Penguin Literary Prize 2021
The Penguin Random House (PRH) Literary Prize, launched in 2017, was established to find, nurture and develop new Australian authors of literary fiction. PRH is already home to many admired and awarded authors, and this prize offers aspiring and diverse writers from across the nation a chance to connect with people who can celebrate their work.
Of last year’s prize Justin Ractliffe, Publishing Director at PRH Australia, commented, ‘It was a pleasure and a privilege to be on the judging panel last year. There is just so much talent out there and I can’t wait to see what this year’s submissions bring. Discovering new writers and giving them the opportunity to have their work developed and published is one of the best parts of working in publishing and the reason we launched the Penguin Literary Prize.’
Since its launch the Literary Prize has received an incredible number of submissions: approximately 400 each year, exploring an array of themes and genres. Previous winners include Hitch by Kathryn Hind, published June 2019, which was also awarded the Betty Trask Award in 2020; and The Spill by Imbi Neeme, published June 2020, and now with rights sold in Germany and Estonia. The 2020 winner was The Rabbits by Sophie Overett, to be published July 2021.
On winning the award, Overett said, ‘The Penguin Literary Prize has been a gift in so many ways. From the personal achievement of submitting a complete draft of a manuscript, to the pinch-me excitement of winning the prize itself. I was overwhelmed with the warmth of the response and the level of support I received from the community and industry alike, and signing a book deal with PRH has only further solidified that. Being able to continue the journey of The Rabbits with the incredible, generous and inspiring team at Penguin, particularly my amazing editor, has been invigorating creatively, personally and professionally. Seeing my story evolve from idea to manuscript and now to book is, in the words of Stephen King, a uniquely portable magic.’
Of the publishing process, Neeme said, ‘It was a huge privilege to have my manuscript selected as the winner of the Penguin Literary Prize and then transformed into a book, thanks to the care, attention and passion of the team at Penguin Random House.’
Hind said, ‘I still remember visiting each of the PRH offices and being blown away by the scale of their inner workings. Yet despite PRH’s size, everyone I met there knew about Hitch, and due to the nature of the prize, many had even read it. Releasing my debut novel was a huge moment in my life, and at each step along the way I felt I was in safe and extremely proficient hands. Not to mention in the hands of bright, warm, book-loving people who were a joy to work with at every stage.’
Submissions are open to all Australian residents aged 18 and above. Submissions will close at 11:59pm AEDT on Tuesday 15 December 2020.
Entries can be submitted here.
The Prize value is $20,000 and the opportunity to publish with PRH Australia. A shortlist will be revealed on 12 March 2021, with the winner announced on 17 June 2021.
Penguin Literary Prize 2020 winner announced
After reading more than 400 submissions for the 2020 Penguin Literary Prize, we are thrilled to reveal The Rabbits by Sophie Overett from Victoria as the winning manuscript.
When 14-year-old Charlie Rabbit disappears, his mother, grandmother and siblings are faced with the history they’d rather forget, and the present they try to avoid. The Rabbits is an intergenerational family novel exploring motherhood, family secrets, loneliness and how a little bit of magic can change everything.
Of the award, and her win, Overett said, 'When I started writing The Rabbits, I had no idea that it would take me to the places that it has. A niggling idea grew to become a world a part of me lived in, and the story is one that’s had so much love and encouragement, not just from friends and family, but from a supportive and championing industry.
'To win the Penguin Literary Prize now is an honour, and to be in the company of such wonderful authors as Kathryn Hind and Imbi Neeme, and to have the opportunity to work with the team at Penguin Random House [PRH] Australia , is a dream come true. I’m so excited to take this next step and to share The Rabbits with the world.'
The Rabbits was selected from a highly talented shortlist, the judging panel included Justin Ractliffe and Meredith Curnow from PRH Australia, Ruth Hipwell from Leading Edge Books, Suzie Bull from Farrell’s Bookshop and ABA Young Bookseller of the Year, Aisling Lawless from Dymocks Joondalup.
