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Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2017

The Judges

Fiction: Stella Charls, Alice Pung, Jo Case (convener)
Non-fiction: Bruce Pascoe, Sami Shah, Jordy Silverstein, Michaela McGuire, Sharon Mullins (convener)
Drama: Jane Harrison, Emilie Collyer, John Bailey (convener)
Poetry: Samah Sabawi, Emilie Zoey Baker, Alicia Sometimes (convener)
Writing for Young Adults: Marlee Jane Ward, Davina Bell, Jess Tran (convener)

The winners

  • Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
  • Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru by Madeline Gleeson (NewSouth Publishing)
  • The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell (Currency Press)
  • Carrying the World by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
  • When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Pan Macmillan Australia)

The winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature – Australia’s single richest literary prize – is Leah Purcell with The Drover’s Wife. The winner of the People’s Choice Award is Randa Abdel-Fattah with When Michael Met Mina.

The shortlist

Fiction

  • Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
  • The Healing Party by Micheline Lee (Black Inc.)
  • Wood Green by Sean Rabin (Giramondo)
  • Waiting by Philip Salom (Puncher and Wattmann)
  • The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong (Text Publishing)
  • The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett (Scribe Publications)

Non-fiction

  • Songs of a War Boy by Deng Adut with Ben Mckelvey (Hachette Australia)
  • The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
  • The Killing Season Uncut by Sarah Ferguson with Patricia Drum (Melbourne University Publishing)
  • Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru by Madeline Gleeson (NewSouth Publishing)
  • Position Doubtful by Kim Mahood (Scribe Publications)
  • The Fighter by Arnold Zable (Text Publishing)

Drama

  • Girl Shut Your Mouth by Gita Bezard (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
  • Trigger Warning by Zoë Coombs Marr (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
  • The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell (Currency Press)

Poetry

  • Carrying the World by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
  • Painting Red Orchids by Eileen Chong (Pitt Street Poetry)
  • Bull Days by Tina Giannoukos (Australian Scholarly Publishing)

Writing for Young Adults

  • When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Pan Macmillan Australia)
  • The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon (Hachette Australia)
  • The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale (Penguin Random House Australia)

Highly commended

Fiction

· An Isolated Incident by Emily McGuire (Pan Macmillan)
· Our Magic Hour by Jennifer Down (Text Publishing)
· After the Carnage by Tara June Winch (University of Queensland Press)

Writing for Young Adults

· Freedom Swimmer by Wai Chim (Allen and Unwin)
· Frankie by Shivaun Plozza (Penguin Books Australia)