A couple of weeks ago, I announced the 2026 shortlist for independent non-profit publisher Finlay Lloyd's fourth 20/40 Prize. 20/40 is a novella-length manuscript award for prose works that are between 20,000 and 40,000 words. It is not limited to debut or young or women or any other subgroup of writers, as some manuscript awards … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Finlay Lloyd’s 20/40 Prize 2026: Winners announced
Monday musings
Monday musings on Australian literature: 1949 in fiction
Once again it's Karen's (Kaggsy's Bookish Rambling) and Simon's (Stuck in a Book) "Year Club" week. This time, it is 1949, and it runs from 12th to 18th October, and, as is my practice, I am devoting my Monday Musings to the week. I do enjoy writing these posts, but this one has been a … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1949 in fiction
Monday musings on Australian literature: Finlay Lloyd’s 20/40 Prize 2026: Shortlist announced
I'm back ... from my European jaunt, and ready with another Monday Musings (having missed a couple while I was away). And it's one that's special to me, the shortlist for Finlay Lloyd's 20/40 Prize. This prize is now in its fourth year, which is thrilling because it comes from the heart of a small, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Finlay Lloyd’s 20/40 Prize 2026: Shortlist announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 19, Mina Gray
I call this sub-series "Forgotten writers" for a reason, which is, of course, that these writers have been forgotten. But some, dare I say, were more forgotten than others. Mina Gray is one of these. It has taken significant research to uncover even some basic life information for her. There are no entries for her … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 19, Mina Gray
Monday musings on Australian literature: Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2026 winners announced
I was busy when the awards were announced last week - actually I am still pretty busy as we are about to leave Italy for France - but I have a moment. As I wrote in my shortlist post, Creative Australia's page says they received 673 entries across six literary categories: fiction, non-fiction, young adult … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2026 winners announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian novels set in Germany
When this post is published Mr Gums and I will be in Germany, having just spent three days in Vienna, so I thought to write something about Australian novels set in Germany. I wrote this post before we left, because I knew I'd have little time while we're travelling. Mr Gums lived in Germany for … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian novels set in Germany
Monday musing on Australian literature: on People’s Choice literary awards
Nearly two weeks ago, the longlist was announced for the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. This is a significant award that has been going since 2002, and I have written about it before. But, I have never focused on one of its aspects, the People's Choice Award, so this is where we are … Continue reading Monday musing on Australian literature: on People’s Choice literary awards
Monday musings on Australian literature: ConSYDeration, and some poetry
Back in March, I wrote a Monday Musings on the Blake Poetry Prize, which is a poetry prize managed by the Liverpool Powerhouse in conjunction with WestWords. WestWords is one active organisation, and is clearly good at finding partners to further its aims. Based in Parramatta in Western Sydney, the WestWords Centre for Writing describes … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: ConSYDeration, and some poetry
Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1926: 1, First Nations language and literature
In 2022, I started a Monday Musings sub-series in which I shared news about Australian literature from a century ago. I wrote several posts for the sub-series in the first couple of years, but fewer in the last couple of years. This is not because I lost interest, but because the issues started to repeat … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1926: 1, First Nations language and literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Modern social novel
In my recent post on Alan Fyfe's novel The cross thieves I described it as a modern social realist novel and tagged it as a social problem novel. Wikipedia calls these novels Social novels (defining social realism as primarily an art movement). Whatever we call them, I think you know what I mean. However, for … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Modern social novel
