Author(s): Adolfo Aranjuez

Australian author

The sixth edition of Award Winning Australian Writing (AWAW) continues its commitment to showcasing the best short stories and poems that have won competitions around the country. Much like the 2012 anthology, this year's collection will feature over fifty writers and competitions. It will also proudly include a foreword by Carmel Bird, in honour of whom Spineless Wonders runs the Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award. Bird is the author of nine literary novels, six collections of short fiction and three books on the art of writing. AWAW's previous five editions were received very favourably, with support from Lisa Dempster (Melbourne Writers Festival director), Philip Rainford (Fellowship of Australian Writers president), and authors Arnold Zable, Delia Falconer and Mark Tredinnick-who have all written forewords for the book. The critic Matthew Lamb, in The Australian, commended the "invaluable service" AWAW offers to the literary community, while in The Age reviewer Lorien Kaye celebrates that AWAW gives readers a chance "to value these winners". Similar sentiments are expressed by author Irma Gold, who wrote in Overland that AWAW is "a must read" and The Advertiser critic Patrick Allington, who praised the "impressive new voices" and "energy and inventiveness" collected in the book. Most recently, Lip magazine praises the way AWAW "acts as a panoramic snapshot of the writing industry", and ArtsHub reviewer Oliver Mol noted that AWAW "proves that there are writers in this country pushing boundaries and exploring literature in modern ways". The 2013 edition will feature the work of both emerging and established authors, such as Susan McCreery, Kevin Gillam, Jack Vening, Chloe Wilson, Barry Divola and Joanne Anderton. Heavyweights gracing AWAW 2013's pages include Felicity Volk, author of the forthcoming Lightning (Picador, 2013); Angela Meyer, writer, blogger and a judge for the Carmel Bird Award; Margo Lanagan, multi-award-winning author (including four 2013 Aurealis awards); renowned poet John A. Scott; and Maxine Beneba Clarke, winner of the 2013 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Competitions appearing in AWAW 2013 include: Josephine Ulrich Literature Prize Australian Book Review Peter Porter Poetry Prize The Age Short Story Competition Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize Katharine Susannah Prichard Short Fiction Awards Aurealis Awards Blake Poetry Prize Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award QUT Creative Writing Prizes It will also include the winners of two competitions inaugurated in 2013: the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, and the Overland Victoria University Short Story Prize.