Emily Bitto for Openbook magazine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1630646390753-BBHTXCUR83L2WWAB6P9R/Screen+Shot+2021-09-03+at+3.19.34+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review at The Guardian – Max Easton’s The Magpie Wing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484383265182-VHQTDXGUF0WS613ZIEHF/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.40.50PM.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Michelle Cahill's Letter to Pessoa and Laura Elizabeth Woollett's The Love of a Bad Man https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1502887326007-AOU9SCQ2GFF75JK89RHP/Screen+Shot+2017-08-16+at+10.41.49PM.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Wayne Macauley's Some Tests, Steven Lang's Hinterland, and Stephen Orr's Datsunland https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484383447549-43ZXXS4I7IQAJXHFPOCP/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.43.55PM.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Harry Parker's Anatomy of a Soldier https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223278410-P5H232GL0UWIAHOKJ1S3/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.28.48+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Sam Wallman's Fluid Prejudice https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223326421-VUMJX2LRGF6SBKVDR22L/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.30.03+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Jeff Bauman's Stronger https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/fe457725-295f-4a70-85a0-9751851d9507/Screen+Shot+2022-02-26+at+12.37.16+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – Omar Sakr’s debut novel Son of Sin https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/cedd90f0-ee98-4ff4-be41-898bcadf2dfc/Screen+Shot+2022-03-19+at+12.08.47+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – relaunch issue of the third series of literary journal HEAT https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484382697873-KHJ0GFLAUB28IW6PFPCK/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.31.18PM.png Writing folio article in The Saturday Paper about attending a non-violent direct action training day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1607589255100-4FS7ALI3VLEINIY1NF3U/Screen+Shot+2020-12-10+at+7.20.54+pm.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Tobias McCorkell’s Everything in its Right Place and Barry Lee Thompson’s Broken Rules and Other Stories https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223422436-J0Q8ZB0LB5A94BSGHOX7/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.33.30+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Scott O’Connor’s Half World https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484384192412-5YS398ZYEEBQB11KH8VI/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.56.21PM.png Writing folio book review in the Nine/Fairfax newspapers – the second issue of Freeman's https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223451097-AKNXGWENTNJDLC2VVHAG/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.33.56+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Wayne Macauley's Demons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484384334004-A3IT6K38RITFQ21EIIUU/image-asset.png Writing folio book review on The Wheeler Centre website – Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484382927697-MU5BT5J587FN2BANR5RC/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.35.12PM.png Writing folio audio story for Radio With Pictures about truly fuct guinea pigs, recorded on stage at the Sydney Opera House, featuring images by Tommi Parrish https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223366133-6HWME4566MEIDV9DCYE2/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.31.04+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – John Scott's N https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/d86b249e-ccf9-4ee1-a97e-b63c49bfb7da/Screen+Shot+2021-11-27+at+9.41.08+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – Eugen Bacon’s short fiction collection Danged Black Thing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1631602975261-3A1EECVOBZ1W0Y9Y2FLY/Screen+Shot+2021-09-11+at+6.03.16+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – Miles Allinson’s In Moonland https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1630646674056-I2L25N6CTG4QIP4TIHIH/Screen+Shot+2021-09-03+at+3.23.29+pm.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Australian – László Krasznahorkai’s The World Goes On https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484383707198-WPJID9NA2K5WG3WFV0T8/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.48.08PM.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Virginia Reeves' Work Like Any Other https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484383057226-TMG78Z8SXIXAHN4JBO9K/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.37.19PM.png Writing folio book review in the Nine/Fairfax newspapers – Garth Risk Hallberg's City on Fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484384026013-2QVM7UWJYRWKVXCFGNM3/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+7.53.03PM.png Writing folio book review in The Australian – Tom Doig's Mörön To Mörön and Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Mr Snack and The Lady Water https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223513569-HG0TAMVY3SFRWDVF8DK2/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.36.14+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Russell Brand's Revolution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223542337-2R5GQ9N2LG7MOC7O051F/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.36.55+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – Annabel Smith's The Ark https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626223480800-URK66X1QWDGS3CXNHJVC/Screen+Shot+2021-07-14+at+10.35.34+am.png Writing folio - Make it stand out book review in The Saturday Paper – David Blumenstein's #takedown https://samuelcooney.com/work-examples daily 0.75 2026-03-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588223944436-QFSY337033312QKAFJ9L/BrowBooks_LogoVertLockup_Black.png Publishing & editing folio I created the independent book publishing imprint Brow Books in 2016, where I