Award for the Australian books that fly under the radar

A Melbourne book chain has established an award for new writers. Martin Shaw explains why the award exists and the novels awarded this year

With Richard Flanagans Man Booker Prize win, the last couple of weeks have obviously been glory days for Australian literature. But its also a reminder of the importance of literary prizes in our publishing ecosystem. The Booker is an enormous fillip for Flanagan, perhaps doubling Australian sales of his book from the reported 60 000 copies before the prize to doubtless over 100K before the year is out and boosted fortunes of his international editions.

Even a prize shortlisting can be enormously valuable to an authors profile. After being shortlisted for not just the Miles Franklin, but also the Commonwealth Book award and the Prime Ministers Literary awards as well, Romy Ashs sublime Floundering gained a considerable readerly following during 2013.

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