Quinn Eades has won the 2017 Mary Gilmore Award for his collection of poetry, Rallying. The award was presented at a ceremony held this evening as part of the Literary Interface Convention in Canberra, jointly hosted by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature; The Australasian Association for Literature; the Australasian Universities Languages and Literature Association; and the Australian University Heads of English.
Eades’ Rallying was chosen from a shortlist of five books. They were:
The Agnoist (Shastra Deo, UQP)
Flute of Milk (Susan Fealy, UWA Publishing)
Snake Like Charms (Amanda Joy, UWA Publishing)
Captive and Temporal (Nguyēn Tiên Hoàng, Vagabond Press)
UWA Publishing is delighted to have published three out of the five shortlisted titles. Furthermore, Snake Like Charms by Amanda Joy was Highly Commended for its ‘dazzling array of subject matter matter both universal and local, finding one within the other with an assured, image-rich economy of words.’
The Mary Gilmore Award is given to the best first book of poetry published in the previous year. The award was biennial until 2016 when it returned to an annual format. The judges for 2017 were Toby Davidson, Marcelle Freiman and Mark Reid.
Of Rallying, the judges said:
Rallying was a standout for the judging panel for its ambitious combinations of form and content which are maintained to the highest standards over 133 pages of poetry. Eades’ hard-won, sure-handed artistry is the one constant in a highly-autobiographical account of shifting lives, locations, identities, knowledges and, ultimately, genders. The last of these is especially relevant in a national literature where transgender authors are still rare, though, one senses, not for long.
Author image credit: Jamie James.