Jo Riccioni’s short stories have won numerous prizes, both in Australia and the UK, and have been read on the BBC and Radio National. They are published in The Age, The Best Australian Stories 2010 and The Best Australian Stories 2011, The Review of Australian Fiction, Shibboleth and Other Stories, WetInk, Westerly, and the Momaya Review. Her story, Can’t Take the Country out of the Boy, has been optioned for a short film. Jo was awarded Varuna Fellowship to work on The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store, her first novel. It was signed by Scribe in its infancy and is published in Australia and the UK. The Italians won the fiction category of the International Rubery Award for 2015 and was long-listed for the New Angle Prize for 2015 in the UK. She has just completed her second book, The Barren Season, the first novel in a YA fantasy series.