Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2016 Shortlists

I may be a few weeks late with this announcement, however coverage of Australian writers is something I should address more frequently so I’m not going to let this one slip through to the keeper. On 7 December the Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, announced the 21 works that have been shortlisted for the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

Like the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, I have purchased the poetry nominees and will review them here in due course, unlike the Prime Minister’s Award there are a few weeks to actually read the works, with the winners to be announced on 28 January 2016.

There is a decent prize pool on offer with each winner receiving $25,000 and them going on to contest the Victorian Prize for Literature worth a further $100,000. There is also a People’s Choice Award worth a further $2,000.

Amazingly my local library has all of the fiction nominees, all of the non-fiction nominees, two of the three young adult titles (“Welcome to Orphancorp” by Marlee Jane Ward being the missing title), none of the drama or poetry nominees, looks like those forms of writing are the poor cousins indeed, given my library is located where one of the poetry nominees, Alan Loney, resides.

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)

Stay tuned (postage pending) for my reviews of the poetry nominees. I am on the road soon until late January but hopefully I’ll have time to get the reviews and my thoughts up here before the awards on 28 January 2016.

For more information on the awards go to http://www.wheelercentre.com/projects/victorian-premier-s-literary-awards-2016