Touched: A small history of feeling

by Kim Kelly

Co-winner of the 2025 Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize

Comments from the Judging Panel

Why this book is different
Documenting the damaging role of anxiety in our lives is hardly new, but Touched takes us inside the destabilising riot of a three-day panic attack with such insight, honesty and humour that the perspective we gain is revelatory and overwhelmingly hopeful.

Why we liked it
This book has a wonderful breadth of understanding—of the author’s own crazily complex family, of the wider issue of anxiety across society, and of her own voyage as a highly competent yet vulnerable being in a worryingly unhinged world.

Paperback

First published October 1, 2025

About the author

‘Why can’t more people write like this?’ – The Age
‘colourful, evocative and energetic’ – Sydney Morning Herald

Kim Kelly is author thirteen novels. Among them are the bestselling, The Blue Mile, and critically acclaimed, Wild Chicory. Her novella, The Rat Catcher, was longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize, and her latest, Ladies' Rest and Writing Room, was awarded the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize.

Also a well-known book editor, Kim has a Master of Creative Writing from Macquarie University, for which she earned the Fred Rush Convocation Prize for writing. She is currently undertaking a PhD in literature at Macquarie.

Reviews

[Mathew B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book.

The length was perfect, the descriptions of anxiety were accurate and relatable.

Kelly also touches on how anxiety and how family issues are interconnected. I found this section particularly relatable, and comforting.

[Theresa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beloved for her fiction, Touched is Kim Kelly as we have never read before. This little powerhouse of a memoir is at once raw and entirely relatable. With stark and humorous honesty, Kim takes us by the hand and allows us to step inside her mind, at a time when it is at its most chaotic. Kim has always been a word weaver to me, and in writing about herself, here, she is mesmerising. I devoured this book in one sitting and then sat for almost just as long again contemplating it.

‘Everyone’s experience is different, every attack is unique. But what is certain is that anxiety is an expert in ambush. You can be feeling great, on top of the wonderful world, and it’ll rip right into you, as if it is made of spite.’

~~~~

‘Because that’s what we are. Here and not here at the same time. And maybe the only thing any of us truly needs to know is that, all the time, every moment, every breath, love is waiting. Just waiting for you to come around.’

I highly recommend this one and am unsurprised at it taking out the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize for non-fiction this year.

Thanks to the publisher for the copy.