UQP/ University of Queeensland: authors win top literary awards

Two University of Queensland Press authors – Sarah Holland-Batt and Karen Lamb – have won acclaim for their work after being awarded significant Australian literary prizes this week.

Brisbane poet and UQ graduate Sarah Holland-Batt was awarded the poetry prize for her volume The Hazards at the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards ceremony in Canberra.

UQP describes Ms Holland-Batt’s The Hazards as ‘a dazzling and inventive second collection’ which ‘careens through diverse geographical territory – from haunted post-colonial landscapes in Australia to brutal animal hierarchies in the cloud forests of Nicaragua.’

Karen Lamb was a joint winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards non-fiction prize for her biography Thea Astley, Inventing Her Own Weather.

The biography sheds new light on the multiple Miles Franklin award-winning novelist Thea Astley who was one of Australia’s most beloved and highly private authors.

UQP CEO Greg Bain, who retires from the role this month, said the result was an enormous honour for both writers and for UQP.

“We are thrilled and honoured to see UQP books recognised at the highest level which reinforces UQP’s work in fostering quality Australian literature,” Mr Bain said.

“It is particularly pleasing to see UQP’s poetry list celebrated through Sarah’s work and for one of UQP’s iconic writers, Thea Astley, to be brought to prominence through Karen’s superb biography.”

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognises individual excellence and the contribution Australian authors make to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. UQP have dominated these awards with six wins and 14 shortlistings since 2010.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, established in 2008, recognises individual excellence and the contribution Australian authors make to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life.

Photo Left - Karen Lamb

Media: UQ Communications; 07 3345 1120, communications@uq.edu.au

Source: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2016/11/uqp-authors-win-top-literary-awards