Stewart wins 2025 MUD Literary Prize
Cameron Stewart’s Why Do Horses Run? (Allen & Unwin) has been announced as the 2025 winner of the $10,000 MUD Literary Prize.
The prize, now in its eighth year, is awarded annually to the best first literary novel by an Australian writer published in the calendar year preceding Adelaide Writers’ Week, which this year runs 1–6 March.
Why Do Horses Run? was selected as the 2025 winner by the prize judging panel, which included Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler, Writers SA CEO Laura Kroetsch, doctor Noel Grieve, author David Sly and MUD Literary Club committee members Andrew Saies (chair) and Mandy Thomas.
In a statement, the judges praised the title as ‘an intriguing exploration of how a person might recover from a profound loss’.
‘Day after day a clearly traumatised man walks alone through country Australia communicating with people by writing on a notepad. After three years of trudging along back roads, this contemporary swagman arrives in a valley where he meets a recently widowed woman who lets him live in a shed on her property,’ said the judges. ‘We gradually discover why he wanders the country not wanting to be found. Over time the woman shares her own pain with him as they awkwardly befriend each other. This stark, searing portrait of grief, resilience and the generosity of strangers takes place in a beautifully portrayed landscape where a tortured character slowly crawls back to life.’
Currently based in Seoul, Stewart grew up in rural New South Wales, and released the debut novel in April last year. Speaking of the win with Books+Publishing, he said: ‘Writing can be a tough gig. You spend so much time in isolation, often wondering at times (at least in my case): What the hell am I doing? Is anyone going to want to read this? So to receive recognition is a real validation on the pursuit of the writing, the craft of writing, and the value of writing our own stories. I also want to congratulate the other shortlisted writers and to all Australian writers who have the imagination and grit to do what we do.’
Stewart will be presented with the prize during an event at the Adelaide Writers’ Week.
Why Do Horses Run? was selected from a shortlist of four titles announced earlier in the year, which also included Translations (Jumaana Abdu, Vintage), The End and Everything Before It (Finegan Kruckemeyer, Text) and The Degenerates (Raeden Richardson, Text).
The 2024 MUD Literary Prize winner was Kylie Needham for Girl in a Pink Dress (Hamish Hamilton).
Category: Awards Local news
