‘Before Rupert’ wins National Biography Award

The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced Tom D C Roberts’ Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty (UQP) as the winner of this year’s $25,000 National Biography Award.

The judges said Before Rupert is ‘a masterful biography, full of remarkable insights into a celebrated figure in Australian business and political history’, which is ‘distinguished by deep research, an eye for vivid quotation and the wonderful narrative skills of the author’.

‘This is a full biography in the best sense—from Keith Murdoch’s uncertain beginnings to his spectacular ascendancy in the First World War and on to his corporate and political crusades in the decades thereafter,’ said the judges. ‘The coverage of Murdoch’s race fanaticism, his genius for tabloid sensation, his innovations in newspaper enterprise and his interventions in national politics are stand-out features.’

Roberts’ biography was chosen from a shortlist of six. The judging panel comprised Peter Cochrane, Rosemary Sorensen and Richard White.

For more information about the award, visit the SLNSW website here.

Category: Local news