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NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2021 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 24 March 2021   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The shortlists for the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000)

  • A Room Made of Leaves  (Kate Grenville, Text)
  • Murmurations  (Carol Lefevre, Spinifex Press)
  • Cherry Beach (Laura McPhee-Browne, Text)
  • The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams, Affirm)
  • The Weekend (Charlotte Wood, A&U)
  • The Bass Rock (Evie Wyld, Vintage)

Douglas Stewart Prize for Nonfiction ($40,000)

  • Father of the Lost Boys (Yuot Ajang Alaak, Fremantle Press)
  • In the Time of the Manaroans (Miro Bilbrough, Victoria University Press)
  • Womerah Lane: Lives and landscapes (Tom Carment, Giramondo)
  • The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three lives in an age of empire (Kate Fullagar, Yale University Press)
  • A Question of Colour: My journey to belonging (Pattie Lees and Adam C Lees, Magabala)
  • The Trials of Portnoy: How Penguin brought down Australia’s censorship system (Patrick Mullins, Scribe)

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000) 

  • Element: The Atomic Weight & Radius of Love (Jordie Albiston, Puncher & Wattman)
  • Ask Me About the Future (Rebecca Jessen, UQP)
  • A History of What I’ll Become (Jill Jones, UWA Publishing)
  • Change Machine  (Jaya Savige, UQP)
  • Throat (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)

  • Action Tank – Book 2  (Mike Barry, Mike Barry Was Here)
  • Winter of the White Bear (Martin Ed Chatterton, Dirt Lane Press)
  • Across the Risen Sea (Bren MacDibble, A&U)
  • I Heart the World: A Celebration of Land, Sea, Flora, Fauna and People Around the Globe (Tania McCartney, Hardie Grant Publishing)
  • The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Amelia Mellor, Affirm)
  • Her Perilous Mansion (Sean Williams, A&U)

Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature ($30,000)

  • The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo)
  • The End of the World is Bigger than Love (Davina Bell, Text)
  • Ghost Bird (Lisa Fuller , UQP)
  • Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)
  • Where We Begin (Christie Nieman, Pan)
  • Loner (Georgina Young , Text)

Multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)   

  • After Australia (ed by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Affirm)
  • The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo)
  • Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)
  • The Coconut Children (Vivian Pham, Viking)
  • A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing (Jessie Tu, A&U)
  • Throat (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)

NSW Translation Prize ($30,000, biennial award)

  • This Tilting World (Colette Fellous, trans by Sophie Rebecca Lewis, Two Lines Press & Les Fugitives)
  • Travels with a Writing Brush: Classical Japanese travel writing from the Manyoshu to Basho (trans by Meredith McKinney, Penguin Classics)
  • Autumn Manuscripts (Tasos Leivaditis, tran by N N Trakakis, Smokestack Books)
  • Sergius Seeks Bacchus (Norman Erikson Pasaribu, trans by Tiffany Tsao, Giramondo)
  • Imminence (Mariana Dimopulo, trans by Alice Whitmore, Giramondo)
  • Russia Washed in Blood: A novel in fragments (Artyom Vesyoly, trans by Kevin Windle, Anthem Press)

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000) 

  • The Octopus and I (Erin Hortle, A&U)
  • Cherry Beach  (Laura McPhee-Browne, Text)
  • A Couple of Things Before the End (Sean O’Beirne, Black Inc.)
  • Song of the Crocodile (Nardi Simpson, Hachette)
  • The Inland Sea  (Madeleine Watts, Pushkin Press)

Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting ($30,000) 

  • Triple X (Glace Chase, Queensland Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company)
  • Lady Tabouli (James Elazzi, National Theatre of Parramatta)
  • No Pay? No Way! (Marieke Hardy, Sydney Theatre Company)
  • The Visitors (Jane Harrison, Moogahlin)
  • Packer & Sons (Tommy Murphy, Belvoir)
  • Milk (Dylan Van Den Berg , The Street Theatre)

Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting ($30,000) 

  • FREEMAN (Laurence Billiet, General Strike and Matchbox Pictures)
  • Penguin Bloom (Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps, Made Up Stories, Broadtalk and JamTart)
  • Stateless, Episode 6: The Seventh Circle (Elise McCredie, Matchbox Pictures).

Thirty judges considered a record 633 entries across 10 prize categories. The winners will be announced online on the eve of the Sydney Writers’ Festival on Monday, 26 April, and voting for the People’s Choice Award is now open.

For more information, and to read the judges’ comments, see the State Library of NSW website.

 

Category: Awards Local news