The five shortlisted authors are New South Wales writer Teresa Bell for her novel Lunation, Queensland poet Angela Gardner for her collection Some Sketchy Notes on Matter, Kate Gordon from Tasmania for her novel Everything as Perfect as a Bird, WA author Louise Helfgott for her book Thistledown Seed and WA poet Julie Watts for her collection Legacy.
The shortlist was chosen from 99 submissions by judges poet Lucy Dougan, literary critic James Ley and UWA Publishing director Terri-Ann White.
The first winner of the award was none other than WA writer Josephine Wilson who went on to win the Miles Franklin Literary Award this year for her novel Extinctions.
Find out more about the shortlisted authors and their works:
Dorothy Hewett. Image A. T. Bolton courtesy of the National Library of Australia.
Literature