Introducing the KYD Critics

We are delighted to announce Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Sam Twyford-Moore as two regular critics for Kill Your Darlings magazine. Laura and Sam will each publish long-form criticism on new release fiction and non-fiction throughout 2026.

‘A great piece of literary criticism shapes a conversation around a book and its ideas,’ says KYD publishing director Rebecca Starford. ‘It encourages deep and critical thinking about a work, a rare privilege for an author in this busy world. It invites us all—readers and writers alike—into different worlds and reflects a landscape full of imaginative possibility back at us.’

This initiative heralds a new era for the organisation. ‘KYD believes in the value of literary criticism and its essential role in safeguarding a healthy publishing industry,’ says Starford. ‘For this reason, it’s always been my ambition to house regular critics in the magazine, and so I’m thrilled to have Laura and Sam join the team in 2026, two writers I admire and whose criticism never fails to enlighten and entertain.’

Each writer offers a distinctive voice:

Laura Elizabeth Woollett is a Perth-born, Melbourne-based author and critic. She has published four works of fiction, including West Girls (2023), which was longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize. Her first book of non-fiction, Hell Days, is out September 2026.

‘When I began writing literary criticism in 2020, I saw it as a way to make some extra money and keep the muscles working at a time that wasn’t otherwise conducive to creativity. It has since become an art to me in its own right. Novel writing is often about subtext—trusting the reader to make connections and interpretations. As a person who enjoys moral ambiguity in fiction and doesn’t always come to conclusions easily, I’ve found the transparency of criticism freeing. There’s no hiding behind characters or beautiful language. You have to figure out what you think and why, and if it’s justified—and convince readers that you know what you’re talking about.

‘Becoming a regular 2026 critic for KYD is exciting for me, not just because it means developing my own critical voice. There’s obviously been a huge erosion of critical spaces in the arts in recent years and an encroachment of advertising within these spaces. But I think there’s a growing hunger for honest, long-form, skin-in-the-game criticism, because of this. I hope this series gets more people as excited about criticism as I am and encourages publications to devote more space to it, or for new critical spaces to be established. It’s one thing to start a Substack or share opinions about books on Instagram. It’s another thing to be commissioned and edited. That kind of mediation, and the line-by-line scrutiny that comes with it, is important to me.’

Sam Twyford-Moore is a Melbourne-based writer and cultural critic from the NSW Central Coast. He is the author of The Rapids: Ways of Looking at Mania and Cast Mates: Australian Actors in Hollywood and at Home.

‘I am honoured to be one of Kill Your Darlings’ book critics in 2026. In a time when our historic literary magazines are folding, and writers’ festivals are under constant political attack, to be given the space to contribute regularly to a publication is an incredible privilege. Indeed, how many Australian publications have regular culture writers these days?

‘Over the years I’ve been able to write about a diverse range of topics for KYD—Russell Crowe’s midlife fire sale, a Taylor Swift covers record, the demise of ABC’s The Book Club, Australian street photography, river tubing in Laos—so it’s exciting to be back with a singular focus on books. I am looking forward to documenting what is in store for readers this year, how writers are pushing form and challenging themselves, and how their books might speak to larger issues facing us. I think it’s going to be a wild ride.’

‘Having previously worked with both writers, I’m so excited to see how they will shape our understanding of literature this year,’ says KYD editor Suzy Garcia. ‘Bold and incisive, they are the best kind of critics: they make you invested in what’s at hand—books, ideas and the world in all its complexities—encouraging you to read more, know more and think deeply.’

The first piece of criticism in this new series, ‘The Slow Cancellation of Lolita’ by Laura Elizabeth Woollett, is available to read now.