Judges Cate Kennedy, Matt Rubinstein, Margo Lanagan and Geordie Williamson were ‘equally impressed by two manuscripts, and when it came down to the wire they could not separate' Melbourne-based Lang and New York-based Sydney author Thornell.
The two authors will share the $20,000 prize money and both will be published by Allen & Unwin (A&U).
This is the fourth time the Vogel has been jointly awarded: in 1981 it went to Al Jazzar (Chris Matthews) and An Open Swimmer (Tim Winton), in 1982 it went to Matilda, My Darling (Nigel Krauth) and Birds of Passage (Brian Castro) and in 2003 it went to Drown Them in the Sea (Nicholas Angel) and Troubled Waters (Ruth Balint).
A&U executive chairman Patrick Gallagher was positive about the 2009 outcome. ‘The Vogel is about finding great young writers,' he told WBN. ‘Finding one is good, finding two is a treat!'
Lang's manuscript, a ‘joyous, bejewelled fictional bio' of 19th-century Melbourne bookseller E W Cole, is ‘impressive, vivid and enjoyable', according to Kennedy, while Night Street, based on the life of Melbourne artist Clarice Beckett, is ‘full of beauty, rhythm, humanity and surprising insights', according to Lanagan.
Both Lang and Thornell are ‘graduates' of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Mentorship Program.
A&U expects to publish the two winning titles in mid-2010.
To view the shortlisted authors, click here.
