The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced the shortlist for the $25,000 National Biography Award.

The award is administered and presented by the State Library of NSW on behalf of the award’s benefactor Mr Michael Crouch AO.

The Award was established in 1996 by Dr Geoffrey Cains to encourage the highest standards of writing in the fields of biography and autobiography and to promote public interest in these genres.

The total prize value is $31,000 – $25,000 for the winner and $1,000 each for shortlisted authors – making it the richest national prize dedicated to Australian biographical writing and memoir.

The shortlisted works for 2017 are:

  • The Unknown Judith Wright (Georgina Arnott, UWA Publishing)
  • Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow (Suzanne Falkiner, UWA Publishing)
  • Position Doubtful: Mapping Landscapes and Memories (Kim Mahood, Scribe)
  • Evatt: A Life (John Murphy, NewSouth Publishing)
  • The Long Goodbye (P J Parker, Hardie Grant Books)
  • Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty (Tom D C Roberts, UQP)

Congratulations one and all, and nice that all on the shortlist (chosen from 71 entries!) will receive some prize money. The winner will be announced on 31 July.

Judging panel chair Peter Cochrane said the judges were ‘dazzled by the quality and range of entries, confirming that biography is alive and well in Australia and the genre is thriving’.

Previous winners have included:

  • Mannix (Brenda Niall, Text Publishing)
  • An Unsentimental Bloke: The Life and Work of CJ Dennis (Philip Butterss, Wakefield Press)
  • The Ambitions of Jane Franklin: Victorian Lady Adventurer (Alison Alexander, Allen&Unwin)