‘Questions of Travel’ wins Book of the Year at NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

Michelle de Kretser’s Questions of Travel (A&U) has been named Book of the Year at the 2014 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, presented in Sydney on 19 May.

De Kretser also won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and tied for the Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW Award. 

The judges said de Kretser’s fourth novel ‘shows her talent at its peak’. ‘The quality of the prose in all dimensions, together with the resonance and power of its story, lifted Questions of Travel above the other titles on the shortlist.’ 

The full list of winners is:

Book of the Year ($10,000)

Questions of Travel (Michelle de Kretser, A&U)

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000)

Questions of Travel (Michelle de Kretser, A&U)

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5000)

The Night Guest (Fiona McFarlane, Hamish Hamilton)

Douglas Stewart Prize for Nonfiction ($40,000)

Boy Lost: A Family Memoir (Kristina Olsson, UQP)

Rendezvous with Destiny (Michael Fullilove, Viking)

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000)

Novelties (Fiona Hile, Hunter)

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)

The Girl Who Brought Mischief (Katrina Nannestad, HarperCollins)

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature ($30,000)

Zac and Mia (AJ Betts, Text)

Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting ($30,000)

Devil’s Dust (Kris Mrksa, Fremantle Media/ABC TV)

Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting ($30,000)

Muff (Van Badham, The Bakehouse Theatre/five.point.one)

Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)

Questions of Travel (Michelle de Kretser, A&U)

The Secret River (Andrew Bovell, Currency Press)

People’s Choice Award

The Railwayman’s Wife (Ashley Hay, A&U).

The judges also presented Rodney Hall with a Special Award, worth $10,000, which is given ‘under exceptional circumstances … either for an Australian literary work that is not readily covered by existing awards categories or in recognition of an Australian writer’s achievements generally’.

The judges described Hall as ‘a most worthy recipient for this award—in recognition not only of his prodigious output and the quality of his body of work, but in gratitude for his support of Australian authors and his contribution to building a vibrant artistic culture over many decades’.

Hall is the author of 12 novels, 14 poetry collections and six nonfiction books, and is the editor of numerous poetry and essay collections. He has twice won the Miles Franklin Award (Just Relations, 1982, The Grisly Wife, 1994) and was chair of the Australia Council for the Arts from 1991-1994. His most recent book is Silence (Murdoch Books).

To see the books shortlisted for this year’s awards, click here.

Category: Local news