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Celebrated Australian poet, novelist, critic, essayist and editor John Kinsella has won a prestigious 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award.

Professor Kinsella, a Professorial Research Fellow in The University of Western Australia's discipline of English and Cultural Studies, took out the poetry category for his work Jam Tree Gully .

The judges said Jam Tree Gully was a "daring new collection" of poetry and an "extraordinarily attentive chronicle of living in a West Australian place".

"Kinsella show his extraordinary skills, using a wide variation of verse forms to great effect in this outstanding collection," the judges said.

The national award follows last year's Victorian Premier's Literary Award for poetry for Professor Kinsella's volume Armour .

The other category winners were Michellede Kretser's novel Questions of Travel for fiction;  George Megalogenis's The Australian Moment for non-fiction;  Bruce Pascoe's Fog a Dox for young adult fiction;  Libby Gleeson's Red for children's fiction;  and Ross McMullin's Farewell, dear people for Australian history.

Each winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards receives $80,000 tax-free, and shortlisted entries win $5000.

Media references

Christine Lindsey (UWA Faculty of Arts)  (+61 8)  6488 1247
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783