Arts NSW report that at a lunchtime ceremony today held at the Mint, Premier Nathan Rees announced the shortlist for 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and the introduction of a new People's Choice Award to mark the 30th anniversary of Australia's first Premier's Literary Awards. Read more about the awards and writers on the shortlist at the Premier's Literary Awards website http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/ and vote for your favourite title in the People's Choice Awards. Here are some of the nominated writers:
** 2009 The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction shortlisted writers are…
Helen Garner – The Spare Room
Kate Grenville – The Lieutenant
Joan London – The Good Parents
Steve Toltz – A Fraction of the Whole
Tim Winton – Breath
** 2009 Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction shortlisted writers are…
James Boyce – Van Diemen's Land
Robert Gray – The Land I Came Through Last
Chloe Hooper – The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island
Dmetri Kakmi – Mother Land
Jacqueline Kent – An Exacting Heart: The Story of Hephzibah Menuhin
Christina Thompson – Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
** 2009 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry shortlisted writers are…
Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night
David Brooks – The Balcony
Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria
LK Holt – Man Wolf Man
Kerry Leves – A Shrine to Lata Mangeshkar
Alan Wearne – The Australian Popular Songbook.
The 2009 winners will be announced on May 18.