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Bachoura wins 2016 Deborah Cass Prize

Syrian-born actor and writer Jean Bachoura has won Writers Victoria’s 2016 Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds for his manuscript extract ‘Night Falls’.

‘Night Falls’ was chosen from a shortlist of five and follows young Syrian-Australian, Eyad, as he returns to ‘war-destroyed Damascus to meet his mother and revisit his childhood home’.

Judges, Alice Pung, Christos Tsolkias and Tony Ayres praised ‘Night Falls’ for its ‘compelling story, lively writing and complex, vivid characters’. ‘The writing had the ability to surprise you and give an insight into an unknown world,’ said Tsiolkas.

Bachoura was announced as the winner on 13 December, and receives $3000, a year-long mentorship with an established writer and introduction to a mainstream publisher.

The Deborah Cass Prize was established by Writers Victoria in 2015 to honour academic and writer Deborah Cass who was the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants, and is awarded to an ‘early-career Victorian author who was born overseas or has at least one parent who was born overseas’. Last year’s winner was Moreno Giovannoni for his manuscript extract ‘Tales from San Ginese’.

For more information about the award, click here.

 

Category: Local news