Justin Ractliffe, Publishing Director of PRH Australia, said, 'Judging this year’s Penguin Literary Prize was a challenging and rewarding process. Each of the six manuscripts shortlisted are outstanding in their own right and there was robust debate amongst the judging panel. I’d like to congratulate all the shortlisted authors on their talent and commitment – they are all gifted writers and their work deserves to find an audience. We had to pick a winner, though, and I’m delighted that Sophie Overett’s debut The Rabbits was chosen. It’s a beautifully lyrical and keenly observed novel, simultaneously tough and tender, real and raw – but shot through with enchantment and wonder. I can’t wait to see it work its sly magic on readers everywhere.'
For her win, Sophie will be awarded $20,000, with The Rabbits to be published by PRH Australia Publisher, Meredith Curnow, in 2021. The next round of submissions for the Penguin Literary Prize will open later this year.
Now in its third year, the Penguin Literary Prize was launched in 2017 to find, nurture and develop new Australian authors of literary fiction. Since its inception the prize has received submissions from across Australia in a variety of genres and forms. Previous winners include Hitch by Kathryn Hind, published June 2019, and The Spill by Imbi Neeme, published June 2020.
“UWRF FUELLED ME CREATIVELY IN ENTIRELY NEW WAYS”: AAWP X UWRF EMERGING WRITERS’ PRIZE WINNER SOPHIE OVERETT
From over 100 submissions for the Australian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) x UWRF18 Emerging Writers’ Prize, Sophie Overett’s Sea Wife was the winning entry. Sophie won a ticket to UWRF18, accommodation, and $500 towards airfares. She also received a one-year annual AAWP membership and fully subsidized fees to attend its annual conference where she read from her winning work. AAWP and UWRF have teamed up again in 2019 to present the Emerging Writers’ Prize. We spoke to Sophie about her UWRF and AAWP experience.
VIVA LA NOVELLA VII SHORTLIST
Over the past seven years, Viva la Novella has remained the only standalone novella prize in Australia and we are proud to continue our tradition of introducing you to our shortlisted writers and their work. As ever, it is hugely difficult for us to narrow a field of nearly 100 entries down to five because diverse, experimental, exciting and provocative writing is flourishing in Australia – as this list can attest.
In alphabetical order, the shortlisted writers are:
Carly Cappielli, Listurbia
Grace Chan, The Ship of Theseus
Joshua Mostafa, Offshore
Sophie Overett, Like a Moth Between Your Hands
Tegan Webb, Klea and Xta
Across a range of genres, spanning from the present to alternate near and more remote futures, we look forward to publishing extracts from each of the shortlisted authors’ work over the coming months and announcing the winners in September when their books will be available.
AAWP/ASSF EMERGING WRITERS’ PRIZE 2018
It is our very great pleasure to announce the winner of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs / Australian Short Story Festival Emerging Writers’ Prize. The winner is Margaret Hickey for ‘Fowler’s Bay’. AAWP/ASSF are proud to support emerging writers in offering this opportunity for emerging writers.
Highly commended entries (in alphabetical order) include:
‘A Name Like For Ever’ by Suzanne Hermanoczki
‘Between You and the Stars’ by Nicole Janov
‘Cat’s Kiss’ by Alison Thompson
‘Pass Muster’ by Deb Wain
AAWP/ASSF would like to thank all authors who submitted to the prize. The judges were overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of entries. This made the judging process very challenging.
AAWP/ASSF would like to acknowledge the generosity of our fine judges. Heartfelt thanks.
Judges’ appraisal:
Margaret Hickey’s ‘Fowler’s Bay’ is a quietly humorous story about poverty, hardship and loss. A story about a woman who was returned to her childhood bay to find that although much has changed she still can’t breathe there because of all the ‘sand blowing down my gullet’. In few words Hickey paints the picture of a life that has floundered, a woman who has lost plenty but who is still ready for life to take new turns. ‘Fowler’s Bay’ is a sad but life-affirming story that stood out in this year’s batch of fine stories.
About Margaret Hickey:
Marg Hickey is a playwright and author living in North East Victoria. Her plays are published with Playlab and have been performed in Melbourne (La Mama), Brisbane, New York and regional Victoria. Marg’s short stories have been shortlisted and won prizes in many awards. This year, her short story Binky won first prize in the Victorian Writers Grace Marion Award and second in the state. She has been published in many newspapers and literary journals including Meanjin.
