Australian Horror Writers Association

The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) is a non-profit organisation that commenced in 2003 with the goal of providing a unified voice and sense of community for Australian writers of dark fiction (horror and dark fantasy) and to further the development of dark fiction in Australia.

The AHWA built to some extent on the work of previous horror writers' associations in Australia such as the Sydney-based Gargoyle Club (1987–92)(see Leigh Blackmore) and the Melbourne-based Australian Horror Writers (1994-1998) (see Bryce J. Stevens), which grew out of Bloodsongs magazine (its President being Bryce J. Stevens, and its newsletter/journal Severed Head having been edited first by Stevens, then Aaron Sterns). However, the AHWA was a far more ambitious effort, conceived by its founding committee as drawing together horror writers and fans nationwide in Australia.

The AHWA was officially launched during the Continuum 3 science fiction convention in Melbourne on 17 July 2005 by author Richard Harland. [1]

The founding committee members were Dr Marty Young (President), Kirstyn McDermott (Vice President), Mick Piemontese (Secretary), Carl Schaller (Treasurer), James R Cain and Angela Challis. [2]

In 2005, the AHWA established the Australian Shadows Award as an annual literary award to honour the best published work of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian. The award was sponsored by Altair Australia Books in its first two years, through the donation of two statuettes created by dark fantasy artist Brom (supplied by The Franklin Mint).

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