Another shortlist, this time for something close to home; the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2013. There are several categories of prizes to be awarded. The winners will be announced on 19 May during the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction – prize money worth $40,000
From the shortlist above, you can have your say in the People’s Choice Award – click here to vote
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction ($40,000 prize money)
Keith Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,00 prize money)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature ($30,000 prize money)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000 prize money)
There is also a $20,000 Community Relations Commission Award, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing and the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize.
“How Far We’ve Come” is a poem that was commissioned for the Blue Mountains Crossings Bicentenary. It was written and is performed by Gregory North, a Blue Mountains bush poet and entertainer who has a long list of awards and achievements, including equal 1st in the Winner of the Australian Poetry Slam NSW State Final.
The poem begins :
The Three Explorers’ crossing is a dinkum Aussie yarn.
The kind that comes right after that laconic, “Air ya garn?”
A case of Chinese whispers that our nation glorifies.
Mark Twain said that our history reads like beautiful fresh lies.
Click here for the full text of this poem and to hear Gregory read it.
You can listen to more from Gregory North on Listeners in the Mist, the Library’s podcast site.
Hilary Mantel continues to draw awards and acclaim, winning the Costa Novel Award for her masterpiece Bring Up the Bodies.
Ms Mantel’s win is one of several firsts for the Costa Awards, with her becoming the first author to win both the Costa Novel Award and Booker Prize in the same year.
Also a first was awarding a prize, the Biography prize, to a graphic novel. Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes was written by Mary Talbot and drawn by her husband, Bryan Talbot.
The other first is that all five category prizes have been won by women with Francesca Segal winning the First Novel award with The Innocents.
Kathleen Jamie won the Poetry award for The Overhaul and, despite being dyslexic, Sally Gardner won the Children’s Book prize for Maggot Moon which she both wrote and illustrated.
Each of the Costa Book Award winners will recieve £5,000 in prize money. They will now be reappraised and the winner of the £25,000 Costa Book of the Year will be announced on 29th January in London.
Dec 4
This gallery contains 22 photos.
Poetry Under the Stars at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and Library was a fabulous use of this great new space and library staff were very pleased to see around 150 Blue Mountains poetry fans turn up to what we hope will be a regular literary event.
The literary event of the year!
The best Blue Mountains poets will be enchanting you with their talents and local choir, The Mudlarks, will entertain you in the intermission.
Bring family and friends, a picnic tea, a rug or folding chair to this FREE family-friendly event and soak up the atmosphere and take in the wonderful view in the courtyard of the new Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and Library.
Friday 30th November
6pm-9pm
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Our latest podcast episode is now online – join John Merriman as he talks to Craig Billingham, a Blue Mountains based poet. Craig’s poems have been published in many Australian journals, including recently in Heat, Meanjin, Snorkel, and Antipodes. Craig’s poem “The Fan” was published in 2011 as part of The Red Room Company’s Sun Herald “Extra” Series. He will also be one of the poets performing at Poetry Under the Stars on Friday 30th November 2012, at the new Katoomba Library in the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
Click here to listen to the podcast online, or search for ‘Listeners in the Mist’ in iTunes.
You can also read some of Craig’s work here:
http://reviewofaustralianfiction.com/product/9781922171153
http://meanjin.com.au/articles/post/waiting-for-the-train/
http://redroomcompany.org/poet/craig-billingham/
Blue Mountains City Library, in collaboration with local poets, presents a FREE family-friendly, National Year of Reading 2012, community event.
Bring family and friends, a picnic tea (no alcohol please), a rug or folding chair, and sit beneath the stars in the shared courtyard of the new Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and Library – 30 Parke Street, Katoomba. (If the weather is bad, we’ll move inside the new Katoomba Library).
Be enchanted by our talented local poets, reading their original work.
MC’d by Lis Bastian with musical entertainment provided by the Mudlarks choir and friends.
Friday 30th November 2012 from 6pm-9pm
