EMBARGO – 7pm Tuesday, September 11
Published Tuesday, 11 September, 2007 at 06:15 PM
Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Peter Beattie
PREMIER BEATTIE ANNOUNCES WINNING WORDS IN RICH LITERARY
AWARDS
David Malouf, Alexis Wright and Chris Masters are among winners of one of Australia’s most lucrative writing awards – the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.
Premier Peter Beattie tonight announced recipients across 14 award categories who are taking home a share of the $225,000 prize pool.
“These annual national awards demonstrate the Smart State’s commitment to nurturing the creative industries and rewarding our talented writers,” Mr Beattie said.
“This is a platform of national significance, with prizes of between $25,000 and $15,000 recognising good writing and helping aspiring authors get onto our bookshelves, TV and film screens,” he said.
“My congratulations to go all of the finalists because your stories are an important reflection of our culture, our history and our Australian identity today.
“To the 850 entrants in this year’s awards and all of the winners, well done.”
Mr Beattie announced Alexis Wright, who was born in Cloncurry, is the winner of the $25,000 Fiction Book Award for Carpentaria.
Alexis said: “It is a great honour for me to receive the Premier's Literary Award for fiction for Carpentaria. I am really pleased as I am a Queenslander and this is a book about Queensland so it makes this Queensland award particularly special to me.”
Mr Beattie announced Brisbane-based Ian Commins has won the 2007 Emerging Queensland Author Manuscript Award for Life in the Bus Lane.
Ian said winning the $20,000 prize and the recognition it generates would enable him to share his characters with more people.
EMBARGO – 7pm Tuesday, September 11
“The act of catching a bus may seem to be a tedious and routine matter, but readers of Life in the Bus Lane are reminded that a bus route is a microcosm of their community, where people share a similar route but may be on an entirely different journey,” he said.
“In this way Life in the Bus Lane is a tribute to every day people and their qualities, their concerns and their different ways of life. I hope everybody enjoys this ride, as much as I enjoyed writing Life in the Bus Lane”.
Ian joins 2007 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award winners David Malouf, Alexis Wright, Tom Griffiths and Elizabeth Hodgson at a special event at the Writers’ Festival this Thursday, 13 September, from 12.40-1.30pm at the Queensland Terrace, State Library of Queensland.
The 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards kick off the festival which officially starts tomorrow (Wednesday).
For further information about the awards, visit www.literaryawards.qld.gov.au or for the Brisbane Writers Festival, visit www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au.
Media Contacts: Premier’s Office – 3224 4500
To organise interviews with winners, Suzie Walker 0411 539 069
2007 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards winner’s list
Fiction Book Award ($25,000)
Alexis Wright for Carpentaria (Giramondo Publishing)
Emerging Queensland Author – Manuscript Award ($20.000)
Ian Commins for Life in the Bus Lane
Unpublished Indigenous Writer – The David Unaipon Award ($15,000)
Elizabeth Eileen Hodgson for Skin Paintings
EMBARGO – 7pm Tuesday, September 11
Poetry Collection – Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award ($15,000)
Dr Laurie Duggan for The Passenger (University of Queensland Press)
Australian Short Story Collection – Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award ($15,000)
David Malouf for Every Move You Make (Random House UK)
Film Script – Pacific Film and Television Commission Award ($15,000)
Joel Anderson for Lake Mungo (Mungo Productions Pty Ltd)
Television Script – QUT Creative Industries Award ($15,000)
Sue Smith for Bastard Boys (Flying Cabbage Productions)
Non-Fiction Book Award ($15,000)
Professor Tom Griffiths for Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica (New South / UNSW Press)
Science Writer – Department of State Development Award ($15,000)
Dr Richard Smith for Crude (ABC Television)
History Book Award ($15,000)
Christopher Clark for Iron Kingdom (Allen Lane, Penguin Books)
Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate – The Harry Williams Award ($15,000) Chris Masters for Jonestown (Allen & Unwin)
Children’s Book - The Dymocks Literacy Foundation Award $15,000)
Glenda Millard for Layla Queen of Hearts (ABC Books)
Young Adult Book Award ($15,000)
Judith Clarke for One Whole and Perfect Day (Allen & Unwin)
Drama Script (Stage) Award ($15,000)
Campion Decent for Embers (HotHouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company)
AWARDS
David Malouf, Alexis Wright and Chris Masters are among winners of one of Australia’s most lucrative writing awards – the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.
