Laine Cunningham’s work has won multiple national awards, including the Hackney Literary Award and the James Jones Literary Society fellowship. In past years, the Hackney Award was received by Horton Foote and William Styron, placing Laine in the ranks of Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. She has also received fellowships and residency slots from the Jerome Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, the New York Mills Cultural Center, Wildacres and the Cornucopia Arts Center.

Her most recent novel, He Drinks Poison, follows a female FBI agent who must access the dark power of the goddess Kali in order to bring down a serial killer. The book was shortlisted for the Pirate’s Alley William Faulkner award.

Her first novel, Message Stick, touches on social tensions between Aboriginal and mainstream cultures in Australia. The work was hailed as “The best novel in ten years” by the Hackney awards committee. A companion book, Seven Sisters: Spiritual Messages from Aboriginal Australia, is also available. The work retells Aboriginal stories in a way that helps modern people address age-old issues of love, parenting, illness and death.

To support her writing habit, Laine owns a publishing consultancy called Writer’s Resource. For twenty years she has helped other authors write, rewrite and pitch their books to publishers. Tips and advice on editing, writing, ghostwriting, finding an agent, traditional publishing and self-publishing are available at her blog. 

She tends to eat too much chocolate but figures a happy writer with smudgy fingers is much more fun than a cranky one with never a spot on her manuscripts. 

For free samples, scroll down to the bottom of each book's page. Enjoy!