Karen Howie Casey is the winner of the 2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize for her manuscript All the Little Wide Worlds. She is a former journalist, a short and long-form fiction writer, and a communications professional. She grew up in Melbourne and now lives on a windy hill in West Gippsland with her husband, three teens and a handful of pets.

Karen’s short fiction has won or placed in several awards and many (many) moons ago, her first unpublished manuscript was long listed for the Australian Vogel Literary Award.

She has independently published a children’s chapter book series to support Australian farmers through the Aussie Helpers charity, receiving a Regional Arts Victoria grant to complete the project. A debacle of a family road trip and a solid sense of humour then left her little choice but to throw in a fun travel memoir, The Misadventures of the Travelling Quirkus.

Karen is now working on her fourth manuscript and the release of her award-winning debut novel with HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins.