National Biography Award 2023 shortlist announced

The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced the shortlist for the $25,000 National Biography Award.

The shortlisted works, selected from 94 entries, are:

• Unknown: A refugee’s story (Akuch Kuol Anyieth, Text)
• The Ghost Tattoo: Discovering the hidden truth of my father’s Holocaust (Tony Bernard, A&U)
• How to End a Story: Diaries 1995–1998 (Helen Garner, Text)
• Bedtime Story (Chloe Hooper, Scribner)
• Missing (Tom Patterson, A&U)
• My Tongue Is My Own: A life of Gwen Harwood (Ann-Marie Priest, La Trobe)

The six shortlisted authors each receive $2000, while the $5000 Michael Crouch AC Award will be awarded to the best debut biography or memoir.

This year’s prize was judged by Suzanne Falkiner, Rick Morton and Mandy Sayer. The judges noted that the 2023 award attracted ‘a gratifyingly large and diverse assembly of entries’, with ‘probably the highest proportion to date’ of debut works, which made up 60 of the 94 entries.

For more information, see the SLNSW website here.

Category: Awards Local news