Shadows Awards Announced
The 2010 Shadows Awards for the best Australian horror writing have just been announced. Bob Franklin is the winner of the Long Fiction category for his short story collection Under Stones. The Edited Publication category was won by the anthology Macabre : A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears.
From 2012, two more categories will be introduced to the Shadows Awards — Best Collection and Best Novel. For further information on the 2010 winners, see the Australian Horror Writers Association website.
Short Shortlist for Miles Franklin
The shortlist for the 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award comprises just three titles: Roger McDonald's When Colts Ran, Kim Scott's That Deadman Dance and Chris Womersley's Bereft. (Six books were shortlisted in 2010.) The judging panel writes: 'these shortlisted books have a distinctive, indelible Australian voice. It's a voice that has nothing to do with reflex nationalism, or jingoism – rather the reverse. The shortlisted books this year are like barometers of the state of our culture: they take the readings, and give them back to us in fiction of extraordinary accomplishment. They force us to look again at ourselves, and to think – hard.'
Australians Shortlisted for IMPAC Award
Three Australians are included on this year's shortlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: David Malouf for Ransom, Craig Silvey for Jasper Jones and Evie Wyld for After the Fire, a Still Small Voice. The three Australians together with three Irish writers (Colum McCann, Colm Toibin and William Trevor) dominate the shortlist of ten. Malouf and Toibin are previous winners of the award, in 1996 and 2006 respectively.