‘The Two Frank Thrings’ wins National Biography Award

The Two Frank Thrings by Peter Fitzpatrick (Monash University Publishing) has won this year’s National Biography Award, presented by the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW).

Fitzpatrick’s book, which tells the story of Australian film director, producer and cinema proprietor Francis William Thring and his actor son Frank Thring, was announced as the winner of the $25,000 award on 5 August at the SLNSW in Sydney. The announcement marked the beginning of the library’s Biography Week—a public events program dedicated to biography, autobiography and memoir.

The Two Frank Thrings was selected from a shortlist of five titles, which also included Speechless: A Year in My Father’s Business by James Button (MUP), Montebello: A Memoir by Robert Drewe (Hamish Hamilton), Gough Whitlam: His Time by Jenny Hocking (MUP) and Reaching One Thousand by Rachel Robertson (Black Inc.).  Each of the shortlisted authors receives a cash prize of $1000.

The National Biography Award is Australia’s richest prize for biographical writing and memoir. In 2012, the award was presented to The Many Worlds of R H Matthews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist by Martin Thomas (A&U).

For more information about the award, visit the SLNSW website here. To read a review of The Two Frank Thrings, click here.

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Category: Local news