Announcing some changes to our Readings Prize
Last year saw us announce two new literary prizes that support new Australian authors – one for children’s books (which has already been awarded this year to the talented Trace Balla, author and illustrator of Rivertime) and one for adult fiction books.
This year, we’ve changed the name of the adult fiction prize to The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction (it was previously known as The Readings New Australian Writing Award).
Our inaugural winner for the adult fiction prize was Ceridwen Dovey. Our judges described her second work of fiction, Only the Animals, as ‘one of the boldest Australian short-story collections in recent years’. Dovey received $4000 in prize money.
Five other authors were shortlisted in 2014 alongside Dovey: Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Tribe), Luke Carman (An Elegant Young Man), Maxine Beneba Clarke (Foreign Soil), Fiona McFarlane (The Night Guest) and Christine Piper (After Darkness). Reflecting on the shortlist, our guest judge Hannah Kent said: ‘All of the titles demonstrated extraordinary talent, vision and promise, and all deserve to be read by a wide and varied audience. Together, the shortlistees are proof that the future of Australian literature is in capable and fearless hands.’
We’re due to announce our shortlist for 2015 in just under a week, which is very exciting. Our judging panel (which comprises Readings Managing Director Mark Rubbo, St Kilda Shop Manager Amy Vuleta, Readings Monthly Editor Elke Power and Hawthorn Buyer Danielle Mirabella) have been reading their way through a treasure trove of titles to select the six books of highest literary merit.
This year, Kent will again join them as a guest judge. We hope she will be as impressed with the diversity and quality of the shortlistees this year as she was last year; our judges certainly have been.