This year, Marg submitted her PhD on depictions of landscape in contemporary Australian literature. When Marg isn’t writing, she teaches Theatre Studies at a local high school. She lives in the North East with her husband and three sons in a small house surrounded by gums.
AAWP/UWRF EMERGING WRITERS’ PRIZE 2018
It is our very great pleasure to announce the winner of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs / Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Emerging Writers’ Prize. The winner is Sophie Overett for ‘Sea Wife’.
Highly commended entries (in alphabetical order) include:
‘Forty Seven’ by Elizabeth Cummings
‘Feral Street’ by Susan Francis
‘Scales’ by Keely Jobe
‘Ruby’ by Saman Shad
AAWP/UWRF would like to thank all authors who submitted to the prize. The judges were overwhelmed by the nuanced responses to the theme and the quality and diversity of entries. We are proud to support emerging writers in offering this opportunity for emerging writers.
AAWP/UWRF would like to acknowledge the generosity of our fine judges. Heartfelt thanks.
Judges’ appraisal:
In ‘The Sea Wife’, Sophie Overett turns her attention to myth in order to explore the tragedy of love in a world that inevitably destroys. Suffused with exquisite aquatic imagery that reflects the currents in the main protagonist’s own moods, this richly layered story charts the interplay of life and death, memory and murder, feeling and language. It is an intense and hauntingly atmospheric story.
2016 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers shortlist
We are delighted to announce the 2016 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers shortlist, and we are so thrilled by the range of talent that it encompasses. A huge congratulations to Andrea Baldwin, Emma Doolan, Susie Greenhill, Sophie Everett and Susie Thatcher. There were 430 entries to the Prize, and to stand out as the authors of the five very best entries is no small feat.
Represented within this list is an intergenerational story of a family’s attempt to save the loggerhead turtle from extinction [Andrea Baldwin, The Illusion of Islands], a psychological thriller and Gothic tale of surveillance, obsession, guilt, and identity [Emma Doolan, Dark Tides], an ecological love story about extinction, grief and interconnection [Susie Greenhill, The Clinking], a story about family secrets, art and loneliness where nothing is exactly as it appears [Sophie Overett, The Rabbits], and a literary mystery that examines the fate of a missing family [Susie Thatcher, Gardens of Stone].
The entries were judged blind, and we’re thrilled to see the great range in the ages of the shortlisted writers – with almost 25 years separating the oldest from the youngest – proving once again that writers can emerge at any age.
We’ve asked each of the shortlisted writers to tell us who they are, and what winning the Richell Prize would mean to them.
Andrea Baldwin
“While I have attained a PhD in Creative Writing, have published some short pieces, and have been long-listed in several international competitions for flash fiction, short stories and novels, I am – in turtle terms – not so much emerging, as still buried in the nest. The Richell Prize offers a rare and precious opportunity for an emerging writer to access professional mentorship and other development opportunities. Winning this prize would help me develop my writing skills and practice, and communicate with readers in satisfying, beautiful and important ways.”
Emma Doolan
“When writing a novel I sometimes find it hard to cultivate momentum without the gratification that publication of, for example, a short story can provide. Although I’m part of a supportive and useful writers’ group, time constraints and workload can make it challenging to get advice and feedback on long-form works. The twelve-month mentorship with a Hachette publisher would be invaluable in this regard, providing both ongoing encouragement, and insight into the development of the work.”
Susie Greenhill
“I’m the mother of a young child, so time for writing is precious. I wrote my Phd on strips of bark and scraps of paper while my daughter slept. This prize would give me the financial support to focus on writing for a time, it would give me guidance where it is much needed and the confidence to keep going in the face of never-ending anxiety and doubt. Mostly the prize would help me tell a story that I believe it is incredibly important to tell – a story that has already firmly entwined itself around my heart.”
Sophie Overett
“Winning The Richell Prize would be invaluable for me at this point in my career. I have developed a strong writer’s toolkit in story construction, character, theme and editing, but I’m ready to move forward with my creative practice and professionalism. Working with an editor and/or publisher at Hachette Australia would shape the course of my career and help me to hone my work to a publishable standard. The money associated with the prize would also allow me valuable writing time to really put those lessons into action.”
