12 September 2008

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was joined by Arts Minister Peter Garrett to announce the two winning works, both by first time authors and selected from a competitive field of 14 short-listed Australian fiction and non-fiction books.

The Zookeeper's War, by emerging novelist Steven Conte, has won the $100,000 Fiction award.

Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers, by South Australian museum curator Philip Jones, has won the $100,000 Non-fiction award.

The Prime Minister said it had been inspiring and heartening to see the quality and breadth of contemporary Australian literature represented in the winning and short-listed works.

"I look forward to these new awards continuing to celebrate great Australian writing in the years to come," Mr Rudd said.

"The two winning works have all the qualities these awards celebrate, they are beautifully written and exciting books by two exceptionally talented Australian writers," Mr Garrett said.

The Fiction winner, Steven Conte's The Zookeeper's War, is set in Berlin during the Second World War, and was described by the Prime Minister's Literary Awards judges as a striking first novel, enriched by formidable research, and a breadth of historical imagination.

The Non-fiction winner, Philip Jones' Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers, creates a vivid picture of Australia's past and has been described by the Prime Minister's Literary Awards judges as a work of elegance, simplicity and outstanding clarity.

The Rudd Government introduced the Prime Minister's Literary Awards to recognise excellence in Australian literature and celebrate its important role in the nation's cultural and intellectual life.