was responsible for overseeing acquisitions, contracts, editorial, production, marketing, sales, distribution, rights, and royalties. In a few short years, Brow Books had terrific success in sales, prize wins and nominations, and rights deals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588564804250-P5MAKX4V4CQ9Z9MN5UGJ/Axiomatic.jpg Publishing & editing folio Worked on and published Maria Tumarkin’s Axiomatic, which became a Windham Campbell Prize 2020 winner and one of The New Yorker’s Top Ten Books of 2019, won the Melbourne Prize for Literature’s Best Writing Award, was shortlisted in the National Book Critics Circle NBCC Awards, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, and longlisted for the Australian Indie Book Awards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1626394884378-HLU9J0700ZG7F8CJHQ7Q/9781760876777.jpg Publishing & editing folio - Make it stand out I did a structural edit and then a copy edit on this memoir by Brandon Jack, working close with the author and the publisher. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484386796659-IV5EPJ05F8KCULW11VQ3/Screen+Shot+2017-01-14+at+8.39.36PM.png Publishing & editing folio I contributed pieces of fiction for the groundbreaking 'Silent History' mobile storytelling geofiction project, which combined serialisation, exploration, and collaboration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484394165383-7HRT92Y6MOE2KR0Z1799/11794458_851244488287085_243206674796904518_o.jpg Publishing & editing folio The video of 'No Relation: The Impact, Imitators and Legacy of David Foster Wallace' panel discussion I hosted at The Wheeler Centre. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588224765571-T88TKVMAPR50HWSZ9KL9/TLB_Logo_Main_+%28white+background%29+%28square%29.png Publishing & editing folio From 2012 to 2020 I was the publisher of quarterly literary magazine The Lifted Brow, including being editor for eleven editions of the publication from 2012 to 2015. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1501420988090-ZNY18FEEI1PTIYPQ8MND/image-asset.png Publishing & editing folio I worked with the charity Missing Persons Advocacy Network (MPAN) to transform their national public awareness campaign Too Short Stories into a beautiful hardcover book, and oversaw the book’s sale and distribution across the country. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588726168505-Y070M3WAC6PEQ1WZLI7Y/image+2+-+THE+TOWN+by+Shaun+Prescott+%28photography+credit+-+Kate+Lloyd%29.jpg Publishing & editing folio Edited and published Shaun Prescott’s debut novel The Town in Australia, and then sold it to publishing houses around the world, including in the United Kingdom (Faber & Faber), North America (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), Germany (Aufbau/Blumenbar), France (Buchet/Chastel), Spain (Literatura Random House), Japan (Hayakawa), and The Netherlands (Koppernik). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484386439071-M5HMAYKN6KOOVSRHWYIU/image-asset.jpeg Publishing & editing folio The audio of 'Green Cleaver' panel discussion I hosted at The Wheeler Centre. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484393023417-WNXXIVVDAAN32XK6U0RH/image-2.jpg Publishing & editing folio Travelled to Hamburg, Germany, to take part in the Indiecon Independent Magazine Festival, thanks to a UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature Office travel fund grant. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484394042121-9Y633VMSCKOI46A35S5L/image-asset.jpeg Publishing & editing folio Thanks to the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, I travelled to Solo to participate in a panel event with local literary critic and essayist Bandung Mawardi, and then on to Yogyakarta for an event with veteran writer Iman Budi Santosa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484393541608-F7LCZQRT5SPE9KLWZMLN/image-asset.png Publishing & editing folio Took part in the 'Dear Everybody Project', where I was tasked to provide textual responses to the photography of Prue Stent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588224910258-EMSHFUY5F62JD0536PX8/TLB-Experimental-Non-Fiction-Prize+poster+%28square+grey%29.png Publishing & editing folio In 2015 I helped create the Prize for Experimental Nonfiction, and oversaw its running for five years. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1588732350563-J5E90TCSXN5C2ODTMW43/60150092_153680862345726_6481006750962464222_n.jpg Publishing & editing folio Acquired, edited and published Jamie Marina Lau’s debut novel Pink Mountain on Locust Island, which soon won the Melbourne Prize for Literature’s Readings Residency Award, and was shortlisted for the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, the Stella Prize, and the ALS Gold Medal, and was chosen as a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1627030875311-EM1DQOTXBDRV8K3AYFJG/LP2+single-book-cover.png Publishing & editing folio - Make it stand out I worked with authors Mesfin Tadesse and Ianet Bastyan on this book, including editing the manuscript and guiding them through the publication process. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484388085974-X60MOBILVFUOXLL86LWE/image-asset.jpeg Publishing & editing folio I undertook a lengthy residency with American publishing house McSweeny’s Publishing. From a variety of McSweeney’s staff I learned exactly how they make their books and magazines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484386613974-2ABZK8FK87PV865BISKT/b709e1808ac411e6a689c5bd2706cbea_content_large.jpg Publishing & editing folio The audio of 'Adapt to Survive' panel discussion I participated in at The Wheeler Centre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1484392780195-NFG9JCEPZRU6617AWMMH/image-asset.png Publishing & editing folio For two years I put together the 'Reading the City of Literature' site (with designer Connor Tomas O'Brien) for the UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature Office. (Note: password is 'melbourne') https://samuelcooney.com/contact daily 0.75 2024-06-20 https://samuelcooney.com/availability daily 0.75 2026-03-11 https://samuelcooney.com/testimonials daily 0.75 2025-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5879b40b3a0411c5027db465/1607768755016-4HL2GS6UB4ZQP1PZ4M1M/24210.jpg Testimonials