Meet our new guest judge for the Readings Prize
We’re thrilled to announce Maxine Beneba Clarke as our guest judge for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction!
Maxine is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean heritage. She is the author of two poetry books, Gil Scott Heron is on Parole (2009) and Nothing Here Needs Fixing (2013). Her fiction collection Foreign Soil won the 2015 Indie Award for Debut Fiction and the 2015 ABIA Award for Best Literary Fiction, saw her named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist, and was shortlisted for The Stella Prize, The NSW Premier’s Awards and the Readings New Australian Writing Award, among others. Her memoir The Hate Race, and her first children’s picture book The Patchwork Bike, will both be released later this year.
We asked Maxine a few questions about her thoughts on books and writing.
On literary prizes
‘Literary prizes have been a game-changer for me in my career. My first fiction book made it to publication after winning an unpublished manuscript award. As distasteful as the idea of pitting one work of art against another often seems, I believe in the power of literary prizes to illuminate books and authors we may not have heard of, to kick-start literary careers and help make the near-impossible task of making a living as a writer – particularly a poet or fiction writer – that little bit more attainable.’
‘The Readings New Australian Writing Award was the first award my book Foreign Soil was shortlisted for after publication, and I’ll never forget that particular phone call, at the end of half a decade of hard work writing – or the support of Readings in promoting and handselling all of the works on the shortlist. I feel absolutely honoured to have the opportunity to read some incredible new fiction from Australia’s early career writers, and to play a part in this process.’
On new Australian fiction
‘To me, new Australian fiction means fiction that engages with readers in Australia in the here and now. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the work has to dissect contemporary social issues, or be stylistically hip – rather I’m looking for great new writing that somehow, despite this rush-rush, no-shock, digital age we live in, pulls you in, holds you tight and leaves an imprint when it lets go.’
On what she’s read recently
‘I recently finished reading Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things, and rereading Omar Musa’s poety collection Parang both of which I really enjoyed. Wood’s writing is lean, stark and brutal, and Musa’s turn of phrase is always incredible: razor-sharp, surprising.’
