2009 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Shortlist

The Burial - by Courtney Collins

A dark, swooning upgrade of the Australian gothic genre. This time, a lost child speaks plaintively from beyond the grave, adding her voice to several others in tracing the life of Jessie, based on a real-life horse thief and murderess of the 1920s, whose real crime, it seems, was to have been born a woman.   

'It grabbed me ... great characterisation, a setting you can taste and smell and feel under your fingernails ... a story that propels itself along with real vigour.' - Margo Lanagan

 

 

Utopian Man - by Lisa Lang

Happiness writes white, reckoned Henri de Montherlant. It does not show up on the page. If he had read Lisa Lang's joyous, bejewelled fictional biography of Edward Cole, founder of Coles Book Arcade, he would have recanted. Coles life is imagined with authority and verve, and the reader is invited to warm themselves at the fire generated by a singular mans energy, wit and visionary eccentricity.     

'Impressive, vivid and enjoyable. I was won over by this author's wonderful control.' - Cate Kennedy

 

The Book of Lilith - by Nathan Markham

The grandest of grand guignols. Oozing with sex, violence and the blackest of comedy, The Book of Lilith recalls de Sade, Kathy Acker and William Burroughs. In the sheer antipodean exuberance of its characters transgressions, however, Markhams novel is sui generis.    

'A great seething subconscious full of dark wonders ... a compelling imagination at play, a sophisticated voice and a lot of black comedy.' - Matt Rubinstein 

 

 

Squire Nation - by Jeremy Ohlback

A smooth and understated fictional reconstruction of the life of James Squire, convict and master brewer, whose death in 1822 inspired an outpouring of grief larger than any in the young colony's history. Well-researched, and deft in its exploration of the complex and ultimately tragic relationship between white and black during those early years.      

'A fresh and distinctive voice ... beautifully evoked ... subtle and devastating.' - Cate Kennedy

 

 

Night Street - by Kristel Thornell

In a measure of the prevalence of faction in contemporary Australian writing, four of the five books shortlisted have some real-life basis. This tough yet exquisite novel is loosely based the life of Clarice Beckett, student of Frederick McCubbin and Max Meldrum, and a formidable artist in her own right. Thornells prose, with its glowing language, its delicate and restrained tones, is a perfect instrument for approximating Becketts unique palette.     

'Full of beauty, rhythm, humanity and surprising insights ... beautifully judged' - Margo Lanagan

Download and read 'On judging the 2009 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award by Geordie Williamson' (PDF).