Rhyll McMaster has worked as a secretary, a burns unit nurse and a sheep farmer. Her poems have been appearing in Australian publications since she was sixteen, and have been broadcast on national radio and television. She has also staged her poetry in a performance piece with a singer and a four-piece band. She has been poetry editor of The Canberra Times, a reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, a manuscripts assessor for the National Book Council, and a film scripts assessor for the Film Finance Corporation. She is a member of Sydney PEN.
Her first novel, Feather Man, set in Brisbane and London was published in Australia in 2007 by Brandl & Schlesinger to excellent reviews. It won two major awards and was shortlisted for two others. She has been a guest of the major Australian literary festivals, and has conducted seminars on her novel at Sydney University. Feather Man is in its second edition and is published as an Audio book.
Feather Man was published in the UK, USA and Canada in 2008 by Marion Boyars. It was favorably reviewed in The New Statesman and was recommended as Pick of the Week in The Boston Globe. Feather Man was chosen for special promotion through independent bookshops by the American Booksellers’ Association, both as a Choice of the Month and for their Highlights list. It was discussed as Book of the Month on the online Barnes & Noble Book Explorers Club. Rhyll was a guest of the Southwold Literature Festival in the UK. She was interviewed on PRI’s The World radio program which is hosted by Lisa Mullins and broadcast across America.
2008 Winner of the inaugural Barbara Jefferis Award
2008 Winner of the UTS Glenda Adams Prize, NSW Premier’s Awards
2008 Shortlisted for the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal
2008 Longlisted for the World Book Day (UK) Spread the Word Prize
2007 Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Award
Harri Jones Memorial Award for The Brineshrimp
Victorian Premier’s Award for Washing the Money
Grace Leven Prize for Washing the Money
Grace Leven Prize for Flying the Coop
Bibliography
The Brineshrimp (UQP, 1972) ISBN 0702207632
Washing the Money: Poems with photographs
(Angus & Robertson, 1986) ISBN 0207152810
On My Empty Feet (Wm. Heinemann, 1993) ISBN 0855615222
Flying the Coop: New and selected poems
(Wm. Heinemann, 1994) ISBN 085561627X
Chemical Bodies: A diary of probable events, 1994-1997
(Brandl & Schlesinger, 1997) ISBN 187604005X
Evolutionary History of Edward Kelly in Primary Colours:
a limited edition of 50, Edition and Artist Book Studio, ANU
(Cultural Facilities Corporation, 1999)
Feather Man (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2007) ISBN 9781876040833
Feather Man (Marion Boyars, 2008) ISBN 0714531480