‘The Windy Season’ wins 2017 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction

Sam Carmody’s The Windy Season (A&U) has won the 2017 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

Carmody’s novel, which follows 20-year-old Paul as he travels to a fictional West Australian fishing village in search of his missing elder brother, was chosen from a shortlist of six announced in August.

The Windy Season was unanimously chosen by a judging panel that comprised author Christos Tsiolkas, Readings managing director Mark Rubbo and a panel of Readings booksellers: Annie Condon from Readings Hawthorn, Gabrielle Williams from Readings Malvern, Marie Matteson from Readings Carlton and schools and libraries liaison Ann le Lievre.

Tsiolkas described the novel as ‘a very impressive achievement’. ‘Carmody has an instinctive grasp of narrative and character—he knows exactly how to tell a story—but what impresses most is the clarity of his voice,’ he said. ‘The dissection of masculinity, the understanding of the layers of caste and history that dominate outback life, the descriptions of working life at sea—all of this is conveyed with economy and precision and brings the world of the novel alive.’

The award, worth $3000, recognises ‘exciting and exceptional new contributions to local literature’ and is open to ‘first or second published works of fiction by Australian authors’.

Previous winners include Ceridwen Dovey’s Only the Animals (Hamish Hamilton), Stephanie Bishop’s The Other Side of the World (Hachette) and Zoë Morrison’s Music and Freedom (Vintage).

Category: Awards Local news