‘The Glad Shout’ wins 2019 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction

Alice Robinson’s second novel, The Glad Shout (Affirm), has won the 2019 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

The Glad Shout was chosen from a shortlist of six by a judging panel comprising author Jennifer Down, Readings managing director Mark Rubbo, and four Readings staff members: Christine Gordon, Sharon Peterson, Amanda Rayner and Alison Huber.

The judges called The Glad Shout ‘an exhilarating novel that raises urgent questions about how we will experience the near future of our climate crisis’.

‘While the story is on face value a work of climate emergency fiction that unfolds as a pacey disaster thriller, at its core it is a story of a mother and her daughter, and the limitless love that defines that relationship,’ the judges said.

Robinson said the win was ‘a huge honour considering the incredible calibre of the books and writers on the shortlist’. ‘I wrote The Glad Shout while deep in the trenches of early parenthood, when the writing was both a saving grace and an added complexity; to have the book appreciated, given all of that, feels extra meaningful,’ said Robinson. ‘To have it recognised and supported by Readings, beloved local bookshop since childhood, is even more meaningful again.’

The $3000 prize, now in its sixth year, recognises the work of early-career Australian authors. For more information, visit the Readings website here.

Category: Awards Local news