Jacqui Hodder

Jacqueline Hodder is a writer and teacher living in Naarm/Melbourne. She is the 2025 winner of the Odyssey House Short Story Competition with the judges calling her story a ‘stand out’. Her short story ‘The Butterfly Effect’ was recently shortlisted for the Newcastle Short Story Prize and appeared in the accompanying anthology released in December 2025. Jacqueline also has other publications including a short story called ‘Polaroid Rainbow’ which was published in Locative Magazine with the Editor lauding her piece for its ‘strong narrative voice and connection to Australian culture’.

Jacqueline has been shortlisted and placed in a number of other competitions including the the Nimibiluk — Alan Marshall — Short Story Award and the Mornington Peninsula Mayor’s Award, as the 2023 Odyssey House Short Story competition and the 2024 Peninsula Writer’s Centre Digital Short Story Award.

Jacqueline has published various books including ‘The Sentinel’ a historical fiction novel set in a lighthouse on the coast of Victoria in 1880 and ‘The Lace Sisters’, a moving tale of the choices people make that ricochet down generations. In 2023, Jacqueline published a travel memoir of her sea turtle volunteering experience in Costa Rica. This adventure, and the journey she took to make the adventure possible, featured on the ‘Life’s Booming’ podcast with the ABC’s James Valentine and celebrity doctor, Brad McKay, and in the associated publication, ‘Dare’. Jacqueline writes regularly on Substack.