Fogarty Literary Award funding increased

The Fogarty Literary Award for young Western Australian writers has received an increase in funding.

In an announcement, Fremantle Press said the Fogarty Foundation increased funding for the award by 73%, which ‘recognises the important work Fremantle Press does in publishing and promoting both the winners and shortlistees, with money set aside to boost touring and marketing prospects for published books by the entire community of Fogarty alumni’.

Inaugurated in 2019, the biennial award provides a winner with a cash prize of $20,000, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press, funding for regional author tours, and a Centre for Stories Fellowship. The award accepts entries from Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35 years, who have written an unpublished adult fiction, narrative nonfiction or young adult fiction manuscript.

Foundation founder Annie Fogarty said: ‘Thirteen books have been published since the award commenced, with some authors going on to win major national awards. The Fogarty Literary Award gives the next generation of leading Western Australian authors—those who deeply understand our unique culture and lived experience—the extra support they need to write stories about us, and for us.’

Brooke Dunnell, the 2021 winner, said of the additional funding: ‘Fremantle Press authors already feel like a team, and this will strengthen that feeling as well as improve the prospects for younger writers in Western Australia. We are so, so grateful to the Fogarty Foundation for their commitment.’

The announcement was made during a launch of previously shortlisted titles A Wreck of Seabirds (Karleah Olson) and Jasper Cliff (Josh Kemp) at the Literature Centre on 5 September. Katherine Allum won the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award for her novel The Skeleton House.

 Pictured left to right: Josh Kemp, Brooke Dunnell and Karleah Olson. Credit: Ryan Gibson.

Category: Local news