Christine Balint’s fourth novel will be released in 2026. Her most recent book, Water Music, won the 2021 Viva la Novella Prize. Her first novel, The Salt Letters, was shortlisted for the The Australian/ Vogel Literary Award. This was followed by Ophelia’s Fan. Christine’s work has been published to critical acclaim in Australia, The United States, Germany and Italy. She was deemed one of Barnes & Noble’s Great New Writers in 2001. 

In 2018, Christine received Australia Council funding to travel to Venice to research A Single Witness, based on the true story of a 13-year-old illiterate girl from a rural mountain village who took her father to trial for sex abuse in 1757 and won. Christine’s current work in progress, The Last Music Keeper of Venice, is a dual timeline narrative about the recovery of music manuscripts composed by historic female composers. It has received funding from the Australia Council, Creative Victoria and the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship.

Christine has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and Modern European Studies. She has undertaken archival research in French, Italian and Hungarian. She has a PhD in Creative Arts from the University of Melbourne. Christine is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at La Trobe University.

Here’s Christine discussing The Last Music Keeper of Venice, one of her works in progress.

Video Credit: TAOS Productions. Interviewer and Producer:  Nathan King

©Christine Balint 2026