Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2017
The Judges
Fiction: Stella Charls, Alice Pung, Jo Case (convener)
Non-fiction: Bruce Pascoe, Sami Shah, Jordy Silverstein, Michaela McGuire, Sharon Mullins (convener)
Drama: Jane Harrison, Emilie Collyer, John Bailey (convener)
Poetry: Samah Sabawi, Emilie Zoey Baker, Alicia Sometimes (convener)
Writing for Young Adults: Marlee Jane Ward, Davina Bell, Jess Tran (convener)
The winners
- Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
- Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru by Madeline Gleeson (NewSouth Publishing)
- The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell (Currency Press)
- Carrying the World by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
- When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature – Australia’s single richest literary prize – is Leah Purcell with The Drover’s Wife. The winner of the People’s Choice Award is Randa Abdel-Fattah with When Michael Met Mina.
The shortlist
Fiction
- Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
- The Healing Party by Micheline Lee (Black Inc.)
- Wood Green by Sean Rabin (Giramondo)
- Waiting by Philip Salom (Puncher and Wattmann)
- The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong (Text Publishing)
- The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett (Scribe Publications)
Non-fiction
- Songs of a War Boy by Deng Adut with Ben Mckelvey (Hachette Australia)
- The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
- The Killing Season Uncut by Sarah Ferguson with Patricia Drum (Melbourne University Publishing)
- Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru by Madeline Gleeson (NewSouth Publishing)
- Position Doubtful by Kim Mahood (Scribe Publications)
- The Fighter by Arnold Zable (Text Publishing)
Drama
- Girl Shut Your Mouth by Gita Bezard (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
- Trigger Warning by Zoë Coombs Marr (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
- The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell (Currency Press)
Poetry
- Carrying the World by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
- Painting Red Orchids by Eileen Chong (Pitt Street Poetry)
- Bull Days by Tina Giannoukos (Australian Scholarly Publishing)
Writing for Young Adults
- When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon (Hachette Australia)
- The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale (Penguin Random House Australia)
Highly commended
Fiction
· An Isolated Incident by Emily McGuire (Pan Macmillan)
· Our Magic Hour by Jennifer Down (Text Publishing)
· After the Carnage by Tara June Winch (University of Queensland Press)
Writing for Young Adults
· Freedom Swimmer by Wai Chim (Allen and Unwin)
· Frankie by Shivaun Plozza (Penguin Books Australia)