Six ‘wonderfully diverse' titles have been shortlisted for the $20,000 National Biography Award 2008, the State Library of NSW announced today.
Six ‘wonderfully diverse' titles have been shortlisted for the $20,000 National Biography Award 2008, the State Library of NSW announced today.
The shortlisted books are:
The National Biography Award, Australia's richest prize for biographical writing and memoir, attracted 33 entries this year. On announcing the shortlist, the award judges commented: ‘Biography is a category of nonfiction that offers writers and readers scope to explore life in a formal, scholarly mode, or in more individual ways, and it was with considerable pleasure that the judges were able to weigh up the effects of the diversity of work on offer. The level of book production was also highly interesting, with some books being presented in a most lavish fashion, while others, more humble, spoke in a quieter voice.'
The judges for this year's award are critic and writer Carmel Bird, academic and writer John Dale and author Gideon Haigh.
The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at the State Library of NSW on Thursday 10 April.
This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker