Lindsay Tuffin
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He may not have won the Miles Franklin ( Birds are singing as Evie Wyld wins the Miles Franklin ) but he sure cleaned up at the WA Premier’s Book Awards.

Here’s the report ( HERE ) and here:

22 September 2014 – Winners announced for Premier’s Book Awards

Premier Colin Barnett announced Richard Flanagan as the winner of the Premier’s Prize at the Premier’s Book Awards for his work The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Mount Lawley-based novelist Yvette Walker received the Western Australian Emerging Writers Award for her first book, Letters to the End of Love.

Mr Barnett said 11 of Australia’s top authors and two illustrators were recognised in this year’s awards. The winners will share $130,000 in prize money.

“The Premier’s Book Awards recognise literary excellence and I would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners,” he said.

“Literature is an important element of a culturally rich society. Reading and understanding the written word is not only empowering, it can be life changing. These awards help to encourage more West Australians to pick up a book.”

“Each year the awards receive hundreds of entries from authors across Australia and this year was no different. I am thrilled that two of the world’s finest literary talents, Richard Flanagan and Tim Winton, have been recognised in this year’s awards.”

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the inaugural Western Australian Emerging Writers category received 14 entrants, testament to the abundance of talent in the State.

“I would like to congratulate first-time published author, Yvette Walker, who was selected from a strong list of Western Australian writers for her book about love and loss,” Mr Day said.

This year the Western Australian public voted Tim Winton’s Eyrie as their favourite nominated work and winner of the People’s Choice Award sponsored by The West Australian.
Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards – 2014 Category Winners:

Children’s Books (jointly awarded)

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer (Albany, WA)
Illustrator: Brian Simmonds (Duncraig, WA)

The Swap by Jan Ormerod (VIC)
Illustrator: Andrew Joyner (SA)
Digital Narrative

AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS by Christy Dena (QLD)
Fiction

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (TAS)
Non-fiction

Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir by Kristina Olsson (QLD)
Poetry

Six Different Windows by Paul Hetherington (ACT)
Scripts

The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars by Van Badham (NSW)
Western Australian History Award

Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man by Margaret Simons (VIC)
Western Australian Emerging Writers Award

Letters to the End of Love by Yvette Walker (Mount Lawley, WA)
Writing for Young Adults

Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman (NSW)
Premier’s Prize

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (TAS)
People’s Choice Award presented by The West Australian

Eyrie by Tim Winton (WA)
For further information about the 2014 Awards check the website HERE

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