Scribe is delighted to announce the launch of the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize. The prize is open for an unpublished manuscript by any Australian writer over 35, who may or may not have been published before.
The winner of the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize will be awarded a book contract from Scribe and a prize of $12,000.
Scribe’s Fiction Acquisitions Editor, Aviva Tuffield, said, ‘For a number of years it has concerned us that the Vogel Prize is only for writers under 35 because it seems that many novelists, especially women, only find the time and have acquired the life experience to write novels later in life.’
There are many examples of late bloomers when it comes to writers, certainly in terms of getting published – and many of those are women: Elizabeth Jolley published her first novel at 53, as did Anita Brookner; Marina Lewycka was 58 when her debut, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, appeared; Annie Proulx was 58 when she won the PEN/Faulkner book award for her debut novel and the following year she won a Pulitzer Prize for The Shipping News; Penelope Fitzgerald got going in her 60s; and Mary Wesley had her first adult novel published when she was 70.
And it’s not just the women: Raymond Chandler published his first story at 45 and his first novel at 51; Norman Lebrecht won the Whitbread award at the age of 54 for his first novel. All of these writers would have been disqualified from the Vogel Award. While athletes, for example, peak in their youth, writers can develop at any stage of life and often come of age later and write their best work after a few attempts. This year’s Orange Prize for New Writers in the UK had a shortlist of three debut women authors, none of whom was under forty.
Tuffield said, ‘It is a difficult time in the Australian fiction market right now, especially for debut authors — the ABC Fiction Prize has ended, and Australian publishers are cutting back on their fiction lists — and so we hope this prize will raise the profile of Australian fiction and find a wonderful new voice and/or novel. Scribe appreciates the assistance of Copyright Agency Limited in helping us to establish this prize.’
The winner will be announced in March 2010.
For entry forms visit http://www.scribepublications.com.au/prize
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