Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship shortlist announced
The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established in 2011 to encourage Australian authors to attain a high standard of biography writing and to commemorate the life, ideas and writing of Hazel Rowley (1951–2011). Biography writers were invited to apply for a literary fellowship up to the value of $10,000. Writers Victoria congratulates the shortlisted applicants: Patrick Allington, Martin Edmond, Mary Hoban, Anne Houen, Heather Long, Chris Pash, Loretta Smith, Michelle Scott Tucker and Sally Percival Wood.
The judging panel is comprised of Alex Miller, Jim Davidson, Lynn Buchanan and Della Rowley. The winner will be announced at a function at the Wheeler Centre on the evening of 14 March.
The 2012 Program Launch is upon us – feast your eyes upon the more than 90 literary superstars ready to teach and inspire you, as you make your way through your writing journey. Let’s get going!
An online version of the Program is available here or by flicking through below. You can also request a Writers Victoria information pack, which includes a 2012 Program, by filling in your address here.
Hurry up, there are less than two weeks left to apply for the $10 000 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.
The Fellowship has been established to encourage Australian authors to attain a high standard of biography writing and to commemorate the life, ideas and writing of Hazel Rowley (1951–2011).
Liz Kemp will be offering mentorships for paying applicants in 2011. Emerging writers of children’s,young adult and general fiction are welcome to book for an initial 90 minute consultation here.
2011 Writing @ Rosebank Round 2 Fellowships Announced
The judges were Sophy Williams, CEO of Black Inc. Books and Caro Cooper, editor at Text Publishing. The second round of fellowships were awarded in September to Laurie Steed, Lyndel Caffrey, Shannon Murdoch and Anne Elvey.
Shannon Murdoch will work on the first draft of a new full-length play Cut for Stone, set in the world of science and scientific discovery and focussing on the identity of failure and its relationship to success.
Anne Elvey will work on the revision and editing of a final draft of her first full length poetry collection, “Material relations: recycling the possible”. She has two chapbooks published; Stolen Heath (MPU, 2009) and Claimed by Country (PressPress, 2010).
Amidst the red velvety warmth of the beautiful Trades Hall Bella Union Bar, this year’s Doris Leadbetter Poetry Cup went off. In a good way. Forty poets braved the microphone with their poems condensed into 60 seconds (a feat and a half!). Ten of these made it through to round two to perform a two-minute poem, trying to woo the fabulous judges – Peter Bakowski, Claire Gaskin and Lisa Gorton – with rehearsed renditions of their original poems.
As poetic punches were thrown in the battle for the $2000 first prize (the super generous result of sponsorship from Ron Smooker and Pam Davison), a packed crowd cheered happily when the four winners were finally announced:
First place: Kerry Loughrey
Second place: Gavin Sanderson
Encouragement awards: Mel Hughes and Rochelle D’silva
The evening’s uncannily informed MC Michael Nolan – who peppered proceedings with more sexagesimal trivia than you could poke a stick (or sixty) at – ensured the night ran smoothly and with lots of giggles.
Writers Victoria congratulates all poets who competed – you’re all wonderful – and extends thanks to all involved in the running of such a successful event. In particular we are thrilled that Overload Poetry Festival partnered in the running of the event – we look forward to the partnership keeping on keeping on!
The five winners of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award have been announced, including Patricia Cornelius who won the Louis Esson Prize for Drama for her play Do Not Go Gentle. After already receiving the Miles Franklin award, everyone will be reading Kim Scott’s The Deadman’s Dance, which was awarded the prize for the fiction category.
Cate Kennedy received the CJ Dennis prize for her poetry anthology The Taste of River Water. Mark McKenna won the Nettie Palmer prize for non-fiction for his biography An Eye For Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark and Cassandra Gold won the young adult category for The Three Loves of Persimmon.
“It was good to see Ted Baillieu genuinely, enthusiastically taking part in proceedings and taking ownership of the event,” said VWC Director Roderick Poole, who believes one award was, however, missing from the night.
“One of the people who perhaps deserved an additional award was Casey Benetto who managed to sing spirited introductions to every award and include references to the titles of every shortlisted work.”
Seven titles from the Man Booker longlist have been culled, leaving a shortlist of six titles. Stephen Kelman, Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) and AD Miller, Snowdrops (Atlantic), are two first time novelists from the original four that made the longlist. More familiar with the prize are Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape – Random House) and Carol Birch, Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books). This is Barnes’ fourth time on the shortlist and Birch was longlisted in 2003.
Joining the four British authors are Canadian writers Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Granta) and Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail). Four of the six titles were published by independent publishers. All six authors will receive £2500 and a designer bound edition of their book. The winner will receive £50,000 and a large influx in royalties. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 October.
Writing Australia was officially launched at the Wheeler Centre on Thursday 25th August. Writing Australia is a federation of existing state writers’ centres in the ACT, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. It builds on the nearly 100 years experience of these centres to take their best programs across state borders. Under the Writing Australia Awards program a new Unpublished Manuscript Award has been established with a cash prize of $10,000 in addition to $2,000 worth of mentoring. The Writing Australia Tours program will take leading writers around the country to give masterclasses and workshops. The first of these began on the 27th August with Fiona McIntosh giving masterclasses in Canberra and Hobart. Writers to follow include Arnold Zable, Toni Jordan and Danielle Wood. The Writing Australia website is now live and various services will be added to this in the coming months, including a national literary events calendar, online writers’ residencies and online courses.
Writing Australia will also work towards building international ties, leading to dynamic international exchanges and partnerships. One of the great aspects of is that all VWC members are automatically members of this new national organisation.
VWC director, Roderick Poole, sat in on the announcement of the shortlisted authors by Premier Ted Baillieu. Roderick says, “I am really excited to know that over half of those on the shortlist are from Victoria, including VWC Year of the Play tutor, Raimondo Cortese, long time VWC manuscript assessor, Cath Crowley, and VWC member, Libby Hart.”
The overall winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature is announced on Tuesday, 6 September. For details of the shortlist click here.
