When Adelaide author Kylie Mansfield signed a multi-book deal with Allen & Unwin, she could hardly believe it. “I seriously had to keep re-reading the emails – it felt so surreal,” she says. “I’d been chasing the dream for so long, and even though I was determined to catch it, there’s always that little niggling doubt in the back of your mind that likes to trip you up.”
But the path to publication began not with a pitch or a publisher, but with something simpler – a longing to feel joy again in her writing.
Like many creatives, Kylie’s life was upended during the pandemic. “I lost my part-time job, and suddenly life became insular in a way it had never been before,” she recalls. “I was already a self-published writer and a credited screenwriter, but my heart had always been set on securing a traditional publishing deal. After so many near misses, I began to lose confidence in my abilities altogether. I wasn’t naturally a negative person, but the disinterest I encountered over the years really eroded my belief in myself as a writer.”
The course that changed Kylie’s life
That changed when she came across Dare to Dream with Kate Forsyth through the Australian Writers’ Centre. “I can still remember how much I loved it, and how inspired I was by that very first session,” she says. “It reminded me that writing is a form of ‘play’ for me – a way to connect with joy, freedom and imagination.”
Kylie recalls a moment of clarity during the course: “I hadn’t realised that in my quest for publication, I had forgotten that writing was a pleasure, not a chore – and that whether I was published or not, I would always write.”
Reconnecting with that sense of play and purpose transformed everything. “Through Dare to Dream, I learned that creative pursuits nourish the soul,” she says. “It helped me confront – and begin to let go of – the fears I’d accumulated around worthiness. Fear is especially destructive in creative terms; it’s a dagger piercing the heart of potential.”
The next step in her journey to publication
That renewed creative confidence soon led her to take Plotting and Planning, also with Kate Forsyth, which offered a practical structure to balance the emotion and artistry of storytelling. “If Dare to Dream was a lesson in why I write,” Kylie says, “then Plotting and Planning was a masterclass in how. Kate’s insights into structure and discipline completely changed how I approached my writing life. I realised that if I wanted to be a career writer, I needed to treat writing as both a joy and a profession.”
Armed with both inspiration and a clear process, Kylie finished polishing her manuscript and began submitting again – this time with confidence and intention. Interest soon followed. “To my amazement, I had several publishers reading my work at the same time,” she says. “It was thrilling and terrifying all at once. I didn’t know how to navigate it all – these were the kind of problems I’d always dreamed of having!”
When the offers started coming in, Kylie reached out to a literary agent for guidance. “I was completely overwhelmed, and I needed someone experienced to help me make the right choice. Within days, she offered to represent me – and from there, everything just accelerated.”
A dream book deal
The outcome: a multi-book deal with Allen & Unwin, including her debut historical novel, due for release in 2026.
Set across two timelines and inspired by true events, Kylie’s first novel tells the story of Bella Connelly, a woman who has kept a lifelong secret about what she endured and survived during World War II. Decades later, a letter from a historian stirs old memories, forcing Bella to confront the ghosts of her past and the choices that shaped her life. It’s a sweeping, emotional story of love and loss, friendship and courage, and the lingering echoes of history that reach into the present.
When the publishing offer finally arrived, Kylie says she felt a rush unlike anything before. “I was high,” she laughs. “Dizzy, even. On pure, unadulterated excitement.”
Looking back, she credits her AWC courses as the turning point. “Those courses reminded me how to write again for the sheer love of writing,” she says. “They gave me the tools, but they also gave me courage – to stop hiding, to start submitting, and to finally take myself seriously as a writer.”
She’s already shared her enthusiasm widely. “I have already recommended AWC courses to friends,” she says. “I believe my words were: ‘It’s brilliant.’ ‘You won’t regret it.’ ‘It will change your life and the way you write!’”
Now, with her dream realised, Kylie writes full-time from her seaside home in Adelaide, often rising before dawn to chase that feeling she rediscovered during Dare to Dream. “Writing,” she says, “is where I’m most myself. It’s where I shine bright and ignite.”
Follow Kylie
Instagram: @kyliemansfieldauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/kyliemansfieldauthor
Website: kyliemansfield.com
Courses completed at AWC:
