Monday, December 07, 2015

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS



Media Contact: Karen Kissane 0428 657 076 | karen.kissane@minstaff.vic.gov.au

Monday, 7 December, 2015


 
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley has kicked off a summer of diverse reading, announcing the 21 works that have been shortlisted for the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

The works comprise some of the best fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and writing for young adults produced in Australia in the past 12 months.

The shortlist ranges from a portrait of two of Australia’s most prominent art patrons to a science-fiction/fantasy that follows the story of a family from 2016 to 2057.

There is the young adult tale of an Aboriginal girl taken from her family in Northern Australia, poems exploring the ways the past intrudes on the present, gritty theatre works exploring secrets, damaged lives and crime, and a look into a writer’s lifelong obsession with horse racing.

Author Miles Allinson has been shortlisted in the fiction category for his first novel Fever of Animals. The nomination caps off a significant year for the novelist. In 2014, Allinson received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for the story, which went on to be published by Scribe.

The winners of the five award categories fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and writing for young adults each receive a prize of $25,000, and go on to contest the Victorian Prize for Literature. Worth a further $100,000, the Victorian Prize for Literature is Australia’s single richest literary prize.



The public are encouraged to participate in the Awards by voting for their favorite shortlisted work. The winner of the $2,000 People’s Choice Award will be named alongside the main category winners on Thursday 28 January 2016.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were established by the then Labor Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The Awards are administered by the Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Premier of Victoria.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards include two further Awards: the Unpublished Manuscript Award, which is presented as part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in May each year, and the biennial Award for Indigenous Writing, which will be announced in September 2016.

To vote for the People’s Choice Award, please visit wheelercentre.com. The full shortlist is attached.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley:

"The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards showcase the strength and diversity of Australian literature, celebrating our most exciting stories and story tellers."

"These stories do what great literature does best: they allow us to reflect on the past, or explore an imagined future. The shortlist showcases the best local literature from the past year and provides us with plenty of fantastic summer reading."


"This year’s shortlist includes some of our country’s best known writers alongside emerging voices. The Andrews Labor Government congratulates all authors on making the shortlist." Media Contact: Karen Kissane 0428 657 076 | karen.kissane@minstaff.vic.gov.au



2016 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS SHORTLIST

PRIZE FOR FICTION

Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson (Scribe Publications) – Brunswick, Vic

The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop (Hachette) – Springwood, NSW

Clade by James Bradley (Penguin) – Darlington, NSW

Forever Young by Steven Carroll (HarperCollins) – Brunswick East, Vic

The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau (Bloomsbury) – Earlwood, NSW

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin) – Marrickville, NSW

Highly commended: Six Bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight (Random House Australia), The Mothers by Rod Jones (Text Publishing) and Black Rock White City by A.S. Patrić(Transit Lounge Publishing)



PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan (MUP) – North Fitzroy, Vic, and Fitzroy, Vic

Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather by Karen Lamb (UQP) – Dulwich Hill, NSW

Australia’s Second Chance by George Megalogenis (Penguin) – North Caulfield, Vic

Second Half First by Drusilla Modjeska (Knopf) – Birchgrove, NSW

Something for the Pain by Gerald Murnane (Text Publishing) – Goroke, Vic

Mannix by Brenda Niall (Text Publishing) – Deepdene, Vic

Highly commended: Good Muslim Boy by Osamah Sami (Hardie Grant Books) and Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright (Giramondo Publishing)



PRIZE FOR DRAMA

Mortido by Angela Betzien (Currency Press) – St Peters, NSW

Broken by Mary Anne Butler (Currency Press) – Rapid Creek, NT

SHIT by Patricia Cornelius (Melbourne Theatre Company) – Thornbury, Vic

Highly commended: I am a Miracle by Declan Greene



PRIZE FOR POETRY

The Guardians by Lucy Dougan (Giramondo Publishing) – East Victoria Park, Vic

Crankhandle by Alan Loney (Cordite) – Malvern East, Vic

The Subject of Feeling by Peter Rose (UWA Publishing) – Melbourne, Vic

Highly commended: Happiness by Martin Harrison (UWA Publishing)



PRIZE FOR WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Sister Heart by Sally Morgan (Fremantle Press) – Bicton, WA

A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia) – Hamilton Hill, WA

Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward (Xoum Publishing) – Brunswick West, Vic

Highly commended: Illuminae by Aimee Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin) and Becoming Kirrali Lewis by Jane Harrison (Magabala Books)



For images and interview requests, contact Kate Blackwood, Publicist, the Wheeler Centre E: kate.blackwood@wheelercentre.com T: 03 9094 7806

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