Australian Book Review
Encyclopedia
Australian Book Review is Australia's leading literary review. Created in 1961 the ABR is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are "to foster high critical standards, to provide an outlet for fine new writing, and to contribute to the preservation of literary values and a full appreciation of Australia's literary heritage".
ABR is currently sponsored by Flinders University
, and supported by various organisations including the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Arts SA, the Sidney Myer Fund
, Arnold Bloch Leibler, and Copyright Agency Limited
.
Entrants to the Calibre Prize include leading Australian authors and commentators, and also emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible, from life writing to literary studies, history to politics, biography to philosophy, natural history to popular science, travel writing to
environmental studies.
Poetry Prize in memory of the late Australian poet. The Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected awards for poetry, and guarantees the winning and short-listed entries wide exposure through publication in ABR.
Entrants must submit a single poem of no more than 100 lines. Multiple entries are permitted, and all poems are judged anonymously.
Short Story Prize in memory of the late Australian writer. The total prize money for 2011 was $8000, thanks to the support of ABR Patron Mr Ian Dickson.
2011 saw two winners share the Prize, Carrie Tiffany with 'Before He Left the Family' and Gregory Day with 'The Neighbour's Beans'.
Two other stories were shortlisted in 2011: Claire Aman with 'Milk Tray' and Gaylene Carbis with 'What's Richard Ford Got to Do with It?'.
History
Australian Book Review was established by Max Harris and Rosemary Wighton as a monthly journal in Adelaide, Australia, in 1961. In 1971 production was reduced to quarterly releases, and lapsed completely in 1974. In 1978 the journal was revived by the National Book Council and, moving to Melbourne, began producing ten issues per year.ABR is currently sponsored by Flinders University
Flinders University
Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...
, and supported by various organisations including the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Arts SA, the Sidney Myer Fund
Myer Foundation
The Myer Foundation is a major Australian philanthropic organisation.The Sidney Myer Charitable Trust was established by the will of Sidney Myer who died in 1934 leaving one tenth of his estate for the benefit of the community. Myer's will was proved at £922,000...
, Arnold Bloch Leibler, and Copyright Agency Limited
Copyright Agency Ltd
Copyright Agency Ltd is an Australian company incorporated under the Corporations Code for the purpose of providing institutions, especially educational institutions the use of copyright material, in print or electronic form....
.
Editors
- 1961 to 1974 - Geoffrey Dutton, Max Harris and Rosemary Wighton
- 1978 to 1986 - John McLaren
- 1986 to 1987 - Kerryn GoldsworthyKerryn GoldsworthyDr. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy is an Australian freelance writer and former academic.Kerryn Goldsworthy has a B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide. She taught at the University of Melbourne from 1981 to 1997 as a tutor and lecturer and has also worked briefly at Deakin, Flinders and Adelaide...
- 1988 - Louise AdlerLouise AdlerLouise Adler AM was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1954. She is married to the actor and comedian Max Gillies. In 2008 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to literature....
- 1989 to 1995 - Rosemary Sorensen
- 1995 to 2000 - Helen Daniel
- 2001 to present day - Peter RosePeter Rose (poet)Peter Rose is an Australian poet, critic, novelist and editor. He belongs to a notable Collingwood Football Club family. His father, Bob Rose, was a famous player and coach. His brother, Robert Rose , played for Collingwood and opened the batting for Victoria before an accident left him a...
Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay
The Calibre Prize is an annual Australian Book Review initiative intended to generate brilliant new essays and to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition. The Prize, first awarded in 2007, is sponsored by Copyright Agency Limited and offers an annual prize pool of AU$10,000.Entrants to the Calibre Prize include leading Australian authors and commentators, and also emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible, from life writing to literary studies, history to politics, biography to philosophy, natural history to popular science, travel writing to
environmental studies.
Winners
- 2007 - Elisabeth Holdsworth: 'An die Nachgenborenen: For Those Who Come After'
- 2008 - Rachel Robertson: 'Reaching One Thousand' and Mark Tredinnick: 'A Storm and a Teacup'
- 2009 - Kevin Brophy: ‘“What’re yer looking at yer fuckin’ dog”: Violence and Fear in Žižek’s Post-political Neighbourhood’ and Jane Goodall: 'Footprints'
- 2010 - Lorna Hallahan: 'On being Odd' and David Hansen: 'Seeing Truganini'
- 2011 - Dean Biron: 'The Death of the Writer' and Moira McKinnon: 'Who Killed Matilda?'
