This year’s Premier’s Literary Prize winners once again demonstrate the strength, diversity and quality of Tasmania’s literary sector.
The winner of this year’s $25,000 Tasmania Book Prize, for the best book with Tasmanian content, is Quentin Beresford’s The Rise and Fall of Gunns Limited (New South Publishing).
The winner of the $5,000 Margaret Scott Prize, for the best book by a Tasmanian writer, is The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Random House Australia).The award is supported by the University of Tasmania.
The winner of the $5,000 University of Tasmania Prize is Lois Murphy for her unpublished manuscript, Soon.
Robbie Arnott won the inaugural $5,000 Tasmanian Young Writer’s Fellowship, which is supported by private philanthropists.
The People’s Choice Awards, voted for by nearly 400 members of the public went to:
The Premier’s Literary Prizes uphold the purest traditions of literary independence.
The Tasmanian Government is a strong supporter of the arts and the Premier’s Literary Prizes strengthens the State’s reputation as an island of culture, ideas and political thought.
All prizes were judged by an independent panel, Dr Hamish Maxwell- Stewart (Chair), Chris Gallagher, Kate Gordon, Lian Tanner and Matthew Lamb. They had the difficult task of selecting the winners from over 150 entries.
The judges said the Rise and Fall of Gunns told “a difficult and painful story that has had an impact on all aspects of Tasmanian politics and society.”
The judges said that The Narrow Road to the Deep North had the most lasting impact on them of the four books shortlisted for the prize.
For more information about the winners of 2015 the Premier’s Literary Prizes, including the judges’ reports visit www.tasmanianartsguide.com.au/plp