Penguin Literary Prize 2022 shortlist announced

Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize.

The shortlisted manuscripts are:

• ‘On a Bright Hillside in Paradise’ by Annette Higgs, about a family of convict descendants in Tasmania and the changes wrought when Christian Brethren evangelists arrive to hold revival meetings in local barns
• ‘Helen Hope’ by Katelin Farnsworth, ‘a story about learning to trust and finding your place in the world again after a traumatic event’
• ‘White Over Blue’ by Christina Gee, which ‘is ostensibly a book about trying to write a novel, but unpacks so many other things along the way’
• ‘Ultramotherland’ by Andrei Seleznev, a ‘speculative, funny’ thriller that ‘takes you on a ride as it explores post-Soviet identity, alienation, and the search for meaning and belonging’
• ‘The Fall Between’ by Darcy-Lee Tindale, a crime thriller exploring the tensions between urban and rural life
• ‘Totem’ by Annelise Roberts, which ‘charts a strange kind of correspondence between a nuclear veteran and his unnamed descendant as they struggle to find answers—when did this bleakness start, and where does it end?’

‘Massive congratulations to our shortlisted authors,’ said PRH publishing director Justin Ractliffe. ‘It’s a huge achievement to get down to just six after the hundreds of submissions we received for this year’s prize.

‘We have a brilliant panel of judges who, like me, are very much looking forward to hunkering down to read and discuss the shortlist. It’s always a thrill to discover new writers and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what 2022’s Penguin Literary Prize has in store for us.’

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, 15 June 2022.

Previous winners of the Penguin Literary Prize include Hitch by Kathryn Hind, published June 2019 and awarded the Betty Trask Award in 2020, The Spill by Imbi Neeme, published June 2020 with rights sold in Germany and Estonia, The Rabbits by Sophie Overett, published July 2021 with rights sold in the UK, and Denizen by James McKenzie Watson, to be published in July 2022.

Category: Awards Local news