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Deborah Cass Prize 2017 shortlist announced

Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2017 Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds.

The shortlisted writers and their works are:

  • Lur Alghurabi for ‘Letters from the Grave’ (Iraq)
  • Antonella Fedele for ‘The Good Immigrants’ (Italy)
  • Rafeif Ismail for ‘Almitra among the Ghosts’ (Sudan)
  • Mary Manias for ‘The Olive Tree’ (Greece)
  • Alexandra Mavridis for ‘Grecian Silhouettes’ (Greece)
  • Jenni Mazaraki for ‘Koukla’ (Greece)
  • Sivashneel Sanjappa for ‘The Journey Home’ (Fiji)
  • Fatima Sehbai for ‘Mithu and Sakhina’ (Pakistan)
  • Jessie Tu for ‘Another Country’ (Taiwan)
  • Yen-Rong Wong for ‘Cultural Harmonies and Cacophonies’ (Chinese-Malaysian).

This year’s prize was expanded to include writers from across Australia, resulting in a record 91 submissions.

Entrants were judged on a 3000-word extract from an unpublished manuscript that ‘reflects at least in part on the migrant experience’.

The winning author will receive $3000 and a three-month mentorship with an established writer, with their completed manuscript to be presented to Black Inc.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, 2015 winner Moreno Giovannoni’s manuscript ‘Tales of San Ginese’ was acquired by Black Inc for publication in 2018. Jean Bachoura won the 2016 prize for his manuscript ‘Night Falls’.

The 2017 winner will be announced at an event in Melbourne on 13 December. For more information, click here.

 

Category: Local news