Peter Porter Poetry Prize
Australian Book Review established its annual Poetry Prize in 2005, and in 2010 renamed it the Peter PorterPeter Porter (poet)
Peter Neville Frederick Porter, OAM was a British-based Australian poet.-Life:Porter was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist...
Poetry Prize in memory of the late Australian poet. The Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected awards for poetry, and guarantees the winning and short-listed entries wide exposure through publication in ABR.
Entrants must submit a single poem of no more than 100 lines. Multiple entries are permitted, and all poems are judged anonymously.
Winners
- 2005: Stephen EdgarStephen EdgarStephen Edgar is a contemporary Australian poet, editor and indexer.-Background and education:Edgar was born in Sydney in 1951 where he attended Sydney Technical High School. Between 1971 and 1974 he lived in London and worked as a library assistant in the London Borough of Lambeth...
- 2006: Judith BishopJudith BishopJudith Bishop is a contemporary Australian poet, linguist and translator.-Biography:Judith Bishop was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1972. She holds a DPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Melbourne. In 1994 she received the Rae and Edith Bennett...
- 2007: Alex Skovron
- 2008: Ross ClarkRoss ClarkRoss Clark is an award-winning Australian poet. His poems often use strongly physical imagery and he is a strong exponent of haiku poetry.-Life:...
- 2009: Tracy RyanTracy RyanTracy Ryan is an Australian poet and novelist. She has also worked as an editor, publisher, translator, and academic.-Life:Tracy Ryan was born in Western Australia, where she grew up as part of a large family...
- 2010: Anthony LawrenceAnthony Lawrence-Biography:Born in Tamworth, New South Wales, Anthony Lawrence left school at 16, and has worked variously as a jackeroo, fisherman, teacher and writer. Lawrence has received a number of Australia Council for the Arts Literature Board Grants and has won numerous awards for his poetry, including the...
- 2011: Judith BishopJudith BishopJudith Bishop is a contemporary Australian poet, linguist and translator.-Biography:Judith Bishop was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1972. She holds a DPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Melbourne. In 1994 she received the Rae and Edith Bennett...
and Tony Lintermans
Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Australian Book Review revived its annual short story competition in 2010, and in 2011 renamed it the Elizabeth JolleyElizabeth Jolley
Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels , four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving...
Short Story Prize in memory of the late Australian writer. The total prize money for 2011 was $8000, thanks to the support of ABR Patron Mr Ian Dickson.
2011 saw two winners share the Prize, Carrie Tiffany with 'Before He Left the Family' and Gregory Day with 'The Neighbour's Beans'.
Two other stories were shortlisted in 2011: Claire Aman with 'Milk Tray' and Gaylene Carbis with 'What's Richard Ford Got to Do with It?'.
Winners
- 2011 - Carrie TiffanyCarrie TiffanyCarrie Tiffany is an English-born Australian novelist and former park ranger.-Biography:Tiffany was born in West Yorkshire and migrated to Australia with her family in the early 1970s. She grew up in Perth, Western Australia...
: 'Before He Left the Family' and Gregory DayGregory Day-Life:Gregory Day is a writer, poet and musician based in Victoria, Australia. He is a founding director of the art, music & publishing collective, Merrijig Word & Sound Co. http://www.merrijigwordandsound.com/-Awards and nominations:...
: 'The Neighbour's Beans' - 2010 - Maria TakolanderMaria TakolanderMaria Takolander, born in Melbourne in 1973, is an Australian poet and literary critic. She is a lecturer at Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, in the areas of Literary Studies and Professional and Creative Writing. She has published many poems in literary journals, and her work has frequently...
: ‘A Roānkin Philosophy of Poetry’
Past Contributors
Past contributors to ABR include:- Dennis AltmanDennis AltmanDennis Patkin Altman is an Australian academic and pioneering gay rights activist.Altman was a Fullbright scholar at Cornell University in the 1960s when he met and began working with leading gay activists in the United States...
