Russell Prize for Humour Writing 2023 shortlists announced
The State Library of NSW has announced the shortlists for the 2023 Russell Prize for Humour Writing and the Humour Writing for Young People Award.
The books shortlisted for the Russell Prize for Humour Writing are:
- Off the Charts (Georgie Carroll, Pan Macmillan)
- You’re Doing it Wrong (Kaz Cooke, PRH)
- Sexy Tales of Paleontology (Patrick Lenton, Subbed In)
- My Daughter’s Wedding (Gretel Killeen, Hachette)
- The Speechwriter (Martin McKenzie-Murray, Scribe)
- Here Goes Nothing (Steve Toltz, PRH).
The $10,000 biennial prize, which aims to ‘celebrate, recognise and encourage the humour-writing genre’, is awarded to the best book of humour writing by an Australian author published in the previous two years.
The books shortlisted for the Humour Writing for Young People Award are:
- Weird School (Damian Callinan, illus by Adele K Thomas, PRH)
- Drum Roll Please, It’s Stevie Louise (Tanya Hennessy, illus by Leigh Hedstrom, A&U)
- Your School is the BEST! (Maggie Hutchings, illus by Felicita Sala, Affirm Press)
- The House on Pleasant Street (Sofie Laguna, illus by Marc McBride, A&U)
- Funny Kid Catastrophe (Matt Stanton, ABC Books)
- Rita’s Revenge (Lian Tanner, A&U).
The $5000 Humour Writing for Young People award is offered for a published work intended for readers aged 5–12 years.
The winners will be revealed on 11 May.
Nakkiah Lui won the 2021 Russell Prize for Black is the New White (A&U), and Philip Bunting won the inaugural Humour Writing for Young People Award the same year for Wombat (Scholastic).
For more information about the prize, visit the State Library of NSW website.
Category: Awards Local news
