Yesterday I spent the day at the National Library in Canberra where the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard announced the winners of the
Prime Minister's Literary Award.
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| National Library Bookshop |
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I am thrilled and honoured that
Pan's Whisper was shortlisted, along with Sue Saliba's
Alaska, Barry Jonsberg's
Being Here, Bill Condon's
A Straight Line To My Heart and Robert Newton's
When We Were Two, in the Young Adult Fiction section of the awards.
I went along to the award ceremony looking forward to the experience, but sure the winner wasn't Pan. I read all four of the other shortlisted novels, and loved them all, however, when I finished Robert's book, I turned to my husband and said, "I've just read the winner."
When We Were Two is simply beautiful and a much deserved winner of the Prime Minister's Award, Young Adult Fiction. Congrats Robert.
Again, a huge congratulations to all the
winners and shortlistees. It was lovely to meet so many and share the day with such talented people.
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| PM Julia Gillard, Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean and PMLA winners. |
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And finally, my sincerest thanks to Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, for their support of Australian writing and writers.
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| Tragically excited and honoured! | | |
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| Shortlistees accepting their prize | |
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| Lunch with Di Bates and Bill Condon |
