ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

It’s only a couple of days now until the announcement of the 2015 Melbourne Prize for Literature, and the five essays shortlisted for the Writers Prize are now available to read online, thanks to the Melbourne Prize Trust and the Griffith Review.

The Writers Prize 2015 is a new category this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the annual Melbourne Prize.   Entrants to the Writers Prize 2015 submitted an essay of up to 20,000 words (minimum 10,000 words), and the essay had to include Melbourne, Victoria or Australia as part of its subject.

Click on this link and scroll down to the section about the Writers Prize 2015 finalists and essays where you can download the essays as a pdf eBook.  The shortlisted essays are

Robyn Annear, Places Without Poetry
Nick Gadd, The unconscious of the city
Kate Ryan, Psychotherapy for Normal People
David Sornig, Jubilee: a hymn for Elsie Williams on Dudley Flats
Maria Tumarkin, No Skin

To save you clicking through to previous posts, this is the shortlist for the Best Writing Prize:

James Button, Speechless A year in my father’s business MUP, 2012, see the review in the SMH
Patricia Cornelius, Savages, Playlab 2014, see a review in The Australian
Andrea Goldsmith, The Memory Trap, Fourth Estate 2014, see my review and a Sensational Snippet
Gideon Haigh, On Warne, Penguin Books 2012, see a review at The Monthly
Daniel Keene, Mother, Currency Press 2015, see a review at the SMH
Alex Miller, Coal Creek, Allen & Unwin 2013, see my review
John Safran, Murder in Mississippi, Penguin Books 2013, see a review at The Australian
Maria Takolander, The Double, Text Publishing 2013, see Karenlee Thompson’s guest review
Abigail Ulman, Hot Little Hands, Hamish Hamilton Penguin Books, 2015, see a review at the SMH
Don Watson, The Bush, Hamish Hamilton Penguin Books, 2014, see a review at The Guardian

and this is the shortlist for the Melbourne Prize for Literature:

Steven Carroll, see my review of Spirit of Progress and a Sensational Snippet
Brenda Niall, see my review of Mannix
Christos Tsiolkas, see my review of The Slap and The Guardian’s review of Merciless Gods
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, read some of his poems at The Australian Poetry Library
Alexis Wright, see my review of The Swan Book   

Click on this link to visit Readings for the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015 finalist’s books.

Click on this link to visit Readings for the Best Writing Award 2015 finalist’s books.