The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced this year’s shortlist for the National Biography Award! This award is presented annually to a published work of biographical or autobiographical writing, to help promote public interest in these genres. Each shortlisted author will receive $2,000 while the winner will receive $25,000.
Chair of the judges, Melinda Harvey, said: ‘This magnificent shortlist is united in a single pursuit: to understand Australian lives, from the famous to the forgotten, as snapshots of political and social history. But not only that: these books harbour the belief that the act of remembering what Australians have experienced and contributed is, itself, potentially transformative for our country’s future.’
Discover the shortlisted works:
- Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country by Ryan Cropp
- Bee Miles: Australia’s Famous Bohemian Rebel, and the Untold Story Behind the Legend by Rose Ellis
- Inner Song: A Biography of Margaret Sutherland by Jillian Graham
- The Shape of Dust by Lamisse Hamouda with Hazem Hamouda
- Frank Moorhouse: A Life by Catharine Lumby
- Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas
And highly commended was Graft by Maggie MacKellar
