The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Authors pick up £45,000 from Oz PM

16.09.08 Catherine Neilan

The two winners of the first-ever Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in Australia have been announced, with the authors scooping tax-free prize money of AUD100,000 (£45,099) each.

Steven Conte picked up the fiction award for his debut novel set in war-torn Berlin, The Zookeeper's War, which traces the disintegration of a marriage and a city. Meanwhile Ochre and Rust by Philip Jones won the non-fiction award for his study of the stories behind Aboriginal artefacts.

The winning duo saw off competition from a short list of seven in fiction and eight - including books by Germaine Greer and Clive James - in non-fiction.

Each award had its own judging panel, comprising academic Peter Pierce, author John Marsden and broadcaster Margaret Throsby, while the non-fiction panel was made up of authors and academics Hilary Charlesworth and Sally Morgan as well as comedian and writer John Doyle.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said: “The judging panels are to be commended for the meticulous and thoughtful consideration they have given to the selection of Australian fiction and non-fiction entered in these new awards. The books they have chosen are an impressive indication of the outstanding breadth and quality of modern Australian literature.”

International Catherine Neilan