Susie Thatcher
“Working with Hachette mentors to improve my manuscript and drill down to the most compelling telling of this story, would propel my writing career from aspiring to emerging. I am constantly honing my craft and working towards being better at it. While this novel is my first, I have long-term ambitions for a sustained writing career. Winning the Richell prize would lay the foundations for this. I’m committed to finishing the manuscript and polishing it to the best of my abilities, but I know there’s a point where the only way for it to reach its full potential is under the stewardship of expert advice, critique and guidance, such as the Prize facilitates.“
The winner of the 2016 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers will be announced in Sydney on 28 September.
The Text Prize 2015 Shortlist Announcement
Four outstanding manuscripts have been selected from 268 entries to make up the shortlist for the $10,000 Text Prize, awarded annually to the best unpublished manuscript for teenagers and children.
NEVERLAND by Margot McGovernSeventeen-year-old Kit Learmonth would rather die than grow up and leave her family’s island, ‘Neverland’. An ambitious, complex story about memory, growing up and moving on.
Margot McGovern is a freelance writer and reviewer who contributes to a number of leading literary publications. She is a former associate editor of Ride On magazine and lives in Perth.
AGATHA ABEL MEETS HER MAKER by Sophie OverettAgatha lands in a Catholic boarding school for girls after her mother falls ill and her father disappears. A compelling, modern exploration of adolescent sexuality and the emotional life of teenagers.
Sophie Overett is a cultural producer and writer in Brisbane. She was a Young Writer in Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in 2014 and in 2015 is a Queensland Literary Fellow.
SOLSTICE by Mark RussellSet on a planet that stopped rotating generations ago, where half the world lives in shadow, half in light, Solstice is an exciting, adventurous and original work of science fiction.
Mark Russell is a writer whose work has appeared in publications including Inside Film and the Canberra Times. Solstice was originally written as a screenplay, which won a Screen Australia Development Grant in 2010. He lives in Melbourne.
THE BOOK OF WHISPERS by Kimberley StarrAn imaginative and gripping historical fantasy novel set during the first Crusade, in a world where demons are real and gaining power, and almost no one can see them.
Kimberley Starr is a teacher and author based in Melbourne. Her debut novel, The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies, won the 2003 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Best Emerging Author.
The winner of the 2015 Text Prize will be announced on Thursday 28 May at an event in Melbourne.
Templeberg shortlist announced
Eleven Australian authors have been shortlisted for the 2014 Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship.
Now in its second year, the fellowship will send an Australia writer to Templeberg Villa(link is external) in Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka for two- to four-weeks to work on a writing project.
The international fellowship is a philanthropic initiative of the Australian based owners of Templeberg Vila, Christopher Shields and Brent Carey. The winning writer will receive return airfare from Melbourne to Colombo in Sri Lanka, a 30-day tourist visa, internal transfer costs, accommodation, full board (all meals) and an A$1,000 spending allowance.
For the 2014 fellowship, the shortlisted writers are:
Aden Rolfe (NSW)
Chris Armstrong (NSW)
Christy Collins (VIC)
Gloria Meltzer (VIC)
Greg Woodland (NSW)
Lenny Bartulin (TAS)
Lisa Walker (NSW)
Lucy Nelson (ACT)
Richard Newsome (QLD)
Sophie Overett (QLD)
Virginia Jealous (WA)
“This is a truly national shortlist,” said Christopher Shields from Templeberg Villa, “Projects imagined and inspired by writers and poets from states as far apart as Queensland and New South Wales on the east coast and Western Australia right down to Tasmania.”
“There is also an eclectic selection of poems, short stories, new fiction and a performance piece,“ he said.
Several of the shortlisted applicants are previous winners of other leading writing prizes. Emerging poet Aden Rolfe has been shortlisted four times for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and is a past recipient of the Dorothy Hewett Flagship Fellowship for Poetry. Greg Woodland is a 2014 LitLink and Varuna Writer’s Fellowship recipient and won Best Drama Manuscript in the 2005 National Literary Awards.
The international judging panel chaired by acclaimed Sri Lankan-based author Royston Ellis also includes Victorian travel writer Michelle Aung Thin, winner of last year’s fellowship Michelle Wright, and the owners of Templeberg Villa, Brent Carey and Shields.
The judges will select one winner, who will be announced at a special event hosted by Writers Victoria at The Salon on Tuesday 12 August.