An early history of Sydney and the fictional tale of a child raised by a pack of wild dogs have won the $100,000 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
The Colony: A History Of Early Sydney by archaeologist and historian Grace Karskens was the winner of the nonfiction award, while Eva Hornung's Dog Boy was recognised in the fiction category.
The Literary Awards - Australia's richest - were established in 2008 by then prime minister Kevin Rudd to recognise and honour talented local writers.
In addition to the fiction and nonfiction categories, this year the awards were expanded to include young adult fiction and children's fiction.
Bill Condon was awarded the young adult fiction award for Confessions Of A Liar, Thief And Failed Sex God, while the children's fiction award went to Lorraine Marwood for Star Jumps.
All awards are worth $100,000.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Arts Minister Simon Crean presented the awards in Melbourne on Monday morning.
"Winning a Prime Minister's Literary Award is a great achievement and due recognition of an author's contribution to Australian writing, our literary tradition and our cultural landscape," Mr Crean said in a statement.
"Each of these authors is a worthy winner.
"These terrific books promise to engage, inspire and reward their readers - and these are the characteristics of great literature."
No comments:
Post a Comment