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The Age
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Winning words warm the night at The Age Book of the Year awards
In a buzzing Athenaeum Theatre on Collins Street last night it was my great privilege to present The Age's Book of the Year prize at the opening of the Melbourne Writers Festival. After seeing so many people gather to celebrate great stories and hearing the passionate yet humble winners speak so generously about their work, I left the theatre feeling warm in spite of the cool night air. Melburnians – and Age readers in particular – love a good book almost as much as they love a festival. The Age Book of the Year award has been handed out more than 40 times now, although there was a hiatus until a few years ago when it was revived. One of the country's coveted literature prizes, it includes both a fiction and non-fiction award, each worth $10,000. Thanks must go to the Copyright Agency's cultural fund for its ongoing financial support of these prizes, for which both The Age and the literary community are extremely grateful. The judges, too, deserve our gratitude for their time and dedication. Our publication, and particularly our arts and culture team, are proud of The Age's long history covering books and supporting writers across the country. Credit for this history must go to my predecessors who recognised the need to support writers and writing through festivals such as the Melbourne Writers Festival, prizes like The Age Book of the Year, and ongoing coverage of the sector. People such as Jason Steger, Kylie Northover, Melanie Kembrey, Kate Lahey and many other members of our newsroom continue to sustain our literature coverage. Loading I firmly believe publications like ours have a duty to support and enthusiastically encourage reading by people of all ages. Engaging with thought-provoking stories is an addiction we are happy to encourage as it improves individuals and enriches society. We welcome debate and discussion of complex and challenging ideas, whether they live in our pages or those of an unclosable novel. On the question of age range, I left last night's Writers Festival function with renewed hope that quality writing is not only the preserve of stereotypical chin-stroking beatniks. Of the two authors to win The Age Book of the Year prizes last night, one, Rodney Hall, is 89. The other, Lech Blaine, is in his early 30s and grew up in a pub in rural Queensland. Two very different authors united by their talent with the written word (and their home state).
The Age
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners
The winners of this year's Age Book of the Year Awards have been praised for writing books that stay with readers long after their final pages. The awards were presented by The Age editor Patrick Elligett at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival on Thursday night, and the winners each received $10,000, thanks to the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund. Rodney Hall's Vortex won the awards' fiction category. Queensland-based Hall, who is 89, was unable to accept the award in person, but said in a pre-recorded video that the experimental Vortex, 'was a risk from the beginning'. Hall, who has twice won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, said his 14th novel, which is set in Brisbane in 1954 and depicts an alternative history of the 20th century, took shape in 2021 when he found 18 pages of a novel he had abandoned in 1971. 'At long last I could see what I had been aiming for when I was a young man. Fifteen of the eighteen pages went straight into the project.' The fiction judges, author and critic Bram Presser, and The Age and Sydney Morning Herald 's Canberra Bureau Chief Michelle Griffin, described Vortex as a late-career marvel 'that sticks with you ... often surprisingly funny and sad all at once.' 'At a time when many will feel caught up in the vortex of global events, this novel feels both particular to its time and place and yet universal.' The novel has been widely acclaimed as Hall's best, but the author says he 'doesn't distract himself' with comparisons of his novels. 'I just try to keep each book fresh for the reader.'
Sydney Morning Herald
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners
The winners of this year's Age Book of the Year Awards have been praised for writing books that stay with readers long after their final pages. The awards were presented by The Age editor Patrick Elligett at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival on Thursday night, and the winners each received $10,000, thanks to the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund. Rodney Hall's Vortex won the awards' fiction category. Queensland-based Hall, who is 89, was unable to accept the award in person, but said in a pre-recorded video that the experimental Vortex, 'was a risk from the beginning'. Hall, who has twice won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, said his 14th novel, which is set in Brisbane in 1954 and depicts an alternative history of the 20th century, took shape in 2021 when he found 18 pages of a novel he had abandoned in 1971. 'At long last I could see what I had been aiming for when I was a young man. Fifteen of the eighteen pages went straight into the project.' The fiction judges, author and critic Bram Presser, and The Age and Sydney Morning Herald 's Canberra Bureau Chief Michelle Griffin, described Vortex as a late-career marvel 'that sticks with you ... often surprisingly funny and sad all at once.' 'At a time when many will feel caught up in the vortex of global events, this novel feels both particular to its time and place and yet universal.' The novel has been widely acclaimed as Hall's best, but the author says he 'doesn't distract himself' with comparisons of his novels. 'I just try to keep each book fresh for the reader.'
