Miller wins $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Sherborne takes out Best Writing Prize

Thursday, 8 November 2012 Books+Publishing

Alex Miller has won the 2012 Melbourne Prize for Literature, presented every three years to a Victorian author ‘whose body of published or produced work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature, as well as to cultural and intellectual life’.

Miller was presented with the $60,000 award at a special event at Federation Square in Melbourne on 7 November. He told the attendees at the event that he was ‘honoured and very proud’ to receive the award and he paid tribute to his wife Stephanie, his publisher Annette Barlow from Allen & Unwin, and his readers.

The 2012 Best Writing Award was presented to Craig Sherborne for his novel The Amateur Science of Love (Text). Sherborne, who will also receive a Qantas international travel voucher worth $2500 and a residency with the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication, also thanked his publisher Michael Heyward and the team at Text Publishing for their support.

As previously reported by Bookseller+Publisher, Miller was one of five finalists for this year’s Melbourne Prize for Literature. The other shortlisted writers were Alison Lester, Robert Manne, Joanna Murray-Smith and Peter Temple. The finalists for the Best Writing Award can be seen here.

This year’s finalists were selected by Readings owner Mark Rubbo, writer and academic Brian Matthews, playwright Hannie Rayson, author Christos Tsiolkas and Wheeler Centre director Michael Williams. Each of the finalists is also eligible for the $5000 Civic Choice Award, which will be voted on by members of the public. Votes can be cast online via the Melbourne Prize website or at a public exhibition at Federation Square, which will run until 19 November.

This is the third time the Melbourne Prize for Literature has been presented, with the prize alternating between prizes for urban sculpture, music and literature in a three-year cycle. The 2006 prize was awarded to Helen Garner, with Christos Tsiolkas taking out the Best Writing Award for Dead Europe (Vintage). In 2009, Gerald Murnane won the Melbourne Prize for Literature and Nam Le won the Best Writing Award for The Boat (Penguin).

Category: Local news