Barbara Jefferis Award 2014 shortlist announced
The shortlist for this year’s Barbara Jefferis Award has been announced.
The shortlisted titles are:
- Sufficient Grace (Amy Espeseth, Scribe)
- The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt (Tracy Farr, Fremantle Press)
- Pilgrimage (Jacinta Halloran, Scribe)
- Sea Hearts (Margo Lanagan, A&U)
- The Night Guest (Fiona McFarlane, Penguin)
- The First Week (Margaret Merrilees, Wakefield Press)
- The Mountain (Drusilla Modjeska, Vintage).
The following title was highly commended:
- Holier Than Thou (Laura Buzo, A&U).
The judges in 2014 are Margaret Barbalet, Georgia Blain and Dorothy Johnston. Seventy-two eligible entries were received from 32 publishers.
The winner will be announced in Sydney in November 2014.
As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the prize money for this year’s award has increased from $35,000 to $55,000, with $50,000 to be awarded to the winner and $5000 to be distributed among shortlisted titles at the discretion of the judges. The eligibility criteria have also been expanded to include digital-only publications and self-published titles with mainstream distribution.
The Barbara Jefferis Award is presented biennially by the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) for ‘the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society’. The award was previously presented annually. In 2012 the winner was Anna Funder for All That I Am (Penguin).
For more information about the award, visit the ASA website here.
Category: Local news