Premier Peter Beattie tonight announced recipients across 14 award categories who are taking home a share of the $225,000 prize pool.
“These annual national awards demonstrate the Smart State’s commitment to nurturing the creative industries and rewarding our talented writers,” Mr Beattie said.
“This is a platform of national significance, with prizes of between $25,000 and $15,000 recognising good writing and helping aspiring authors get onto our bookshelves, TV and film screens,” he said.
“My congratulations to go all of the finalists because your stories are an important reflection of our culture, our history and our Australian identity today.
“To the 850 entrants in this year’s awards and all of the winners, well done.”
Mr Beattie announced Alexis Wright, who was born in Cloncurry, is the winner of the $25,000 Fiction Book Award for Carpentaria.
Alexis said: “It is a great honour for me to receive the Premier's Literary Award for fiction for Carpentaria. I am really pleased as I am a Queenslander and this is a book about Queensland so it makes this Queensland award particularly special to me.”
Mr Beattie announced Brisbane-based Ian Commins has won the 2007 Emerging Queensland Author Manuscript Award for Life in the Bus Lane.
Ian said winning the $20,000 prize and the recognition it generates would enable him to share his characters with more people.
EMBARGO – 7pm Tuesday, September 11
“The act of catching a bus may seem to be a tedious and routine matter, but readers of Life in the Bus Lane are reminded that a bus route is a microcosm of their community, where people share a similar route but may be on an entirely different journey,” he said.
“In this way Life in the Bus Lane is a tribute to every day people and their qualities, their concerns and their different ways of life. I hope everybody enjoys this ride, as much as I enjoyed writing Life in the Bus Lane”.
Ian joins 2007 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award winners David Malouf, Alexis Wright, Tom Griffiths and Elizabeth Hodgson at a special event at the Writers’ Festival this Thursday, 13 September, from 12.40-1.30pm at the Queensland Terrace, State Library of Queensland.
The 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards kick off the festival which officially starts tomorrow (Wednesday).
For further information about the awards, visit www.literaryawards.qld.gov.au or for the Brisbane Writers Festival, visit www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au.
Media Contacts: Premier’s Office – 3224 4500
To organise interviews with winners, Suzie Walker 0411 539 069
2007 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards winner’s list
Fiction Book Award ($25,000)
Alexis Wright for Carpentaria (Giramondo Publishing)
Emerging Queensland Author – Manuscript Award ($20.000)
Ian Commins for Life in the Bus Lane
Unpublished Indigenous Writer – The David Unaipon Award ($15,000)
Elizabeth Eileen Hodgson for Skin Paintings
EMBARGO – 7pm Tuesday, September 11
Poetry Collection – Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award ($15,000)
Dr Laurie Duggan for The Passenger (University of Queensland Press)
Australian Short Story Collection – Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award ($15,000)
David Malouf for Every Move You Make (Random House UK)
Film Script – Pacific Film and Television Commission Award ($15,000)
Joel Anderson for Lake Mungo (Mungo Productions Pty Ltd)
Television Script – QUT Creative Industries Award ($15,000)
Sue Smith for Bastard Boys (Flying Cabbage Productions)
Non-Fiction Book Award ($15,000)
Professor Tom Griffiths for Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica (New South / UNSW Press)
Science Writer – Department of State Development Award ($15,000)
Dr Richard Smith for Crude (ABC Television)
History Book Award ($15,000)
Christopher Clark for Iron Kingdom (Allen Lane, Penguin Books)
Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate – The Harry Williams Award ($15,000) Chris Masters for Jonestown (Allen & Unwin)
Children’s Book - The Dymocks Literacy Foundation Award $15,000)
Glenda Millard for Layla Queen of Hearts (ABC Books)
Young Adult Book Award ($15,000)
Judith Clarke for One Whole and Perfect Day (Allen & Unwin)
Drama Script (Stage) Award ($15,000)
Campion Decent for Embers (HotHouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company)