Johnson awarded ‘ABR’ Gender fellowship

Academic Marguerite Johnson has been awarded the inaugural Australian Book Review fellowship for a proposed essay on Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Johnson’s essay, ‘Mapping Gender, Sexuality and the Environment: Picnic at Hanging Rock Fifty Years On’, will be published later this year. Johnson receives $7500.

In a statement, Johnson said: ‘There is no novel like Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock when it comes to mapping Australia’s gender, sexuality and environmental histories. On the fiftieth anniversary of Lindsay’s novel, it is timely to review and reassess it, and to revisit some of the works it has spawned.’

The judging panel comprised Andrea Goldsmith, Peter Rose and Ilana Snyder.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the fellowship was not awarded in the first instance, with the publication citing a lack of original proposals. It was later reopened with broader guidelines.

Category: Local news