The 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were announced this evening, and it was nice to hear from the Premier Daniel Andrews that he thinks Victoria is the centre of writing, ideas, critical thought, and that he values the contribution of artists. You might not agree with him, but it’s good to hear a politician barracking for the arts instead of sport for a change.
Harvested from #VPLA2018 at Twitter, the awards are:
Victorian Prize for Literature
- Sarah Krasnostein for The Trauma Cleaner (Text Publishing)
The People’s Choice Award
- Alison Evans for Ida (Echo Publishing)
The Prize for Drama
- Michele Lee for Rice (Playlab)
The Prize for Poetry
- Bella Li for Argosy (Vagabond)
Prize for non-fiction
- Sarah Krasnostein for The Trauma Cleaner (Text Publishing)
Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction
- Melanie Cheng for Australia Day (Text Publishing)
Prize for Writing for Young Adults
Demet Divaroren for Living on Hope Street (Allen & Unwin)
Congratulations to all the authors, editors and publishers…
Click here to see the shortlist… and the notable omissions in what was a stellar year for Australian fiction.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
The Trauma Cleaner is a fantastic book. Great result.
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By: MST on February 1, 2018
at 8:36 pm
Thanks for this Lisa. Nothing here that I’ve read, though I’d be interested to read Australia Day.
I’m glad the premier says he values the contribution of artists – though who says he wouldn’t also say he values sport when he presents the Brownlow Medal or some such!! Just saying. He is a politician after all. Cynical? Who, me?
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By: whisperinggums on February 1, 2018
at 10:21 pm
Oh, I’m sure he does. What’s unusual is that he’s saying it about the arts. Most of them distance themselves from the arts or just pay lip service to them in case the redneck shock jocks arc about it.
It was so lovely when we had Barack Obama talking about books to read…
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By: Lisa Hill on February 1, 2018
at 10:33 pm
Yea, it sure was.
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By: whisperinggums on February 2, 2018
at 8:55 am
I miss Obama. Agree with arts comment. Any mention of it is appreciated. I loved the Trauma Cleaner.
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By: TravellinPenguin on February 1, 2018
at 11:19 pm
When you think about it, there are not many public intellectuals around. Obama made it ‘cool’ to be well-read and intelligent.
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By: Lisa Hill on February 2, 2018
at 10:33 am
I miss Obama too.
Congratulations to Melanie Cheng. So pleased to see ‘Australia Day’ win the Premier’s award. And, well, congratulations to all, of course!
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By: karenlee thompson on February 3, 2018
at 8:15 am
There were some very happy photos of her in The Age today…
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By: Lisa Hill on February 3, 2018
at 4:01 pm