Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 And the Winner Isn’t : On the Inherent Stupidity of Literary Prizes
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'There has been no shortage of Australian critiques of literary prizes over the last few years. Giramondo’s Ivor Indyk argued that ‘no one is really suitable to be a judge of literary prizes’ and therefore ‘we should get rid of prizes altogether’. Terri-ann White, the director of University of Western Australia Publishing, announced in 2016 that the press would no longer enter its titles in literary awards, because ‘the expense (of entry fees, books and postage) and the time involved in . . . has exceeded our resources’. In what may be the most incisive and blistering recent critique, Maxine Beneba Clarke raised a series of pointed questions about prize-awarding practices, noting their ‘conservative shortlists’, the lack of diversity among awardees, and the absence of ‘a major book award for queer writing’.'  (Introduction)

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Works about this Work

An Inherently Stupid Prize of Our Own? Kirsten Tranter , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2019;

'A couple of weeks back I was watching stories appear on social media celebrating the historic win of Melissa Lucashenko in the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip. She became the third Indigenous writer to win the prize in its 62-year history, and the sixteenth woman. One moment I was looking at flowers and champagne for her book, the next I was running across Emmett Stinson’s essay arguing that literary prizes are ‘inherently stupid’, published in this magazine literally days after Lucashenko’s win.' (Introduction)

An Inherently Stupid Prize of Our Own? Kirsten Tranter , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2019;

'A couple of weeks back I was watching stories appear on social media celebrating the historic win of Melissa Lucashenko in the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip. She became the third Indigenous writer to win the prize in its 62-year history, and the sixteenth woman. One moment I was looking at flowers and champagne for her book, the next I was running across Emmett Stinson’s essay arguing that literary prizes are ‘inherently stupid’, published in this magazine literally days after Lucashenko’s win.' (Introduction)

Last amended 26 Aug 2019 10:58:23
https://overland.org.au/2019/08/and-the-winner-isnt-on-the-inherent-stupidity-of-literary-prizes/ And the Winner Isn’t : On the Inherent Stupidity of Literary Prizessmall AustLit logo Overland [Online]
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