An account of Australian espionage in East Timor, the inside story of the end of literary censorship in Australia, and a collection of essays prompted by the lives of other writers have been recognised among the shortlisted books for the ACT's premier literary prize.
Six books have made the short list for the $10,000 2022 ACT Book of the Year prize, which Arts Minister Tara Cheyne praised as a diverse list that reflected the strength of local writing.
"These distinguished authors have made a significant contribution to arts and culture here in the ACT, and the ACT government is proud to recognise their work through this award," Ms Cheyne said.
"I want to thank and encourage all local authors, emerging and established, to continue their valuable work in writing and storytelling."
The shortlisted books, whose authors will receive $1000, include Oil under Troubled Water by Bernard Collaery, a lawyer and former ACT attorney-general who was charged with unlawfully disclosing information about an ASIS mission in Timor-Leste. The charges were dropped by the Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in July, after long-running issues over holding the trial in secret.
Spinoza's Overcoat by Subhash Jaireth - a collection of essays about the writers which have enriched Jaireth's life - was among the shortlisted titles.
Jaireth was born in Punjab and spent nine years in Russia studying geology and literature. He emigrated to Australia more than 35 years ago, where he has translated Indigenous poets into Hindi. He has said he is convinced that "by visiting or seeing places where a poet was either born or died, or where this or that poem was written, one can find an opening to the emotional world of a poem".
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The Trials of Portnoy by Patrick Mullins was also recognised. Mullins' book details the end of literary censorship in Australia prompted by the high-profile decision by Penguin to publish a local edition of Phillip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint.
Also shortlisted were the poetry collections Utterly by PS Cottier, who serves as the Canberra Times poetry editor; Nigh by Penelope Layland; and Doggerlands by Moya Pacey.
Twenty-one books were nominated for the 2021 award, which recognises contemporary literary works by ACT-based writers, the government said.
First-time novelist Lisa Fuller won last year's award for her young adult book, Ghost Bird.
The ACT Book of the Year has been awarded annually since 1993.
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