Winning words warm the night at The Age Book of the Year awards
In a buzzing Athenaeum Theatre on Collins Street last night it was my great privilege to present The Age’s Book of the Year prize at the opening of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
After seeing so many people gather to celebrate great stories and hearing the passionate yet humble winners speak so generously about their work, I left the theatre feeling warm in spite of the cool night air.
Rodney Hall, 89, won The Age Book of the Year award for fiction for his late-career marvel Vortex.
Melburnians – and Age readers in particular – love a good book almost as much as they love a festival.
The Age Book of the Year award has been handed out more than 40 times now, although there was a hiatus until a few years ago when it was revived. One of the country’s coveted literature prizes, it includes both a fiction and non-fiction award, each worth $10,000. Thanks must go to the Copyright Agency’s cultural fund for its ongoing financial support of these prizes, for which both The Age and the literary community are extremely grateful. The judges, too, deserve our gratitude for their time and dedication.
Our publication, and particularly our arts and culture team, are proud of The Age’s long history covering books and supporting writers across the country. Credit for this history must go to my predecessors who recognised the need to support writers and writing through festivals such as the Melbourne Writers Festival, prizes like The Age Book of the Year, and ongoing coverage of the sector. People such as Jason Steger, Kylie Northover, Melanie Kembrey, Kate Lahey and many other members of our newsroom continue to sustain our literature coverage.
I firmly believe publications like ours have a duty to support and enthusiastically encourage reading by people of all ages. Engaging with thought-provoking stories is an addiction we are happy to encourage as it improves individuals and enriches society. We welcome debate and discussion of complex and challenging ideas, whether they live in our pages or those of an unclosable novel.
On the question of age range, I left last night’s Writers Festival function with renewed hope that quality writing is not only the preserve of stereotypical chin-stroking beatniks.
Of the two authors to win The Age Book of the Year prizes last night, one, Rodney Hall, is 89. The other, Lech Blaine, is in his early 30s and grew up in a pub in rural Queensland. Two very different authors united by their talent with the written word (and their home state).
Hall, a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Award, won the fiction prize for his late-career marvel Vortex and delivered one of the more gracious and humble acceptance speeches I have heard from someone so accomplished.
Vortex is set in Brisbane in 1954 and depicts an alternative history of the 20th century. The judges for the fiction award – author and critic Bram Presser and our Canberra bureau chief Michelle Griffin (who has certainly had a busy few weeks) – said it was a “a story that sticks with you after its finish and that rewards re-reading, often surprisingly funny and sad all at once. At a time when many will feel caught up in the vortex of global events, this novel feels both particular to its time and place and yet universal.”
Lech Blaine’s stranger-than-fiction memoir, Australian Gospel, won The Age Book of the Year for non-fiction award. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Blaine won the non-fiction prize for Australian Gospel, which, as Kylie Northover writes, tells the story of his family’s battle with the biological parents of his three fostered siblings, Christian fanatics who spent decades trying to get their children back.
The judges for this award, reviewer and mission director of Caritas Australia, Michael McGirr, and author and director Lorin Clarke, said: “The book is hysterically funny and deeply poignant. The story resonates in a world where self-serving blindness is more destructive than ever.”
Blaine split the sides of the audience with anecdotes about his father’s one-liners during his acceptance speech.
There were many worthy finalists, but I was so pleased to be able to award these prizes to two people for whom it meant so much, but for very different reasons.
Before I wish you all a good weekend, I want to urge you to have a look at the Writers Festival program to see if you can find a session that isn’t yet sold out. The Age is the major media partner of the festival, of course, so you may think I am biased, but have a look here, bibliophiles, and I am almost certain you will find something that appeals to you.
And if you love books and haven’t yet discovered our Booklist newsletter from Jason Steger, you can sign up here.