Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize winner announced; Australian writer among runners-up

Monday, 12 November 2018 Books+Publishing

The recipients of the inaugural Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize for an unpublished novella have been announced.

Californian writer, translator and poet Marci Vogel has won the prize for her manuscript ‘Death and Other Holidays’. She receives US$6000 (A$8300) cash and publication by independent publisher Melville House. The story follows a year in the life of a young woman coming to terms with the death of her beloved stepfather, while attempting to find love in Los Angeles.

Niki Tulk, an Australian writer based in Colorado, was announced as a runner-up for ‘Before Rain’, set in the Australian outback, about a man who is building an ark for ‘an apocalypse of its own making’. Also announced as a runner-up is Californian writer Branden Boyer-White for ‘Dice’, a magic realist tale of a man caught at the crossroads in his marriage and life. The two runners-up each receive a US$3000 (A$4150) cash prize.

A partnership between The Miami Book Fair, Miami Dade College, and the de Groot Foundation, the prize aims to ‘discover and encourage talented, unpublished authors’. Both the winner and runners-ups also win a trip to the 2018 Miami Book Fair (11-18 November) and the chance to participate in programs at the fair.