Õ¬Äе¼º½

Sarah Holland-Batt
10 November 2016

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 Õ¬Äе¼º½ graduate Sarah Holland-Batt was awarded the poetry prize for her volume The Hazards at the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards ceremony in Canberra.

Õ¬Äе¼º½P 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.

Õ¬Äе¼º½P CEO Greg Bain, who retires from the role this month, said the result was an enormous honour for both writers and for Õ¬Äе¼º½P.

Karen Lamb“We are thrilled and honoured to see Õ¬Äе¼º½P books recognised at the highest level which reinforces Õ¬Äе¼º½P’s work in fostering quality Australian literature,” Mr Bain said.

“It is particularly pleasing to see Õ¬Äе¼º½P’s poetry list celebrated through Sarah’s work and for one of Õ¬Äе¼º½P’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. Õ¬Äе¼º½P 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: Õ¬Äе¼º½ Communications; 07 3345 1120, communications@uq.edu.au