Edwina Preston

{{Short description|Australian author and musician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Edwina Preston

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| nationality = Australian

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| occupation = writer and musician

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| notable_works = {{unbulleted list|Not Just a Suburban Boy|The Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer}}

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Edwina Preston is a Melbourne-based writer and musician. Preston is the author of a biography of Australian artist Howard Arkley, Not Just a Suburban Boy (Duffy & Snellgrove, 2002),{{Cite web|title=An imagination in need - Document - Gale OneFile: News|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=STND&u=unimelb&id=GALE%7CA286924848&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-STND&asid=fc3599f3&fbclid=IwAR0aJU7cm1Yq9osMRFe8D2Jn9SpLR1lWAPvxgAFWaCr-C69GHkLtgDLDtYY|access-date=2021-06-09|website=go.gale.com}}{{Cite news|last=Simmonds|first=Diana|date=16 February 2002|title=Imperfect Portrait|work=The Australian}} and the novel The Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer (University of Queensland Press, 2012).{{Cite web|last=Krauth|first=Kirsten|date=2012-10-26|title=Greatest show on Earth|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/greatest-show-on-earth-20121025-286jf.html|access-date=2021-06-07|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Edwina Preston|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/tag/Edwina%20Preston?fbclid=IwAR3BLsou_lTOwmx_GkYdZju_fNNMUKVHXZynRrdRYKQRlxd61lEGw7AVETQ|access-date=2021-06-09|website=www.australianbookreview.com.au|language=en-gb}}{{Cite journal|last=Austin|first=Michelle|date=2013-05-07|title=Review of The Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer by Edwina Preston|journal=Transnational Literature Review|via=Trove.nla.gov.au}} Her writing and reviews have appeared in The Age, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Heat, Island and Griffith Review.{{Cite web|title=The Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer|url=https://www.female.com.au/the-inheritance-of-ivorie-hammer.htm|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.female.com.au|language=en}}

She released a spoken-word CD, Hirsute, in 1997 (ABC Audio) and performed around Melbourne. Alicia Sometimes described Preston as "melting the stage with a harpist by her side".{{Citation|title=Edwina Preston – Hirsute (1997, CD)|url=https://www.discogs.com/Edwina-Preston-Hirsute/release/12711872|language=en|access-date=2021-06-07}}{{Cite web|last=Sometimes|first=Alicia|date=1 June 2014|title=Radio Laneways and the Melbourne Sound|url=http://cordite.org.au/essays/radio-laneways-melbourne-sound/|url-status=live|access-date=11 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140612072603/http://cordite.org.au:80/essays/radio-laneways-melbourne-sound/ |archive-date=2014-06-12 }} She plays keyboards and sings in Harry Howard and the NDE (Spooky Records) with Harry Howard, Dave Graney and Clare Moore, and in ATOM (IT Records){{Cite web|title=In Every Dream Home, by Atom|url=https://atommelbourne.bandcamp.com/album/in-every-dream-home|access-date=2021-06-07|website=Atom}}{{Cite web|last=gimmiezine|date=2020-03-31|title=ATOM’s Harry Howard: "Universally in art, death and sex and love are the big themes… I’m constantly writing songs that mention death"|url=https://gimmiezine.com/2020/04/01/atom-interview/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie Zine|language=en-GB}} with Harry Howard and Ben Hepworth (Repairs, Exek). She is a featured vocalist in the occasional performing group Pop Crimes: The Songs of Rowland S Howard.{{Cite web|title=pop crimes|url=https://www.i94bar.com/tag/pop-crimes|access-date=2021-06-07|website=The I-94 Bar|language=en-gb}}

In May 2021, Wakefield Press announced that they will publish Edwina's new novel, "provisionally titled Veda Grey" in May 2022.{{Cite web|date=2021-05-07|title=Wakefield Press acquires Edwina Preston's bohemian 'Veda Grey'|url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/blog/2021/05/wakefield-acquires-edwina-preston-novel/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Wakefield Press|language=en-US}} The book was subsequently published as Bad Art Mother and shortlisted for the 2023 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards{{Cite web |date=2023-02-03 |title=Bad Art Mother |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/awards/christina-stead-prize-fiction/2023-shortlisted-bad-art-mother |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=State Library of NSW}} and shortlisted for the 2023 Stella Prize.{{Cite news |last=Harmon |first=Steph |date=2023-03-29 |title=Stella prize 2023 shortlist: small publishers dominate Australian literary award |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/30/stella-prize-2023-shortlist-small-publishers-dominate-australian-literary-award |access-date=2023-03-30}}