Searching for Australia’s top author

FALS is calling for submissions for the 2015 Colin Roderick Award. The award celebrates the author of the best book that deals with any aspect of Australian life.

The winner will receive prize money of $10,000, as well as the H. T. Priestley Memorial Medal. The prize will be awarded for the publication that, in the opinion of the judges, is of the highest literary merit and makes a notable contribution to the body of Australian literature.

Publications entered for the Award may be in any field, fiction or non-fiction, verse or prose, however it is essential that the works be published in Australia (they may be printed elsewhere) and deal with any aspect of Australian life.

The Foundation for Australian Literary Studies is based at James Cook University and aims to foster the study and appreciation of Australian literature.

The most recent awardee was Michael Wilding for his work Wild Bleak Bohemia. Wilding used contemporary newspaper reports, court records, published memoirs, private letters and diaries, to tell the story of three troubled geniuses of Australian writing (Marcus Clarke, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Kendall) and their world of poetry and poverty, alcohol and opiates, horse-racing, theatre, journalism and publishing.

Details:

Submissions open: Monday 2^nd November 2015

Submissions close: Monday 29^th February 2016

Nomination forms can be found at: www.jcu.edu.au/fals