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Premier Steve Bracks also announced Helen Ennis as the winner of the $30,000 Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction. Her book, Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography, tells the story of Austrian- born Jewish photographer Margaret Michaelis, whose oeuvre includes dramatic images from Europe before World War II.
The drama short list caused a stir when it was first released on the State Library's website a few weeks ago. Observing the 44 entries, judges Hugh Colman, Bruce Myles, Thuy On and Ailsa Piper said that there "was the need for good editing and dramaturgy" and that "slovenly grammar, syntax and spelling are unacceptable in the scripts of plays that have reached performance".
TWO-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey yesterday won the $30,000 fiction prize in this year's Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.
Carey's book, Theft: A Love Story, took out the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction. It is the second time the New York-based writer has won the award. The first was in 2001 with A True History of the Kelly Gang.
Premier Steve Bracks also announced Helen Ennis as the winner of the $30,000 Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction. Her book, Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography, tells the story of Austrian- born Jewish photographer Margaret Michaelis, whose oeuvre includes dramatic images from Europe before World War II.
John Tranter won the CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry for Urban Myths: 210 Poems, while Ursula Dubosarsky took out the young fiction award for Theodora's Gift.
Sydney journalist David Marr received the Alfred Deakin Prize for Essay Advancing Public Debate for his human rights piece "Is the Media Asleep?", while Tara June Winch's Swallow the Air won the Indigenous Writing award.
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama went to Stephen Sewell for his Adelaide Festival hit Three Furies: Scenes from the Life of Francis Bacon.
The drama short list caused a stir when it was first released on the State Library's website a few weeks ago. Observing the 44 entries, judges Hugh Colman, Bruce Myles, Thuy On and Ailsa Piper said that there "was the need for good editing and dramaturgy" and that "slovenly grammar, syntax and spelling are unacceptable in the scripts of plays that have reached performance".
They agreed that "more than half the entries were thought to be very disappointing".
Presenting the award for an unpublished manuscript to Victorian writer Andrew Hutchinson for his work Rohypnol, Arts Minister Mary Delahunty said "it is an accomplished cautionary tale that surprises and unsettles the reader".
Carey, who was unable to attend last night's presentation, has already received much critical praise for Theft: A Love Story, a psychological suspense set in the art world. The book is also one of this year's nominations for the Man Booker Prize, to be announced next month.
Copyright News Limited Sep 5, 2006