- Neal BlewettNeal BlewettNeal Blewett, AC , Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Bonython, South Australia from 1977 to 1994.-Education and academic career:...
- J.M. Coetzee
- Peter Craven
- Greg DeningGreg DeningGreg Dening was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. He was educated at the Jesuit School, St Louis in Perth and at Xavier College in Melbourne. He earned an MA from Melbourne University and his PhD from Harvard where his doctoral dissertation was a historical ethnography of the Marquesas Islands...
- Delia FalconerDelia FalconerDelia Falconer is the author of a novel, The Service of Clouds and a novella, The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers. She has been described by Australian critic Peter Craven, in Best Australian Stories 1999, as “the young Australian writer who has arguably done most to put her signature on the literature...
- Morag Fraser
- Raimond GaitaRaimond GaitaRaimond Gaita was until 2011 Foundation Professor of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University and Professor of Moral Philosophy at King's College London...
- Kerryn GoldsworthyKerryn GoldsworthyDr. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy is an Australian freelance writer and former academic.Kerryn Goldsworthy has a B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide. She taught at the University of Melbourne from 1981 to 1997 as a tutor and lecturer and has also worked briefly at Deakin, Flinders and Adelaide...
- Peter GoldsworthyPeter GoldsworthyPeter Goldsworthy AM is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti....
- Lisa Gorton
- Bridget Griffen-Foley
- J.S. Harry
- John HirstJohn Hirst (historian)John Hirst is an emeritus professor of history at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.-Books:*Australia’s Democracy: A Short History ISBN 978-1865088457*QE 17 'Kangaroo Court': Family Law in Australia ISBN 978-1863953412...
- Clive JamesClive JamesClive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
- Barry JonesBarry Jones (Australian politician)Barry Owen Jones AO, FAA, FASSA, FAHA, FTSE, FACE is a writer, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion and former politician. He campaigned against the death penalty throughout the 1960s, particularly against the execution of Ronald Ryan, and remains against capital punishment...
- Gail JonesGail JonesGail Jones is an Australian novelist and academic.-Early life and career:Gail Jones was born in Harvey, Western Australia and educated at the University of Western Australia...
- Nicholas JoseNicholas Jose-Biography:Born Robert Nicholas Jose in London, England, to Australian parents, Nicholas Jose grew up mostly in Adelaide, South Australia. He was educated at the Australian National University and Oxford University. He has traveled extensively, particularly in China, where he worked from 1986 to 1990...
- James Ley
- Patrick McCaughey
- David McCooeyDavid McCooeyDr. David McCooey, poet, critic and academic, was born in London in 1967. He moved to Perth, Western Australia, with his family in 1970. He studied at University of Western Australia , and completed his doctorate at Sydney University ....
- Robert ManneRobert ManneRobert Manne is a professor of politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.Born in Melbourne, Manne's earliest political consciousness was formed by the fact that his parents were Jewish refugees from Europe and his grandparents were victims of the Holocaust...
- Brenda NiallBrenda NiallDr Brenda Niall AO is an Australian biographer, literary critic and journalist. She is particularly noted for her work on Australia's well-known Boyd family of artists and writers...
- Dorothy PorterDorothy PorterDorothy Featherstone Porter was an Australian poet.-Early life:Porter was born in Sydney. Her father was barrister Chester Porter and her mother, Jean, was a high school chemistry teacher. Porter attended the Queenwood School for Girls...
- Peter PorterPeter Porter (poet)Peter Neville Frederick Porter, OAM was a British-based Australian poet.-Life:Porter was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist...
- Peter RosePeter Rose (poet)Peter Rose is an Australian poet, critic, novelist and editor. He belongs to a notable Collingwood Football Club family. His father, Bob Rose, was a famous player and coach. His brother, Robert Rose , played for Collingwood and opened the batting for Victoria before an accident left him a...
- Tim Rowse
- Craig Sherborne
- Robyn WilliamsRobyn WilliamsRobyn Williams AM is a science journalist and broadcaster resident in Australia who has hosted the Science Show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 1975, Ockham's Razor and In Conversation .-Background:Robyn Williams was born in Buckinghamshire, England, and educated in Vienna and...
- Geordie Williamson