Just a quick post to let you know the winners of the 2018 Kibble and Dobbie Awards, two books I haven’t read, I’m afraid.
The Kibble Award was won by Fiona McFarlane’s The High Places and Sarah Krasnostein won the Dobbie for The Trauma Cleaner.
Nita B Kibble (Wikipedia Commons)
These awards were established through the generosity of Nita May Dobbie.
[Through her Will] Nita May Dobbie [1904-1992] established the Nita B Kibble Literary Awards for Women Writers in recognition of her aunt, Nita Bernice Kibble (1879-1962). Miss Kibble raised her from birth after her mother died and was also the first woman to be appointed a librarian with the State Library of New South Wales.
These Kibble Award is worth $30,000 to the winner, and the Dobbie for a debut author is worth $5000.
The 2018 longlisted authors were:
Kibble Literary Award for an established author ($30,000 prize)
- Vanessa Berry for Mirror Sydney (Giramondo Publishing), see my review
- Judith Brett: The Enigmatic Mr Deakin (Text Publishing), see Nathan’s review at Nathan Hobby, a Biographer in Perth
- Maxine Beneba Clarke: The Hate Race (Hachette Australia), see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
- Michelle de Kretser: The Life to Come (Allen & Unwin), see my review
- Helen Garner: Everywhere I Look (Text Publishing), see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
- Sofie Laguna: The Choke (Allen & Unwin), see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
- Fiona McFarlane: The High Places (Penguin Random House)
- Sonya Voumard: The Media and the Massacre (Transit Lounge Publishing), see my review
Dobbie Literary Award for a first-time published author ($5,000 prize)
- Melanie Cheng: Australia Day (Text Publishing)
- Eva De Jong-Duldig Driftwood: Escape and Survival Through Art (Australian Scholarly Publishing)
- Madelaine Dickie: Troppo (Fremantle Press), see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
- Jennifer Down: Our Magic Hour (Text Publishing)
- Jessica Friedmann: Things That Helped (Scribe Publications)
- Roanna Gonsalves: The Permanent Resident (UWA Publishing)
- Sarah Krasnostein: The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster
(Text Publishing) - Micheline Lee: The Healing Party: A Novel (Black Inc Books), see my review
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Both excellent books and deserving winners. Definitely worth adding to your To Read pile!
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By: Irma Gold on July 25, 2018
at 8:35 pm
Oh, I really must read High places. I liked her The night guest and need to read her short stories. As you know, I was surprised how much I loved The trauma cleaner! It’s an excellent read.
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By: whisperinggums on July 25, 2018
at 10:44 pm
I’ve read far too few of these… I can’t keep up!
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By: Lisa Hill on July 25, 2018
at 11:47 pm
YOU can’t keep! What chance is that’s for the rest of us?
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By: whisperinggums on July 26, 2018
at 9:25 am
I’m no expert, but maybe there are too many books being published…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 26, 2018
at 11:20 am
I suspect authors don’t think so, but I have started to wonder about publishers and readers…
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By: whisperinggums on July 26, 2018
at 4:47 pm
I was also surprised by how much I liked The Trauma Cleaner – the audio version is good, Lisa, if you wanted to try that.
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By: sharkell on July 26, 2018
at 8:08 am
I used to listen to audio books a lot when I was driving to work and back every day, but now they just don’t seem to work for me. Often the car sits unused for 3 or 4 days because I walk to most places, so I forget about the book unless I bring it inside, and then when I’m inside I like listening to music or RN or just silence. I’m very fond of silence. (I don’t understand those audible ads that recommend audio books while you’re doing the laundry. Who has that much laundry that you can listen to a 10-12 hour book over 2-3 weeks??)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 26, 2018
at 11:29 am
Ha! I’m still in the car a lot – we live in a rural area and I have one teenage son and parents that lie an hour away. I also like listening to audio books when I garden.
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By: sharkell on July 26, 2018
at 12:25 pm
So they are ideal for that. My commute was 40-50 minutes each way, so I could get through a book in about three weeks, which was much better than listening to quarrelsome people on radio…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 26, 2018
at 12:46 pm
Hi Lisa, I have read both The Trauma Cleaner and The High Places. Both are great reads, and though I haven’t read all the books on the lists I am glad that these two authors have been recognized. Sarah Krasnostein was at my library last year, and gave an excellent and detailed account of how she wrote The Trauma Cleaner.
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By: Meg on July 26, 2018
at 8:04 pm
Hi Meg, which is your library? I belong to four and try to keep track of their author events, because it is so much nicer at a local venue than traipsing into town:)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 26, 2018
at 8:29 pm
Hi Lisa, my library is the Sam Merrifield Library in Moonee Ponds. It is a great library, and this year they are celebrating 50 years of service to the people in Moonee Valley.
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By: Meg on July 26, 2018
at 8:49 pm
Hi Lisa, I just looked at the Moonee Valley library site and on August 25th. Han Yujoo – “The Impossible Fairytale”, (Yujoo is at the forefront of new South Korean literature and will be discussing her new novel and the fine line between dreams and reality). A free event will be held at the Flemington Library.
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By: Meg on July 26, 2018
at 8:58 pm
That would be great to go to… unfortunately I’m already signed up to go to an Indonesian event that day. It’s strange, I can go weeks with nothing much to do except loaf about and read books, and then all of a sudden my calendar is full.
Are you going to anything for the MWF? There’s not much that interests me, but I’m going to Frontier Wars on Aug 26, The Muse in the Museum on Sep 1 and Claire Coleman and Tony Birch on Sep 2.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 26, 2018
at 9:03 pm
Hi Lisa, I know what you mean, you either have nothing on and then you have a full week. My weekends are usually free, but Monday to Friday are very busy for me. I will go Han Yujoo event at the Flemington library. Your events will be great.
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By: Meg on July 27, 2018
at 6:03 am
I think I need to give The Trauma Cleaner another go; I abandoned it cos I felt the writing was too self conscious and it seemed to be copying Helen Garner’s style without Helen Garner’s graceful use of language. Hmmm…
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By: kimbofo on July 30, 2018
at 5:09 pm
Interesting you say that, I heard her talk about the book and admired her sincerity, but I haven’t had any inclination to read the book. Maybe when it turns up on a library shelf I may feel differently…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 30, 2018
at 9:58 pm