The shortlist for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards has been revealed, with an extraordinary line-up of 36 talented Australian writers, playwrights, poets and storytellers who will go in the running for Australia’s most valuable literary award — the Victorian Prize for Literature.
Established by the Victorian government and now celebrating its 40th year, this year the awards have been expanded to nine categories with the addition of the inaugural John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing — named in honour of the late, great satirist and actor who called Victoria home.
This new biennial award will be presented this year alongside categories for fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, Indigenous writing, writing for young adults, children’s literature and unpublished manuscripts.
Victorian based writers are among the shortlist, including a gripping family story by fiction writer and two-time VPLA winner Melanie Cheng, whose first book Australia Day took out the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and Award for Fiction in 2018; Gawimarra: Gathering by poet and academic Jeanine Leane and The 113th Assistant Librarian a tale of mystery and adventure by Stuart Wilson in the Children’s Literature category.
Readers can also expect genre-bending fantasy for young adults, analysis and investigative non-fiction, compelling drama, comedic writing spanning memoir and fiction and much more.
The winners of the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Award for Indigenous Writing, Children’s Literature, Writing for Young Adults and Humour Writing categories are each awarded $25,000.
The winner of the Award for an Unpublished Manuscript receives $15,000 in prize money and a two-week residency at McCraith House in Dromana, as part of a partnership between The Wheeler Centre and RMIT Culture.
An additional $2000 is also provided by The Wheeler Centre for the People’s Choice Award.
The nine category winners then go on to compete for the country’s richest single literary prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature, which awards a further $100,000 in prize money.
Voting is now open for the People’s Choice Award with shortlisted and highly commended titles eligible for the $2,000 prize provided by The Wheeler Centre.
The general public can have their say now via The Wheeler Centre website.
Winners will be announced at a special ceremony in Melbourne and live-streamed on The Wheeler Centre website on March 19.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are presented by The Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Victorian government.
