Bitto wins Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship

Emily Bitto has won the 2023 $35,000 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship, and Kate Mildenhall has been named runner-up, receiving $15,000.

Bitto won for her manuscript ‘Reasons to Leave’, ‘a multi-protagonist novel about a wave of Czechoslovakian migrants to the western suburbs of Melbourne’. Assessors Mirandi Riwoe and Anna Spargo-Ryan said of the manuscript: ‘The writing is assured and touching, engaging with themes to do with belonging and labour. Bitto’s work will explore storytelling’s power to enrich both personal and national identity.’

Mildenhall was named runner-up for her manuscript ‘We Bought a Town’, ‘a contemporary thriller set over three days and told from the perspective of nine characters’. Said Riwoe and Spargo-Ryan: ‘The novel engages with ideas concerning society’s fracturing values about how to deal with family and the land. The scope of this work is ambitious and exciting, and the judges were immediately impressed with the synopsis and writing.’

Bitto and Mildenhall were chosen from a shortlist of four that also included Kirli Saunders and Michael Winkler.

The winner of the 2022 scholarship was Ashley Hay for her manuscript ‘The Running Dream’.

Category: Awards Local news