Coby Sullivan lives on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. She has been awarded and published in flash fiction and short story and Milk Fever is her debut novel. Coby has a degree in journalism and completed the Writing A Novel course with Faber Writing Academy in 2022. Drawn from her own experience, Milk Fever shines a light on the lesser-talked-about realities of early motherhood and is designed to start a conversation she believes too many families are still having alone.
Coby's manuscript Milk Fever has been shortlisted for the 2026 Dorothy Hewett Award. In this short interview, with Mabel Gibson, Coby Sullivan shares how it feels to be shortlisted and their advice for writers looking to submit to the Dorothy Hewett Award in the future.
About Milk Fever: When Louise, a high-achieving investigative journalist, becomes a mother, everything she believed about strength and control unravels. Months of relentless sleep deprivation give way to exhaustion, intrusive thoughts and slow self-erasure; her marriage frays, friendships fade, and the woman she was quietly disappears. It's not until she surrenders to help that she learns resilience looks less like heroism and more like letting go. Milk Fever is a deeply personal yet universally resonant story about the courageous, invisible work of survival and how the most devastating battles can be the ones nobody sees.
Mabel Gibson interviewed Coby about her shortlisting:
How do you feel being shortlisted for the 2026 DHA?
Postnatal depression (PND) affects one in seven mothers and one in ten fathers in Australia, and is underrepresented in motherhood narratives. Milk Fever began as my attempt to make sense of my own experience, but soon became something larger: a story for every parent who has felt that creeping darkness and the isolation of living inside a mind they can no longer trust. It means a lot to have my writing recognised and be shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award and it’s exciting that this story is now one step closer to the families who need it!
How long have you been working on Milk Fever and what made you submit to
the DHA this year?
The bones of it began as journaling and writing poems and short passages during a challenging time with a new born, when I was exhausted, overwhelmed and grappling with a loss of identity. It was my husband who saw the potential for something bigger; he knew my love of writing and encouraged me to channel my creativity into writing a book. That became Milk Fever and I started working on it seriously in 2024. I heard about the Dorothy Hewett Award and was drawn to it straight away. I like that she was a writer who didn't shy away from women's inner lives, despite cultural and societal norms. It felt fitting for Milk Fever, since my instinct was to shed light on the rawer, lesser-talked-about aspects of early motherhood.
Milk Fever is an honest look at becoming a mother, which can often be sugar-coated making those first time mums who are struggling feel isolated. You say the work started as an attempt to make sense of your own experiences but quickly became something more, would you say the writing process did allow you to make some sense and what are you hoping readers will gain from Milk Fever?
I've always loved writing for how clarifying it can be. Often I didn't really know what I was feeling until I'd put it into words on a page. The writing process also helped me hold onto a part of myself that preceded becoming a mum. It was something I could still do from home and brought me comfort when everything else felt uncertain. I'm hoping readers come away with a better understanding of postnatal depression and its insidious creep. It’s not always what the brochures depict; many mothers appear okay in public but are struggling behind closed doors. I hope the book becomes a talking point, so more conversations are had about perinatal health. Mostly, I want it to help struggling parents to feel validated and less alone.
Do you have any advice for writers who have been working on a manuscript and are considering submitting their work into the DHA in the future?
I was initially nervous to share my writing, not just because of its personal nature, but because it meant letting others literally judge whether or not I was a good writer, something I've always taken pride in. But I realised I'd poured so much time, effort and emotion into this manuscript over the course of years, and it would be a real shame – to myself, to my family who made sacrifices to help me write it, and to potential future readers – not to give it a shot at publication. The DHA process has been so supportive, and I'd definitely recommend other writers submit once their manuscript is complete.
Check out our interviews with the other 5 shortlisted writers: