University of Tasmania Prize
The University of Tasmania Prize is awarded to the best new unpublished literary work by a Tasmanian writer. It is supported by the University of Tasmania.
Winner
Department of the Vanishing by Johanna Bell
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Judges’ comments:
Department of the Vanishing united the judges with its originality, ambition, and astonishingly confident delivery. Like the song of the lyrebird at the heart of the tale, Department is a collage, weaving fact, fiction, and found objects into a format – and genre – defying blend of near-future environmental dystopia and literary verse. As the protagonist obsessively works to unravel the mystery of her father's disappearance, she begins to unravel herself. The reader becomes complicit, searching through a chaotic collection of intimate notes, police interviews, and archival documents for the truth beneath the noise.
Shortlist
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Deceptions
Gwen Harwood, furious that mainland editors refuse to publish her poems because they dismiss her as a Hobart housewife, resorts to submitting her work under male pseudonyms. As a result, her publication rate soars. In revenge she submits a poem to the Bulletin who publish it unaware that it contains a wicked acrostic. It is a turning point. Gwen Harwood can no longer be ignored and goes on to takes her place as one of Australia’s most significant and beloved poets. Gwen’s story interweaves with the Orr scandal, one of the first sexual harassment cases in Australia, which split the University and Tasmania in two in the 1950s over Professor Orr’s ‘seduction’ – what today would be termed ‘grooming’ – of a female student.
Stella Kent
Launceston writer Stella Kent is the author of short stories which have appeared in journals including Island, Overland and Westerly, as well as anthologies including Picador New Writing and The Sky Falls Down. As a dramatist, four of her 15 plays have won or been shortlisted for Australia’s highest awards for drama, the AWGIE and Griffin Awards. Both Poxed (Tasmanian Theatre Company) and Our Path (Theatre North) were presented as part of Ten Days on the Island festivals. Apart from being presented on traditional stages, her plays have been performed on radio, on a specifically built barge anchoring at various pontoons along the Tamar River and – with a cast of 120 – in Launceston’s Gorge. For many years, Stella, who has a PhD in Literature, taught at the University of Tasmania’s School of Performing Arts, where she was later an Honorary Research Assistant. In 2006, she was Playwright in Residence at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
Department of the Vanishing
Before the Anthropocene, the air hummed with clicks, rattles, squawks and chitter-chat. Now, birdsong is vanishing. Ava spends her days in the archives at The Department rebuilding lost species from the stories, art and scientific data left behind. Her dying mother thinks she should get another job. So does her latest fling and the sex workers who loiter on the stairs outside Ava’s apartment. But when a ghost from Ava’s past shows up, she is compelled to follow its strange, fragmented song into the archives. At the back of a rusty shelf Ava makes a discovery that could reverse the epoch of silence. If only she can muster the courage to venture back to the lost landscape of her childhood. Set in a time of accelerated extinction, Department of the Vanishing combines documentary poetry with archival images and narrative verse to explore our increasingly tenuous relationship with the natural world.
Johanna Bell
Johanna lives in nipaluna/Hobart, where she writes poetry and picture books. Her poems have appeared in Overland, Griffith Review and Australian Poetry, and her children’s fiction is out with Allen & Unwin, UQP, Scholastic and Thames & Hudson. She’s the recipient of multiple literary awards and in 2020, her third book, co-created with deaf artist Dion Beasley, was shortlisted for a Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Drawn towards hybrid forms of storytelling, Johanna’s work often features visual content and blurs the boundary between fiction and non-fiction.
Fire Lights
17-year-old Nora Thompson is delighted when her best friend suggests a summer camping adventure on Bruny Island with their group of seven misfit friends. The plan was to spend days on the beach, hiking, cliff jumping and exploring, but the friends quickly find themselves learning just how deadly Tasmania’s bushfire season can be. All they wanted was freedom and adventure, but they found something much darker. They are stuck. They are scared. The fire is coming. Fire Lights is a story about navigating the complexities of young love, finishing high school, and growing up alongside the fierce and unpredictable nature of the ever-changing climate in Tasmania. This story was edited during lunch breaks and in brief stints on the short ferry crossing between Kettering and Bruny Island during a six-week nursing placement, drawing inspiration from the land, community and nature of this picturesque corner of Tasmania.
Gemma Gilmore
Gemma Gilmore is a Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care nurse based in southern Tasmania, caring for critically ill children and babies, as well as supporting their families. When she’s not at the hospital, Gemma is drawing inspiration from music and the dramatic landscapes of Tasmania. Growing up in a large, loud and creative family, Gemma developed a love for storytelling at an early age. She spent much of her childhood rewriting the endings of her favourite books and crafting her own tales where her stories took unexpected turns. Today, her writing embodies the fierce, vulnerable and chaotic emotions of growing up, exploring themes of identity, friendship and love. With a passion for young adult fiction, Gemma seeks to create characters and stories that resonate with readers, whether they are seeking comfort in representation or an escape from life. On her days off, Gemma can often be found near the ocean with her beagle, Luna, enjoying an iced latte and dreaming up her next plot twist.
The 7 Elaborate Defences of Frederick Irvine
Rai, grappling with the mysterious disappearance of his father, is left to pick up the pieces. When his mother is forced to resume night shifts to make ends meet, Rai’s grandfather, Fred, steps in. Fred, however, is deeply troubled by a secret – some bastards are trying to kill him. Enlisting Rai’s help, the pair devise a plan. Thus, the 7 Elaborate Defences unfold – tinfoil, orange launchers, police records and disappearing dogs. As these plans spiral into irrationality, Rai's scepticism grows alongside the danger. Meanwhile, a presence Rai names The Thought Fox looms large, preying on the vulnerability of the mind and its darkest thoughts. The 7 Elaborate Defences of Frederick Irvine is a compassionate, emotionally charged novel that champions the importance of voicing our struggles together.
Blake Nuto
Blake Nuto is an internationally published author living in South Hobart. His work for children focuses on finding compassionate perspectives through ordinary human experiences, to elevate both head and heart. He is the author of Child of Galaxies (2020) and A Day That’s Ours (2022) both published through Flying Eye Books. The books received numerous nominations, including the Tasmanian Literary Awards, the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and was shortlisted for The Klaus Flugge Prize. Both works have been translated across multiple languages. In 2023, When You’re A Boy was published by Affirm Press and was his first author-illustrated title. It was nominated for a CBCA, in the Queensland Literary Awards and Tasmanian Literary Awards. He loves both poetry and prose and is currently working on his debut novel.
Shortlist
Judges’ comments
Deceptions by Stella Kent
A compelling play bringing together the early years of Australian poet, Gwen Harwood, a young married woman struggling to be accepted as a credible poet, and the scandalous case of Sydney Sparkes Orr, whose dismissal from the University of Tasmania in the 1960s sparked one of Australia’s first sexual harassment cases. The dialogue between Harwood and her husband, Professor Orr and his student Eddie, explores issues of gender, power and consent, academic freedom and the often ambiguous contests that drive social change that are still relevant today.
Department of the Vanishing by Johanna Bell
A truly innovative and exciting verse novel, blending environmental crisis and extinction with intriguing characters and plot, Department of the Vanishing draws us into a narrative that is both engaging and lyrical. Its visual presentation is unique: archival documents, police interviews and intimate notes seem to jostle for attention. A confident and genuinely original work.
Fire Lights by Gemma Gilmore
A gritty YA contemporary novel about a group of friends wanting to make a difference in their world. Uniquely drawn characters, sharp dialogue and a compelling plot – both the protagonist’s quest to follow their passion, and the bushfires threatening their community – propel the narrative forward at every turn.
The 7 Elaborate Defences of Frederick Irvine by Blake Nuto
A wonderfully told coming-of-age novel. The quirky 14-year-old narrator offers a delightful point of view, and with scenes crafted as vignettes, the story ticks along with strong pace and tension. The voice in the writing made this a thoroughly enjoyable read.