The shortlist for one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious literary awards has been announced by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies.
Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, Chair of the Judging Panel commented that ‘We’ve had to hose quite a bit of blood off the walls and consoled ourselves with the fact that this was the biggest, most diverse, and best set of Roderick entries ever. We simply had more good and very good books this year than any of us can remember. Hence, we have a Shortlist of seven.’
It was a close call even for places on the slightly longer shortlist.’
The shortlisted titles are:
- Meg Bignell — The Angry Women’s Choir
- Robert Drewe — Nimblefoot
- Pip Harry — August & Jones
- Sarah Holland-Batt — The Jaguar
- Chloe Hooper — Bedtime Story
- Brett Mason — Wizards of Oz
- Hayley Scrivenor — Dirt Town ‘
ABOUT THE AWARD
The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award was founded in 1967 and recognises the best original book, in the judges’ opinion, that was published in Australia in the previous calendar year for the first time. Submissions must deal with any aspect of Australian life and can be in any field or genre of writing, verse or prose.
