Brisbane writer wins prestigious literature prize
Posted on 20. May, 2011 by admin in Artist in Australia
By: Deborah Marshall on: Fri 06 of May, 2011 (Griffith News)
Brisbane writer Rachael S Morgan has taken out the top literature prize in the $40,000 Josephine Ulrick Literature and Poetry Prizes, awarded at the Gold Coast Arts Centre last night.
“Words and stories, books and writing are an essential part of who I am,” says Rachael, who won $10,000 for her short story Tryst. Set in Townsville in the 1980s, Tryst is a tale of sexual awakening and innocence lost.
“The idea for Tryst began as a simple ‘What if?’. As a child, you don’t tend to think of your parents as being sexual beings. It’s only when you become an adult you sometimes look back on their behaviour, their friendships and see things clearly.”
A Griffith University creative writing graduate and former journalist, Rachael also writes constantly in her position as publicist for Brisbane Powerhouse.
She is in the final stages of editing her debut novel and has another manuscript in the works which is also being written concurrently as a screenplay.
“Winning this award is such an honour. I have always read the work of previous winners with such admiration,” she said.
“It is heartening to have such recognition of my ability and my work.”
Maria Zajkowski from Victoria has won the first prize for poetry for her suite of poems The Ascendant, which consider the implications of life after death for both the living and the dead.
“These poems are an acknowledgement of the presence of various forms of living, both physical and trans-physical,” she said.
“They are about the transcendence of linear time and physical existence, the frustrations of limitations and the places where we find love in ourselves and others.”
Maya Linden from Victoria, has won the $5000 literature prize for her story Forgetting, about a woman waiting for her lover reflecting on her present and her past.
With a PhD in creative writing, a regular contributor to magazines and journals and a commercial ‘creative’ writer in advertising, writing is Maya’s full-time occupation.
“I am delighted to receive an award of this calibre and applaud the decision of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts to sponsor this competition,” she said.
Maya is putting the final touches to the manuscript of her debut novel, a psychological thriller set in Melbourne, which deals with similar themes as Forgetting.
Highly commended literature prizes ($2500) went to Sarah Klenbort (NSW) and Campbell Mattinson (VIC).
Dan Disney (VIC) won the second prize for poetry ($5000) for ‘and then when the‘, and highly commended prizes were awarded to Kristen Lang (TAS) and Rhyll McMaster (NSW).
Judging coordinator and head of Griffith University’s creative writing program, Associate Professor Nigel Krauth said the prizes helped foster the talents of early career writers.
“The judging panel consists of eminent Australian authors and poets, giving entrants exposure to some of the best literary knowledge in Australia.
“Dr Frank Moorhouse, Dr Sally Breen, MTC Cronin and Peter Boyle, are multiple award-winners themselves.”
The Josephine Ulrick prizes are among the richest creative writing prizes in Australia. Josephine Ulrick (1942-1997) was director and curator of Art Galleries Schubert over many years.
The prizes are administered by Griffith University on behalf of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts.