2023 Ned Kelly Australian crime writing award winners

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2023 Ned Kelly Australian crime writing award winners

1 September 2023

Book cover of Exiles, written by Jane Harper.

Exiles by Melbourne based Australian author Jane Harper, published by Pan Macmillan Australia, has been named winner in the best crime fiction category of the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing. Written in 2022, Exiles tells the story of an investigation into the disappearance of a woman from a small community in South Australia:

At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother having vanished into the crowds.

A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Aaron Falk, federal investigator, is joining the celebrations. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. As hidden truths slowly emerge, Falk faces the darkest of questions.

In other award categories Wake, by Shelley Burr won in the Best Debut crime fiction, Betrayed, by Sandi Logan won in Best True Crime, while The Lemon Man, by Dublin based Irish writer Keith Bruton, won the Best International Crime prize.

Named for one of Australia’s best known outlaws, the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards attracted over one hundred and sixty entries, an increase over last year.

Karina Kilmore, chair of the Australian Crime Writers Association which presents the awards, stressed the importance of the role of literary prizes in supporting authors, particularly in light of the threat artificial intelligence technologies (AI) pose. Kilmore said as things stand, AI will do away with the human elements of creativity in all forms of story-telling.

Entries for 2024 Stella Prize for Australian literature now open

26 August 2023

It seems like only last week the winner of the 2023 Stella Prize — Sarah Holland-Batt with her poetry collection The Jaquar — was announced, when in fact that happened four months ago.

The year is marching on.

Entries are now open for the 2024 prize, but only for about the next month and a half. There are a few cut-off dates for submissions, but Friday 13 October 2023 is the final day an entry can be made.

From slush pile to bookshop shelf: the secrets of successful unsolicited manuscripts

26 August 2023

We all know the drill. We send — unsolicited — the novel manuscript we’ve spent years toiling over, to a couple of publishing houses who accept them. From there they go into a kind of purgatory called a slush pile. How long manuscripts might spend in this limbo is unknown, but probably just about all of them end up going through the shredder eventually.

Nevertheless, we hold onto hope — hope above all else — of a different fate.

Because not all slush pile works go to pulp. Some Australian authors, including Abby Corson, Shannon Meyerkort, Natasha Sholl, and Mark Smith, have been plucked from the agglomeration and found their way onto a bookshop shelf. Perhaps then what happens in the movies is true. Book publishers have staff who sift through the slush pile, looking for that elusive diamond in the rough.

Take note then. Good writing separates the wheat from the chaff. Manuscripts with eye-catching premises, and engaging opening chapters, might reach the next rung of the ladder.

Nina Wan, Tracey Lien, on Labours of Love podcast with Sarah L’Estrange

26 August 2023

Newly published Australian authors Nina Wan and Tracey Lien, discuss their debut novels, The Albatross and All That’s Left Unsaid, respectively, with Sarah L’Estrange of The Bookshow, in a podcast, recorded during the 2023 Melbourne Writers Festival.

The hour long conversation covers numerous topics, including their inspirations, writing influences, racism and the concept of being a “conditional citizen” of Australia, and what exactly an albatross is in golf. I could tell right now what an albatross is, but far better you listen to find out.

The 2023 Readings Young Adult Prize shortlist

24 August 2023

The 2023 Readings Young Adult Prize shortlist was announced earlier today. Six titles are in contention for this year’s award:

Dancing Barefoot, by Alice Boyle
If You Could See the Sun, by Ann Liang
Completely Normal (and Other Lies), by Biffy James
Spice Road, by Maiya Ibrahim
The Upwelling, by Lystra Rose
Where You Left Us, by Rhiannon Wilde

Presented annually since 2014 by Readings, an independent Melbourne based bookseller, the Readings Young Adult Prize is awarded to the best contribution to Australian youth literature, by emerging Australian writers. The winner will named at a ceremony in late October this year.

2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards open for entries

21 August 2023

Entries for the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (VPLA) are open until Sunday 10 September 2023. The VPLA is one of Australia’s most valuable literary awards, and the shortlists — which will likely be announced sometime in December — are always filled packed with quality titles.

Critic Swallows Book marks 10 years for Sydney Review of Books

14 August 2023

Critic Swallows Book, by Sydney Review of Books, book cover

Book cover of Critic Swallows Book, published by the Sydney Review of Books.

Australian literary criticism journal, the Sydney Review of Books (SRB), has been online for ten years. To mark the occasion, SRB has published a book, Critic Swallows Book, containing twenty-two essays, written by contributors over the past decade:

It includes essays on decolonising Australian literature and revisiting the classics, on blockbuster fiction and book-length poems, on modernism in the Antipodes and reading during the pandemic. Essays on Susan Sontag and Rita Felski sit alongside critical considerations of the work of Murray Bail and Joan London, of new books by Evelyn Araluen and Samia Khatun.

Hmm… Critic Swallows Book, if you think the title is riffing on Boy Swallows Universe, the 2018 novel by Australian author Trent Dalton, I think you’d be right. Catriona Menzies-Pike, editor of Critic Swallows Book, wrote a scathing critique of Boy Swallows Universe for SRB in May 2022.

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood adapted for stage at Belvoir St Theatre

14 August 2023

A stage adaptation of Australian author Charlotte Wood’s 2019 novel, The Weekend, opened in Sydney on Saturday 5 August 2023. I read a few months ago that a production company had bought the film rights, but I didn’t know about the stage adaptation.

Much of the dark humour permeating the novel was voiced through the internal monologue of the characters, something I hope is carried over somehow in the dramatic adaptations.

If you’re in Sydney, the show is on until Sunday 10 September 2023, at the Belvoir St Theatre.

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.

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