Gamieldien wins inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize

The winner of the inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize is The Scope of Permissibility by Zeynab Gamieldien.

Chosen from ‘an incredibly high calibre of entries’ by judges Michael Campbell (WestWords executive director), Brigid Mullane (Ultimo commissioning editor) and author Sienna Brown, The Scope of Permissibility is a coming-of-age story set in Sydney University and centering on a group of Muslim university students grappling with an illicit relationship in their ranks. It is told in three voices by students Sara, Naseem and Abida, each ‘navigating the road to adulthood, balancing desire and fidelity, ambition and faith’ and searching for belonging against the backdrop of politics, race and class divisions and interpersonal relationships.

‘Gamieldien’s work is smart and funny, filled with astute observations and illuminating details,’ said the judges. ‘Each of the three main characters are expertly drawn and fully realised with a skill that is rarely seen in a debut.’

Gamieldien, who receives $5000, a week at Varuna and publication with Ultimo Press, said winning the inaugural prize was ‘a wonderful surprise’. ‘This story is one I’ve been wanting to tell for some time, particularly for those who will relate to the depictions set out on the page and see parts of themselves in it—I wrote it with them, and us, in mind.’

Also in the running for the inaugural prize were several commended works.

Highly commended

• ‘An Onslaught of Light’ by Natasha Rai, ‘a multiple perspective story that follows one family’s immigration from India to Australia’

Commended

• ‘Bound’ by Samantha Lee, a ‘moving historical fiction manuscript … which explores the familial relationships between four generations of women from China to Malaysia and London’
• ‘A Fractured Inheritance’ by Michele Freeman ‘which pits siblings against each other in a fight for the family home’
• ‘River’ by Belle Butler, ‘an ambitious literary work that seeks to capture the histories and mythologies of one small town on the outskirts of Sydney’s west’.

Established this year, the WestWords/Ultimo Prize is open to emerging writers of fiction and narrative nonfiction with a previously unpublished manuscript who have a connection to Western Sydney.

Category: Awards Local news