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Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2019

The winners

  • The Victorian Prize for Literature, and the Prize for Non-Fiction: No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani (Picador Australia)
  • The Prize for Fiction: The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida (Faber & Faber)
  • The Prize for Drama: The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver (Currency Press, in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
  • The Prize for Poetry: Tilt by Kate Lilley (Vagabond Press)
  • The Prize for Writing for Young Adults: Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Prize for Indigenous Writing: Taboo by Kim Scott (Picador Australia)
  • The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript: Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
  • People’s Choice Award: Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee (Allen & Unwin)
Photograph of the VPLA 2019 winners
rom left to right: Victoria Hannan, Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Kate Lilley, Kendall Feaver, Kim Scott, Bri Lee, Elise Valmorbida, Omid Tofighian and Ambelin Kwaymullina — Photo: Hannah Koelmeyer

The judges

Fiction: Jackie Tang, Abigail Ulman, Chris Womersley, Elizabeth McCarthy (convenor)
Non-fiction: Dennis Altman, Fatima Measham, Sonia Nair, Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, Jordy Silverstein (convenor)
Drama: Tim Byrne, Samah Sabawi, Alison Croggon (convenor)
Poetry: Broede Carmody, Lia Incognita, Gig Ryan (convenor)
Writing for Young Adults: Melissa Keil, Nevo Zisin, Leanne Hall (convenor)
The Prize for Indigenous Writing: Genevieve Grieves, Mark McMillan, Jane Harrison (convenor)
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript: Jaclyn Crupi, JP Pomare, Elizabeth Flux (convenor)

The shortlist

Fiction

  • Flames by Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing)
  • Ironbark by Jay Carmichael (Scribe Publications)
  • The Fireflies of Autumn: And Other Tales of San Ginese by Moreno Giovannoni (Black Inc. Books)
  • The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones (Text Publishing)
  • Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (University of Queensland Press)
  • The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida (Faber & Faber)

Non-fiction

  • No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani (Picador Australia)
  • Staying: A Memoir by Jessie Cole (Text Publishing)
  • The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper (Penguin Random House Australia)
  • Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee (Allen & Unwin)
  • Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic (Penguin Random House Australia)
  • Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin (Brow Books)

Drama

  • The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver (Currency Press, in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
  • Going Down by Michele Lee (Malthouse Theatre)
  • Barbara and the Camp Dogs by Ursula Yovich and Alana Valentine (Currency Press, in association with Belvoir)

Poetry

  • Flood Damages by Eunice Andrada (Giramondo Publishing)
  • Tilt by Kate Lilley (Vagabond Press)
  • Milk Teeth by Rae White (University of Queensland Press)

Writing for Young Adults

  • Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough (Hardie Grant Egmont)
  • Between Us by Clare Atkins (Black Inc. Books)
  • Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)

Indigenous Writing

  • Common People by Tony Birch (University of Queensland Press)
  • Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (University of Queensland Press)
  • Taboo by Kim Scott (Picador Australia)
  • Blakwork by Alison Whittaker (Magabala Books)

Unpublished Manuscript

  • Wedding Cake Island by John Byron
  • Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
  • Frontier Sport by Wayne Marshall

Highly commended

Fiction

  • Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau (Brow Books)

Non-fiction 

  • Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia by Billy Griffiths (Black Inc. Books)
  • One Hundred Years of Dirt by Rick Morton (Melbourne University Publishing)
  • Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home by Sisonke Msimang (Text Publishing)
  • Small Wrongs: How we really say sorry in love, life and law by Kate Rossmanith (Hardie Grant Books)

Drama

  • Lethal Indifference by Anna Barnes (Sydney Theatre Company)
  • In the Club by Patricia Cornelius (State Theatre Company of South Australia)

Poetry

  • Body of Work by Elena Gomez (Cordite Publishing)
  • Subtraction by Fiona Hile (Vagabond Press)
  • Blakwork by Alison Whittaker (Magabala Books)

Young Adult

  • After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)
  • Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza (Penguin Random House Australia)

Unpublished Manuscript

  • The Fogging by Luke Horton
  • This Wasn’t Meant To Be Me by Allee Richards

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