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Dessaix honoured for Lifetime Achievement in Literature

Robert Dessaix has won the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, which ‘acknowledges the achievements of eminent literary writers over the age of 60 who have made an outstanding and lifelong contribution to Australian literature’.

Dessaix’s books include his autobiography A Mother’s Disgrace and the novels Night Letters and Corfu, as well as two travel memoirs, Twilight of Love, which is set in Russia, and Arabesques, his memoir of following in the footsteps of André Gide. All are published by Brio. Dessaix’s recent works include What Days Are For (Knopf), a meditation on life, love, friendship and religion in the face of death, and The Time of Our Lives (Brio), a collection of conversations about growing older well.

Also announced as part of the Australia Council Awards, Leah Jing McIntosh received the Kirk Robson Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development. McIntosh is the founding editor of Liminal magazine and the co-editor of Collisions (Pantera) and the forthcoming Against Disappearance (Pantera). As part of the Liminal project, McIntosh has also produced literary events, created mentorships and fellowships, and established national literary prizes.

The Australia Council Awards annually recognise outstanding and sustained contributions by Australian artists in music, literature, community arts and cultural development, emerging and experimental arts, visual arts, theatre and dance. Last year’s Lifetime Achievement in Literature award was presented to Arnold Zable.

 

Category: Local news