The 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlists were announced today.
Category winners receive $25,000 and are eligible for the overall Victorian Prize for Literature, worth an additional $100,000, (the most valuable literary award in Australia).
You can vote for the People’s Choice Award(worth $2000) here until 5pm Monday 20 January 2020.
The winners will be announced in 2020.
Fiction, worth $25,000 to the winner
- Act of Grace by Anna Krien (Black Inc.), see my review
- Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas (Allen & Unwin)
- Simpson Returns by Wayne Macauley (Text Publishing),
on my TBR,see my review - The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab (Giramondo Publishing),
on my TBR, short stories, abandoned at page 64. See Kim’s review at Reading Matters. - The Yield by Tara June Winch (Penguin Random House), see my review
Non-fiction, worth $25,000 to the winner
- Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us about Digital Technology by Lizzie O’Shea (Verso)
- Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson (HarperCollins Publishers)
- See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse by Jess Hill (Black Inc.)
- Songspirals: Sharing women’s wisdom of Country through songlines by Gay’wu Group of Women (Allen & Unwin)
- Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music by Archie Roach (Simon & Schuster Australia)
- The Girls by Chloe Higgins (Picador Australia)
Drama, worth $25,000 to the winner
- City of Gold by Meyne Wyatt (Currency Press, in association with Queensland Theatre and Griffin Theatre)
- Counting and Cracking by S.Shakthidharan and Associate Writer Eamon Flack (Belvoir and Co-Curious)
- Them by Samah Sabawi (La Mama Theatre, in association with Samah Sabawi and Lara Week)
Poetry, worth $25,000 to the winner
- Birth Plan by L.K. Holt (Vagabond Press)
- Nganajungu Yagu by Charmaine Papertalk Green (Cordite Books)
- Yuiquimbiang by Louise Crisp (Cordite Books)
Writing for Young Adults, worth $25,000 to the winner
- How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Invisible Boys by Holden Sheppard (Fremantle Press)
- This is How We Change the Ending by Vikki Wakefield (Text Publishing)
Unpublished Manuscript, worth $15,000 to the winner
- A Million Things by Emily Spurr
- Hovering by Rhett Davis
- In Real Life by Allee Richards
Highly commended
Hmmm, no fiction in the Highly Commended section?
Non-fiction
Castaway: The extraordinary survival story of Narcisse Pelletier, a young French cabin boy shipwrecked on Cape York in 1858 by Robert Macklin (Hachette Australia)
The Enchantment of the Long-haired Rat: A Rodent History of Australia by Tim Bonyhady (Text Publishing)
The Thinking Woman by Julienne van Loon (NewSouth Publishing)
Drama
- Anthem by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves, Christos Tsiolkas and Irine Vela (Performing Lines in association with Arts Centre Melbourne)
- White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King (Samuel French, in association with Sydney Theatre Company and Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta)
Poetry
Archival-Poetics by Natalie Harkin (Vagabond Press)
The Future Keepers by Nandi Chinna (Fremantle Press)
Young Adult
- Highway Bodies by Alison Evans (Echo Publishing)
- Where the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn (Allen & Unwin)
Unpublished Manuscript
- I’ll hold you by Jenni Mazaraki
Congratulations to all the authors, editors and publishers!
I saw this come through, but decided since I haven’t yet read any of the shortlisted books, and have my Monday Musings planned, I’d leave it to you! After all, you are Victorian! I do expect to read Winch and Tsiolkas at least, and may or may not get to the other novels.
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By: whisperinggums on December 2, 2019
at 8:05 pm
Well, let me know when you read Damascus and I’ll link to it:)
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By: Lisa Hill on December 2, 2019
at 8:08 pm
I will… I’m giving my loins for it!
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By: whisperinggums on December 2, 2019
at 8:22 pm
Gosh!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 2, 2019
at 8:48 pm
‘giving my loins’: Best. Autocorrect. Ever.
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By: shawjonathan on December 3, 2019
at 3:13 pm
Oh no, is that what it did? I typed it twice as the first one was wrong. Second time I watched what I typed not what was on the screen! Haha. I. Really. Must. Watch. More. Closely.
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By: whisperinggums on December 3, 2019
at 4:47 pm
*chuckle*
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By: Lisa Hill on December 3, 2019
at 7:36 pm
Now, your “gosh” makes a bit more sense!!
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By: whisperinggums on December 3, 2019
at 9:41 pm