Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2012 judging panels
Eleven experts make up the judging panels for the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
The judging panels are responsible for making recommendations on the shortlists and winners across each of the categories to the Prime Minister, who makes the final decision.
Fiction and poetry panel
Mr Joel Becker, Chair
Mr Becker has been Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Booksellers Association since early 2010. Previously, he was Director of the Victorian Writers’ Centre for eight years. He has been an active contributor to the literary sector for 39 years, as a bookseller, a freelance writer and editor, and a cultural project manager. As a freelance writer, he has written for publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Bookseller & Publisher and numerous regional newspapers.
He was a participant in the bid to make Melbourne a UNESCO City of Literature and was integral in the development of what became the Wheeler Centre. Mr Becker has judged the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Emerging Victorian Writer on three occasions and the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction. As well as serving on a number of Boards, Mr Becker has been a member of the State Library of Victoria Creative Fellowship judging panel since its inception in 2003.
Dr Lyn Gallacher
Dr Gallacher has been a Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Fiction judge since 2009. She is the Executive Producer of Artworks on ABC Radio National. She has been a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria, where she studied the Magic Collection. Dr Gallacher is involved in setting up the Australian Literary Compendium which so far features five radio programs on classic Australian Poems and will soon include classic Australian novels, all to be broadcast on ABC Radio National's Bookshow program.
Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM
Professor Wallace-Crabbe is the Chair of Australian Poetry Limited, Australia’s peak body for poetry. He is a poet and essayist, also Professor Emeritus in the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his study of literature and the arts. In June 2011 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the arts as a leading poet, critic and educator, and as an ambassador and advocate for the humanities both nationally and internationally. This award also recognised his support for emerging writers. In October 2011, Professor Wallace-Crabbe took a tour to the UK to strengthen Australian Poetry’s connections overseas.
Mr Peter Craven
Mr Craven is one of Australia's best known literary critics. He was one of the founding editors of Scripsi, a literary magazine that published Australian and international writing. He went on to be the first editor of Best Australian Essays, Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Poems. His essays have appeared in such publications as The Sunday Age, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He was a 2008 Australia/Asia Literary Award panellist.
Non-fiction and history panel
Mr Christopher (Chris) Masters PSM, Chair
Mr Masters is a multi–Walkley Award winning and Logie Award winning Australian journalist and author. His third book, Jonestown (2006), won the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Literary Work Advancing Public Debate–the Harry Williams Award. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in Journalism at RMIT University in 2004 and was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1999 and the Centenary Medal in 2001 for "service to Australian society in journalism".
Dr Faye Sutherland
Dr Sutherland has worked in the book retail industry for over twenty years including as manager of renowned independent bookstore, Lesley McKay's Bookshop in Sydney and manager of the University Co-op Bookshop at Macquarie University. In 2007 she was named the recipient of the fifth Unwin Trust UK-Australian Fellowship. Dr Sutehrland’s research in the UK examined the British academic bookselling sector's response to market change and the relevance of this to Australia. She has been a judge on the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards non-fiction panel since 2010.
Mr Colin Steele
Mr Steele is an Emeritus Fellow of the Australian National University, having been University Librarian from 1980 to 2002. He is a prolific writer of chapters and articles on matters regarding books and publishing and is currently a book reviewer for a number of publications including The Canberra Times. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and the humanities in the study of information strategies. Mr Steele has been a judge on the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards non-fiction panel since 2010.
Dr Michelle Arrow
Dr Arrow is a senior lecturer in Modern History at Macquarie University, Sydney. A historian of popular culture, she is the author of two books: Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia since 1945 (shortlisted for the 2010 NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize) and Upstaged: Australian Women Dramatists in the Limelight at Last (shortlisted for five awards). She held the NSW History Fellowship in 2001 and worked as a presenter on the ABC TV series Rewind in 2004. Dr Arrow is currently working on a history of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships (1974–77) and she won the National Archives of Australia’s Frederick Watson Fellowship for 2012 to work on this project.
Children’s and young adult fiction panel
Ms Judith White, Chair
Ms White is a published author, editor and an illustrator of children's books with 35 years experience in book, newspaper and magazine publishing in both London and Sydney. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Oxford University. Her freelance editing experience includes art catalogues, history and fiction publications.
Ms Mary-Ruth Mendel
Ms Mendel is a speech and language pathologist with a private practice in Sydney that specialises in helping people of all ages with literacy and learning difficulties. She is also a founder of The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation – a philanthropic organisation dedicated to raising language, literacy and numeracy standards in Australia and raising funds to develop, implement and sustain innovative projects for individuals, families and communities. She was named a Local Hero for New South Wales in the Australian of the Year Awards in 2008 and has written on literacy and language issues for The Sydney Morning Herald. She has been a judge on the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards children’s and young adult fiction panel since 2010.
Mr Robert (Bob) Sessions
Mr Sessions is a book publisher and editor with over 40 years of experience. During his career, he has published a wide range of Australian adult and children’s authors for various publishing companies, including Penguin Books and Thomas Nelson Australia. Mr Sessions has served on a number of industry committees and is currently Chair of the Course Advisory Committee for the Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing at RMIT University. He also sits on the board of the Australian Film Institute.