‘Grimmish’ removed from NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
The novel Grimmish, self-published by author Michael Winkler in 2021 and published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2022, has been removed from the shortlist for the Christina Stead prize for fiction in the 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
‘Due to the fact that Grimmish was self-published before it was published at Puncher and Wattmann, the fineprint means it is ineligible for the [prize]. As such we are withdrawing it from the shortlist,’ said the publisher, adding: ‘This has nothing to do with the quality of the novel, which is the most kick-arse novel published in Australia in quite some time. We would like to thank the judges for choosing it.’
The prize rules state that eligible works must have been published for the first time during the 12 months before entries close.
Age literary editor Jason Steger reported the novel had sold around 1500 copies, with rights sold to the US and UK. Steger reported that Winkler was grateful to the judges for listing the book and believed the situation was ‘sad for everyone, sad for the judges who had to read an extra book and sad that I won’t be in the running’, with the author adding ‘but really it’s a storm in the teacup’.
The shortlists for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were announced last week. The winners will be announced on 22 May.
Other awards news
A host of literary awards news has been announced in the past month, including shortlists for the 2022 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia. Also announced were shortlists for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the longlist for the Stella Prize and the CBCA Notable Books.
To stay up to date with all the latest local and international book industry news, subscribe to Books+Publishing here.
Comments are closed.