The winner of the 2019 Carmel Bird Literary Award has been announced.
The winner is Tanya Vavilova’s short story collection Grub.
According to the Booksellers and Publisher’s website:
Author and prize judge Moya Costello described Grub as ‘astonishingly outside of realism—vividly imagining a queer dystopian future of sex, sadness and sly humour’. The collection includes ‘a range of stories, from the eponymous “Grub”—charting one woman’s obsession with cleanliness—to the dystopian The-Handmaid’s-Tale-esque “Whipped Cream”.’
There were also two other finalists with short story collections:
- Megan McGrath for All Hands; and
- James Hughes for Understanding Almost Nothing of the World.
The winner receives $3000 and the finalists each receive $1000. All three works have been published as ebooks by Spineless Wonders, and are available from their website.
PS Ashley Kalagian Blunt was a finalist for this award in 2018, and you can read my review of her novella My Name is Revenge here.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Sex, sadness and sly humour! This sounds amazing. Congratulations to Tanya, and also to Megan and James.
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By: carmelbird on September 9, 2019
at 2:06 pm
These awards are keeping me busy today!
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By: Lisa Hill on September 9, 2019
at 2:14 pm
Thank you for sharing. I forecast more reading in my future :-)
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By: Jennifer on September 9, 2019
at 3:18 pm
You’re welcome:)
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By: Lisa Hill on September 9, 2019
at 4:47 pm
I have now bought a copy…
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By: Jennifer on September 9, 2019
at 5:10 pm
Love those dystopian futures (and the price) I’ll download Grub tonight.
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By: wadholloway on September 11, 2019
at 1:36 pm
You’ll be liking Clare Coleman’s new dystopia too? The Lie (or something like that).
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By: Lisa Hill on September 11, 2019
at 1:54 pm