The Penguin Books 2023 Write It Fellowship Shortlist

Showing all posts tagged: Australian literature

The Penguin Books 2023 Write It Fellowship Shortlist

28 July 2023

The 2023 Write It Fellowship shortlist was announced earlier this month, and is made up of eleven Australian writers with works of fiction spanning historical, autobiographical, crime, psychological horror, fantasy, memoir, and poetry genres.

The Write It Fellowship was established by book publisher Penguin Random House Australia in 2018. The Fellowship is intended to support unpublished writers from under-represented sections of the community, including those with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ and First Nations backgrounds.

The winner of the Fellowship will be named on Monday 9 October 2023.

Shankari Chandran wins 2023 Miles Franklin with Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

25 July 2023

Sydney based author and Australian Tamil lawyer, Shankari Chandran, has been named winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award, with her novel, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, published by Ultimo Press in 2022.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is Chandran’s third work of fiction, and is set in a nursing home in a suburb of Sydney called Westgrove:

Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights — a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.

But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.

To call the field in the 2023 Miles Franklin tight, would be an understatement, and Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens was up against a number of acclaimed Australian novels, including Limberlost by Robbie Arnott, and Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au.

Book of Life, a memoir by Australian musician Deborah Conway

22 July 2023

Melbourne based Australian musician Deborah Conway has been writing and recording rock and pop music in her inimitable style for over four decades. Her hits include It’s Only the Beginning, Alive and Brilliant, and Will You Miss Me When You’re Sober? In 1992 Conway won an ARIA award in the best female artist category for her album, Strings of Pearls.

But Conway is more than a musician. Other claims to fame include a role in the John Clark made film Running On Empty, and some eye-catching work as a model. In October this year her memoir, Book of Life, will be published by Allan & Unwin. This is a title not only for fans of Conway, but anyone with an interest in Australian music history:

If you have listened to any of Deborah Conway’s songs and were half curious about the origins; if you have ever wondered whatever happened to that chick who covered herself in Nutella and was photographed shovelling cream cakes in to her mouth; if you gave a nanosecond of thought to whose bare arse adorned the giant Billboard ads for Bluegrass jeans in the 1980’s and how much someone could get paid to do that; if you liked Tracey Mann’s vocals in The Takeaways but asked yourself, “did she really sing them?”; if you were a movie buff who thought Running On Empty was a classic BEFORE it became a cult phenomenon and need behind the scenes gossip, now’s your chance to find out all this and so much more.

Sarah Holland-Batt writing new book related to The Jaguar

18 July 2023

Brisbane based Australian author Sarah Holland-Batt, winner of the 2023 Stella Prize, is working on a new book, which will published in Australia and New Zealand by the University of Queensland Press (UQP). A work of creative nonfiction, the new title will be a follow up of sorts to Holland-Batt’s award winning collection of poetry, The Jaguar, which explored her late father’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease, and subsequent death.

In my new work of creative nonfiction, I consider the unsettling question of what a personality is, if it can be changed as profoundly and completely as my father’s was after his brain surgery for Parkinson’s Disease… I am deeply interested in the question of who we are when we are in cognitive decline, and what it means to become other to ourselves.

Short interviews with the 2023 Miles Franklin shortlisted authors

17 July 2023

The winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award will be announced in just over a week, on Tuesday 25 July 2023. Ahead of the presentation, The Bookshelf and Book Show have recorded interviews with all six shortlisted Australian authors. View the shortlist here.

The National Biography Award 2023 shortlist

14 July 2023

Unknown: A Refugee's Story by Akuch Kuol Anyieth, book cover

Book cover for Unknown: A Refugee’s Story, by Akuch Kuol Anyieth.

Some late news to hand… the National Biography Award 2023 shortlist was announced yesterday, Thursday 13 July 2023, and includes the following six titles:

Unknown: A Refugee’s Story, by Akuch Kuol Anyieth
The Ghost Tattoo: Discovering the hidden truth of my father’s Holocaust, by Tony Bernard
How to End a Story: Diaries 1995–1998, by Helen Garner
Bedtime Story, by Chloe Hooper
Missing, by Tom Patterson
My Tongue Is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood, by Ann-Marie Priest

Established in 1996, and presented annually since 2002, the award honours the best published work of biographical or autobiographical writing by an Australian writer, and is administered by the State Library of New South Wales. The winner will be named in early August 2023.

