Awards and Prizes:

Home Run For Helen Garner

Celebrated Australian author Helen Garner has won the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

The award ‘acknowledges the achievements of eminent literary writers over the age of 60 who have made an outstanding and lifelong contribution to Australian literature.’

The author of more than 14 books of fiction and nonfiction, such as the dazzlingly good Monkey Grip, The Children’s Bach, Cosmo Cosmolino, The Spare Room, and This House of Grief, Garner has won numerous awards for her writing, such as the 2016 Windham-Campbell Prize for nonfiction, and the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2006.

Garner will be honoured during a ceremony in Sydney on the 4th of March.

And For The Winner, The Riches

The shortlist for the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards has been announced.

With over 600 entries judged by a panel of 30 and divided into 10 categories, the shortlist showcases contemporary works by both leading and emerging Australian writers. The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards offer a generous $310,000 in prize money, making them the richest state-funded literary awards in the country.

Readers will be pleased to see some familiar names on the fiction shortlist, such as Tim Winton (The Shepherd’s Hut), as well as some debut Australian voices, including Trent Dalton (Boy Swallows Universe). The list is a fine testament to the rich diversity of literature that this country has to offer, and the rise and rise of talented Australian writers who continue to astound us with their stories and words.

You can view the full shortlist here

Literary festivals and Events:

Clunes Booktown Festival 2019:

The 2019 Clunes Booktown Festival, scheduled to be held from the 4th-5th of May in Clunes, Victoria, has announced its program.

Approximately 25 writers will make an appearance at the festival, including Sarah Bailey, Robbie Arnott, and J.P. Pomare, among others.

The festival will cover a range of topics, such as the current political climate, mindful living, and modern-day feminism. The festival will also offer sessions on crime writing, workshops for new writers, and sessions about reading to escape reality vs reading to face reality.

For more festival information, visit their website

Adelaide Writers’ Week Under Way

Adelaide Writers’ Week, commencing from the 2nd of March till the 7th, is in full swing.

Seeking to create the space for reflection, contemplation, considerate debate and thoughtful discussion, the Writers’ Week theme this year is ‘Telling Truths.’

The program has been specifically curated to deliver smart, singular, subjective truths to the audience through an impressive line-up of interesting and insightful authors.

For more details, and to view the full program, visit the website