John van Tiggelen has been appointed Editor of the Monthly, from a highly competitive field of more than 70 applicants.

Van Tiggelen, 45, has been a writer for Good Weekend since 1999. He will take up the Monthly’s editorship on 30 January, replacing current editor Ben Naparstek, who will join Fairfax Media to edit Good Weekend.

Publisher Morry Schwartz says: “John is one of this country’s leading longform journalists and literary stylists. Under his watch, I’m confident that the Monthly will continue to go from strength to strength as Australia’s premier magazine for fine writing and in-depth stories.”

Van Tiggelen was born in Holland and studied to be a medical doctor before earning a Bachelor of Science, majoring in immunology, at Monash University. He has a graduate diploma in journalism from RMIT and has been a research fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University.

He’s been shortlisted for four Walkley awards, published twice in Best Australian Essays and also contributed to the Monthly. His book, Mango Country: A Journey Beyond the Brochures of Tropical Queensland, was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Prize for Australian Literature in 2004.

John van Tiggelen says, “This is an irresistible opportunity. Until very recently I was looking forward to working under Ben at Good Weekend – he’s left The Monthly in excellent shape.”

“As the support and means for fine journalism continues to shrivel, the challenge for The Monthly is to let readers know what they’re missing elsewhere.”

“Its stable of contributors is second to none, and I’m very excited to be working with them.”

Last year The Monthly recorded a year-on-year increase in readership of 34.4% to 121,000 and an increase in circulation of 21.5% to 29,982.