The Readings Prize 2023 Shortlisting
My new novel is set in a restaurant. I seem to be cooking and baking more, as if the characters’ food obsession has transferred to me. And so I was busily attempting to bake a cake when I got word that my novel Time and Tide in Sarajevo had been shortlisted for the 2023 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Readings is an independent chain of bookstores across Melbourne that I have always loved visiting. When my book first came out, my friend Peta took me straight from the airport to Readings in Carlton, and there it was, right up front.
Signing books at Readings Emporium
For two months, Readings featured the book alongside the other 5 shortlistees. I received pictures from friends in text messages filled with exclamation marks. Part of the great honour was that the shortlist was selected by a panel of booksellers, out of a pool of about 60 entries. The award aims to feature the first or second books of Australian writers.
The judges said about Time and Tide:
This is a fascinating look at contemporary politics and how they impact ordinary lives.
A fascinating perspective of life and culture in post-war Sarajevo, along with a compelling touch of political intrigue. A warm yet gripping read from a new voice in Australian fiction.
There’s a Q&A here with the shortlisted authors. And here are some of the delighted pictures I got sent from friends in Melbourne. Readings even put it up behind a conversation between Kate Mildenhall and Charlotte Wood, two wonderful writers:
