Calibre Prize 2014

Early in February I received an email to inform me that I had been longlisted for this year's Calibre Prize! The title of my submitted essay is 'A hole in the heart: on secrets, silence, and sorrow' and is memoir based on my adoptive life.

The shortlist was released this month on the Australian Book Review's website. Here is the announcement:

The Calibre Prize, now in its eighth year, continues to attract outstanding new essays. This year we received almost 100 essays, with a huge variety of styles and subject matter. The judges – Morag Fraser and Peter Rose – have shortlisted six of them:
– Ruth Balint: ‘The Paradox of Weimar: Hitlerism and Goethe’
– Martin Edmond: ‘Five Towns’
– Rebecca Giggs: ‘Open Ground: Trespassing on the Pilbara’s Mining Boom’
– Christine Piper: ‘Unearthing the Past’
– Anne-Marie Priest: ‘“Something very difficult and unusual”: The Love Song of Henry and Olga’
– Stephen Wright: ‘Blows upon a Bruise’
This year the winner (who will receive $5000) will be announced at a special ceremony on Wednesday, 26 March. This will take place in the Assembly Hall at Boyd, starting at 6 pm. The essayists will read extracts from their essays. This is a free public event, but reservations are necessary: rsvp@australianbookreview.com.au.
ABR will then publish the winning essay in the April issue, followed by the other shortlisted essays.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted writers and I look forward to reading their essays.