RELATED CONTENT

Australian literature, literary awards

Everyone and Everything, the debut novel of Nadine J. Cohen

4 July 2023

Everyone and Everything by Nadine J. Cohen, book cover

Book cover of Everyone and Everything, written by Nadine J. Cohen.

Just as well I still check in on Twitter. If not, I’d have not found what I found out about Sydney based refugee advocate, and Australian writer, Nadine J. Cohen. First up her Twitter account has been suspended, and second, her debut novel, Everyone and Everything, is being published later this year.

The Twitter ban came after an apparently off-colour joke on her page was brought to the notice of the powers that be at the social networking service. I saw a screen capture of the tweet in question, and yes, strictly speaking, the comment could be deemed inappropriate. However its tone has been taken completely out of context.

I’m surprised Twitter even looked sideways at Cohen’s tweet. Compared to some of what I see there now, it’s hardly offensive. Fingers crossed sense that prevails, and her account is reinstated, though that might be asking a lot. But back to Everyone and Everything, which arrives in bookshops on Tuesday 5 September 2023.

According to the book’s Sydney based publisher Pantera Press, Cohen’s debut will make you laugh, cry and call your sister:

When Yael Silver’s world comes crashing down, she looks to the past for answers and finds solace in surprising places. An unconventional new friendship, a seaside safe space and an unsettling amount of dairy help her to heal, as she wrestles with her demons — and some truly terrible erotic literature.

Early reviews sound promising. John Birmingham, he of He Died with a Felafel in His Hand fame, said “this book gave me all the feelings.” I read He Died with a Felafel in His Hand years ago, and have the film adaptation queued for viewing on my streaming service.

Australian radio and TV host, Myf Warhurst, whom I mentioned yesterday, was also approving of Cohen’s first novel:

This brilliant book doesn’t shy away from the rough stuff, exploring the complexity and brutality of life, all the while maintaining a grip on to the occasional simple joy and beauty of it all. I was cackling away at Nadine’s unique perspectives one minute, and sobbing the next. A magnificent debut!

That’ll do me. I’ve added Everyone and Everything to my TBR list.

Love & Pain, Ben Gillies, Chris Joannou tell their Silverchair story

4 July 2023

Love & Pain, by Silverchair's Ben Gillies, Chris Joannou, book cover

Book cover of Love & Pain, written by Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou.

Wednesday 27 September 2023 will be a red letter day for fans of erstwhile Australian indie rock act Silverchair. That’s the day Love & Pain, a book co-written by Ben Gillies, the band’s drummer, and bass player Chris Joannou, is set to be published by Hachette Australia. That Gillies and Joannou are behind this book is what makes it so compelling, as, to date, not a lot has been heard from former members about their time in the band.

So much has been written about Silverchair over the years but very little has been said by the band’s members. In Love & Pain, childhood friends Ben Gillies (drummer) and Chris Joannou (bass player) tell us tales about growing up across the road from each other and starting in Silverchair, wild stories from the peak of their days in the spotlight, and the ups and downs of how their lives have panned out since.

Entries open for 2023 Australian Prime Minister Literary Awards

27 June 2023

The awards span six categories fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, and Australian history, with prizes of up to one hundred thousand dollars awarded per category. Entries are open to citizens or permanent residents of Australia, for titles published or released in 2022, and close on the afternoon of Tuesday 25 July 2023.

Winners will be announced later in the year. Read more here.

The 2023 Miles Franklin Australian literary award shortlist

20 June 2023

Book cover of The Lovers, by Yumna Kassab, named on the 2023 Miles Franklin shortlist.

The shortlist of the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award was announced this morning. The following six books have advanced to the next stage of the prestigious Australian literary award:

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Hopeless Kingdom by Kgshak Akec
Iris by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
The Lovers by Yumna Kassab

More good news for Jessica Au and Robbie Arnott who continue to not only win literary awards, but be nominated for them. And good to see some not so often seen writers make the shortlist. In a statement, the judges said the shortlisted titles all represent fresh and bold fiction writing:

The 2023 Miles shortlist celebrates six works that delve deeply into archives and memory, play confidently with style and structure and strike new grounds in language and form. From deeply immersive tales to polished jewels of craft, from lyrical mappings of land to convention-breaking chronicles, this is novel-writing at its freshest and boldest.

The winner will be named on Tuesday 25 July 2023.

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