Aisha Inoon
Sri Lankan-Australian author of Untethered (2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize winner) and The Sisters of Serendib; former journalist in Sri Lanka, now Senior Communications Advisor at Australian Conservation Council.
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APPEARANCES
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PODCASTS
Jul 16, 2026
Ayesha InoonGUEST
And it was an interesting journey because I was awarded a Penguin Fellowship for an earlier draft of the novel.
Ayesha InoonGUEST
and got to work with one of their editors, and that was a really wonderful experience.
Ayesha InoonGUEST
But at the end of the fellowship, they rejected the manuscript, which was absolutely devastating, heartbreaking, but I still believed in the book, and so picked myself up and continued to submit.
Ayesha InoonGUEST
And when I got the call about the ASAHQ award, I had submitted to so many places that it took me a moment.
Ayesha InoonGUEST
I was like, what's this that I've been shortlisted for? What does it mean? So it was incredible to win that.