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Book of the Year: the 12 titles that have made The Age shortlist
By Jason Steger
Six books have made the shortlist for the fiction prize in the Age Book of the Year awards, from a stunning political thriller to a wryly funny insider’s perspective on academia.
The judges, bookseller Mark Rubbo and writer and former publisher Louise Swinn, said they had chosen novels that were fresh and “each in their own way, very wise. Their stories and characters stayed with us, long after the pages were closed”.
Tony Birch’s fourth novel, Women & Children, features his characteristic tenderness.Credit: Eddie Jim
The fiction books to make the shortlist are:
- Women & Children, Tony Birch
- Anniversary , Stephanie Bishop
- One Day We’re All Going to Die, Elise Hearst
- The Idealist, Nicholas Jose
- Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood
- But the Girl, by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
The books on the non-fiction shortlist range from histories, memoirs to essays about the domestic world. The full list is:
- Bennelong & Phillip: A History Unravelled, Kate Fullagar
- Home Work: Essays on Love and Housekeeping, Helen Hayward
- Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths, Matthew Lamb
- Life So Full of Promise: Further Biographies of Australia’s Lost Generation, Ross McMullin
- Personal Score by Ellen van Neerven
- A Brilliant Life, Rachelle Unreich.
The non-fiction judges - writer Simon Caterson and historian Joy Damousi – said the books on their shortlist “stood out for the quality of the writing and the dedication the author brought to their subject”.
Charlotte Wood showed acute understanding in her novel, according to the judges of the Age award.Credit: Henry Simmons
This will be the 43rd time the awards have been presented, with winners of each category – fiction and non-fiction - receiving $10,000 courtesy of the Copyright Agency’s cultural fund.
The winners will be announced by Age editor Patrick Elligett at Melbourne Town Hall on May 8 as part of the opening night of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival, which will feature bestselling American writer Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours and Day.
The fiction judges described Birch’s novel about domestic violence as “a book that will live with you”; Bishop’s as “incredibly atmospheric and finely crafted”; Hearst’s debut as “an amazing accomplishment ... funny, sad and revelatory”; Jose’s “stunning” political thriller as exhibiting “a writer on top of his craft”; Wood’s as “showing an acute understanding of the peculiarities and painful nuances of human life”; and Yu’s as “pitch perfect, wryly funny and hugely entertaining”.
Ellen van Neerven’s memoir about sport and Country was described as engaging and eloquent.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Caterson and Damousi labelled Fullagar’s history as nuanced and erudite, “breaking from conventional accounts which privilege the colonisers over the colonised”; Hayward’s collection as essays in which “the most mundane domestic tasks required of most of us [were] invested with a sense of wonder as well as occasional disgust”; and Lamb’s biography of Frank Moorhouse as providing “a complex and compelling portrait of the early life of its subject”.
They described McMullin’s book as a “painstakingly researched and profoundly empathetic micro-history”; van Neerven’s memoir as a highly engaging and eloquent work “exploring the rich intersections between sport, sexuality, gender and identity”; and Unreich’s story of her Holocaust survivor mother as “an exploration of resilience, faith, spirituality, family and relentless positivity and enduring hope”.
Last year, Robbie Arnott’s Limberlost won the fiction prize and Kim Mahood’s Wandering with Intent the non-fiction award.
The Age is a partner of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
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