City of Fremantle Hungerford Award shortlist announced

Three aspiring local authors are in the running for $15,000 in prize money and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press after being shortlisted for the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award.

Now in its 30th year, the prestigious City of Fremantle Hungerford Award is given biennially to a full-length manuscript of fiction or narrative non-fiction by a Western Australian author previously unpublished in book form.

Fremantle Press Publisher Georgia Richter said the shortlist for 2020, with works by Sharron Booth, Joanna Morrison and Maria Papas, was a collection of strong and exciting manuscripts.

“Sharron Booth’s historical novel, The Silence of Water, is an exploration of exile and belonging; Joanna Morrison’s off-beat crime novel, Still Dark, revives old friendships via an inventive mode of narration; and in I Belong to the Lake, Maria Papas’s literary fiction skilfully traverses the experiences of what it is like to be a child with a sibling who is dangerously ill,” she said.

“Since I began judging the award in 2008, the standard of entries has been consistently high and demonstrates that many entrants have the capacity to write, shape and polish a book-length manuscript to an impressive standard.

“All of the writers who entered manuscripts this year are to be congratulated on their achievement in doing just that.”

The 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award attracted 66 entries by debut Western Australian writers.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettit said he was looking forward to announcing the winner at the end of October.

“Holden Sheppard’s book Invisible Boys, which won the most recent Hungerford Award in 2018, has gone on to collect awards, accolades and a film and television deal,” Mayor Pettitt said.

“We are really proud to support an award that makes readers and the publishing industry sit up and take notice of talented new Western Australian authors.”

The City of Fremantle Hungerford Award has a proud history of helping authors of outstanding talent at the crucial early stages of their careers.

Authors like Gail Jones, Simone Lazaroo, Natasha Lester, Donna Mazza, Alice Nelson, Kim Scott and Brenda Walker have all either won the award or been shortlisted for it.

The Hungerford Award is sponsored by the City of Fremantle and Fremantle Press. This year’s judges were Sisonke Msimang, Richard Rossiter and the inaugural winner of the Hungerford, Brenda Walker.

The winner of the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award will be announced on Thursday 29 October at Fremantle Arts Centre.