History
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2001
winner y
The Idea of Perfection
South Melbourne
:
Picador
,
1999
Z141413
1999
single work
novel
(taught in 5 units)
Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook, New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer who meets Harley Savage, a woman who is known for being rather large and abrupt. Harley Savage is a plain, rawboned woman, a part-time museum curator and quilting expert with three failed marriages and a heart condition. Douglas Cheeseman is a shy, gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, one marriage gone sour, and a crippling lack of physical courage. Seeming to be incompetent was something Douglas did to protect himself, just as having a "dangerous streak" served the same purpose for Harley. Douglas is there to pull down a quaint old bridge and Harley aims to foster heritage. They are clearly on a collision course - but when they meet they are unaware that something unexpected is going to happen. (Source: Trove)
Works About this Award
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A Pair of Ragged Claws 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 March 2013; (p. 19) 'The literary awards season shifted into gear this week with the Indie Awards and the release of the Miles Franklin longlist. The former, voted on by Australia's independent booksellers, has a habit of picking books that will go on to do well with prize judges and civilian readers alike. We also have a shortlist for the inaugural Stella Prize for Australian women's literature, set up partly to counter a perceived male bias in the Miles Franklin, and a longlist for its British-based inspiration, the Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly Orange Prize). It's early days -- we have the various state-based book prizes and the refreshingly idiosyncratic Prime Minister's Literary Awards to come -- but already some works look like being major players throughout the awards season, just as Anna Funder's All That I Am and Gillian Mears's Foal's Bread were last year. Melbourne writer Carrie Tiffany is on the Miles Franklin, Stella and Women's Prize lists for her second novel, Mateship with Birds. London-based ML Stedman is in the running for the Miles Franklin and the Women's Prize for her debut novel The Light Between Oceans and Sri Lankan-born Sydney author Michelle de Kretser is a Miles Franklin and Stella contender for Questions of Travel. I won't be at all surprised if these three books fight out the big local literary awards. Stedman has a head start after picking up the awards for best debut fiction and overall book of the year at the Indies. '(Abstract from publisher)
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Aussie Authors Vie for Something on Mantel 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 14 March 2013; (p. 5) -
Fine Lines : Why Book Prizes Are Worth It 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 20 April 2008; (p. 19) -
Undercover 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 March 2008; (p. 27) A column canvassing current literary news including Gail Jones's longlisting for the Orange Prize. -
Judges Toss Up a Novel Twist : It's the Writing that Matters 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 March 2007; (p. 15)
