News Archive

The Fellowship of Australian Writers has Highly Commended UWA Publishing title, The Darwin Poems , as part of their National Literary Awards.

Written by Emily Ballou, The Darwin Poems is a journey into the life of Charles Darwin through poetry. Emily separates the man from the legend, bringing to light the textures of his work and dreams, the noise and touch of his family and his inner doubts and questions.

The Darwin Poems also recently won the 2009 Wesley Michael Wright Prize for Poetry.

"The FAW National Literary Awards attract hundreds of entries from every state of Australia, and Emily's success in this award is a reflection of both the quality of her entry and her strength as a writer," FAW award coordinator Colin Peterson said.

UWA Publishing director, Terri-ann White, said she was very pleased to hear the news, congratulating Emily and UWA Publishing for their efforts in highlighting the importance of poetry within the literary sphere.

The FAW awards will be presented on March 19, at the Hive Creative Centre in Victoria.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Poet, screenwriter and novelist Emily Ballou was was the 1996 recipient of the Australian Film Commission's New Screenwriters Scheme for her first feature screenplay, Sadie X-Ray . In 1997, she was awarded the Judith Wright Prize for Poetry for her poem, Enter and won the 2009 Wesley Michael Wright Prize for Poetry for her collection - The Darwin Poems - in 2009. She worked with Gillian Armstrong adapting Helen Hodgman's Waiting for Matindi for the screen, and wrote the short film Mittens , which was Fox Searchlight's 2004 contender for the Academy Awards. Her first novel, Father Lands , set during the desegregation of the school system in the United States, was published in 2002 and is currently being adapted into a film. Emily was named one of The Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists of 2003.

Media references

Sylvia Defendi (UWA Publishing)    61 8  6488 6804  /  0417 967 415
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)    61 8  6488 5563  /  0432 637 716