Tulba wins $20,000 2014 Kathleen Mitchell Award

Majok Tulba has been announced as the winner of this year’s Kathleen Mitchell Award for young novelists.

Tulba won the $20,000 award for his debut novel Beneath the Darkening Sky (Hamish Hamilton).

The judging panel, which included senior lecturer at the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Notre Dame Camilla Nelson, project officer, scholarly engagement at the State Library of New South Wales Rachel Franks, and freelance lecturer and principal of the Creative Writing Workshop Marilla North, said Beneath the Darkening Sky was ‘a powerful novel, beautifully constructed’.

‘The issue of child soldiers in South Sudan is one that cannot be ignored,’ they said. ‘It demands our compassionate—and urgent—attention.’

The Katheleen Mitchell Award was established by Mitchell in 1996 to support young authors and encourage the ‘advancement, improvement and standing of Australian literature’. It is open to Australian authors under 30 at the time of publication.

The Katheleen Mitchell Award is presented by the Trust Company, trustee of the award.

Category: Local news