Text Prize 2020 shortlist announced

The shortlist for the $10,000 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing has been announced.

The seven shortlisted manuscripts are:

• ‘Therefore I Am’ by Miranda Luby, which follows Sarah, who is determined to leave her old life behind when she is rejected by the guy she likes. When she moves to London with her family she becomes embroiled in a complex web of bullying and the mystery of an unlikely stalker.
• ‘At Devil’s Elbow’ by Emma Doolan, about 16-year-old Callie’s search for her missing mother. Callie is driven by the need to find out not just what happened to her mum—but whether the police are right to think her dad is involved.
• ‘Rainfish’ by Andrew Paterson, the story of a boy who is drawn to commit a theft to impress an older, alluringly rebellious kid. Aaron’s guilt, regret and attempts to put the situation right take him on a journey that’s unexpected, at times humorous and ultimately tragic.
• ‘Red Bottomed Boat’ by Charlie Archbold, a middle-grade adventure about two friends who try to prove the innocence of a wrongly convicted cousin. Their attempts to uncover the truth of a mysterious theft take them on a secret boat trip through crocodile-infested mangroves and pit them against a gang of burly smugglers.
• ‘The Museum of Broken Things’ by Lauren Draper, which follows Reece, who inherits a strange artefact that belonged to her grandmother and begins to unravel a mystery that might change the way she feels about everything around her, including her maddeningly attractive classmate, Gideon …
• ‘Psychopath’ by Elena Viking, which follows Lulu and Harry, who discover a girl dying in the dunes.
• ‘The Not So Chosen Few’ by Kate Emery, about Lucy, a regular teenage with regular worries, who is figuring out how to tell her mother about her unplanned pregnancy when she hears about Drake’s College, a school for students with magical talent. Despite her scepticism, she’s soon swept up into a magical world beyond her wildest imaginings, and now she’s got yet another secret to hide.

The winner of the 2020 Text Prize will be announced during an online event on Wednesday, 20 May.

For more information, see the Text website.

Category: Awards Junior Local news