Melbourne Prize for Literature finalists announced

Wednesday, 12 September 2018 Books+Publishing

Finalists have been announced for this year’s Melbourne Prize for Literature, as well as the Best Writing Award and the Readings Residency Award.

The finalists for the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature are:

Tony Birch
Gideon Haigh
Alison Lester
Christos Tsiolkas
Alexis Wright.

The Melbourne Prize for Literature is awarded triennially to a Victorian author whose body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature and to cultural and intellectual life.

The finalists for the $30,000 Best Writing Award are:

Judith Bishop
Angus Cerini
Kate Cole-Adams
Briohny Doyle
A Frances Johnson
Maria Tumarkin
Sarah Krasnostein
Louise Milligan
Jock Serong
Jeff Sparrow.

The Best Writing Award is awarded to a Victorian author for a work ‘of outstanding clarity, originality and creativity’, published between 2015 and 2018.

The finalists for the $7500 Readings Residency Award are:

Jamie Marina Lau
Micheline Lee
Marlee Jane Ward.

The Readings Residency Award is a new award given to an early-career Victorian author. The winner receives a residency at Norma Redpath Studio at the University of Melbourne, a $5000 cash prize, a $2500 Qantas travel voucher and an affiliation with the university’s School of Culture and Communication.

All three awards are open to all literary genres. Winners will be announced on 14 November, and a free public exhibition of finalists’ work will be held at Federation Square from 12-26 November.

Finalists across all categories will also be in the running for the Civic Choice Award, worth $4000. The winner will be determined by a public vote. The Civic Choice Award recipient will be announced on 30 November.

For more information, see the Melbourne Prize Trust website.

Category: Awards Local news