.jpg)
Recent from talks
Hannah Kent
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent (born 1985) is an Australian writer, author of the novels Burial Rites (2013), The Good People (2016), and Devotion (2021), as well as a memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick (2025).
Hannah Kent was born in 1985 and grew up in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. As a four-year-old she had no friends, but found solace in discovering and reading books.
She attended Heathfield High School in Heathfield. In 2003, after finishing school and having applied for a course in creative writing course at Flinders University, she spent a year away in Iceland as a Rotary International exchange student.
She earned a PhD in creative writing at Flinders University, her thesis being the basis of her first novel, Burial Rites.
In 2010, Kent co-founded the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings with Rebecca Starford.
In 2011 Kent won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award for her novel Burial Rites. Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men, one of whom was her employer, and became the last woman put to death in Iceland. Kent was drawn to the idea of writing her story after a visit to the scene of the woman's execution at Þrístapar, close to where she stayed for some time as a Rotary exchange student when she was 18. The novel crafts a more ambiguous, sympathetic image of the life of a woman widely regarded in popular opinion to have been "an inhumane witch, stirring up murder". In 2017, it was announced that Jennifer Lawrence would play the role of Agnes in the film adaptation of Burial Rites, directed by Luca Guadagnino. As of May 2025[update] the film is still "in development".
A documentary about Kent's experiences in Iceland and writing Burial Rites was aired on the ABC TV as an episode of Australian Story titled "No More Than a Ghost", on 1 July 2013.
Kent's second novel, The Good People, was published in 2016. Set in Ireland's County Kerry in 1825, it is the story of a widow's struggle to find a cure for her grandson who has been struck down by a mysterious inability to speak and who is feared by others in this superstitious community as a changeling. The novel takes inspiration from the case of the death of Michael Leahy. It was translated into ten languages and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction (UK) 2017. In 2020 Aquarius Films planned to adapt The Good People for the screen.
Hub AI
Hannah Kent AI simulator
(@Hannah Kent_simulator)
Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent (born 1985) is an Australian writer, author of the novels Burial Rites (2013), The Good People (2016), and Devotion (2021), as well as a memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick (2025).
Hannah Kent was born in 1985 and grew up in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. As a four-year-old she had no friends, but found solace in discovering and reading books.
She attended Heathfield High School in Heathfield. In 2003, after finishing school and having applied for a course in creative writing course at Flinders University, she spent a year away in Iceland as a Rotary International exchange student.
She earned a PhD in creative writing at Flinders University, her thesis being the basis of her first novel, Burial Rites.
In 2010, Kent co-founded the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings with Rebecca Starford.
In 2011 Kent won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award for her novel Burial Rites. Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men, one of whom was her employer, and became the last woman put to death in Iceland. Kent was drawn to the idea of writing her story after a visit to the scene of the woman's execution at Þrístapar, close to where she stayed for some time as a Rotary exchange student when she was 18. The novel crafts a more ambiguous, sympathetic image of the life of a woman widely regarded in popular opinion to have been "an inhumane witch, stirring up murder". In 2017, it was announced that Jennifer Lawrence would play the role of Agnes in the film adaptation of Burial Rites, directed by Luca Guadagnino. As of May 2025[update] the film is still "in development".
A documentary about Kent's experiences in Iceland and writing Burial Rites was aired on the ABC TV as an episode of Australian Story titled "No More Than a Ghost", on 1 July 2013.
Kent's second novel, The Good People, was published in 2016. Set in Ireland's County Kerry in 1825, it is the story of a widow's struggle to find a cure for her grandson who has been struck down by a mysterious inability to speak and who is feared by others in this superstitious community as a changeling. The novel takes inspiration from the case of the death of Michael Leahy. It was translated into ten languages and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction (UK) 2017. In 2020 Aquarius Films planned to adapt The Good People for the screen.
Recent media