2018 Deborah Cass Prize

Deborah Cass Prize

The Deborah Cass prize is here now with an aim to invite early career writers of migrant background to apply for the 2018 prize.

Above all, the prize is in the memory of Deborah Cass. Certainly, the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants, Deborah Cass, became a prize-winning professor of International Law at the London School of Economics. After diagnosis of cancer, Deborah left her academic career. Consequently, she focused on creative writing.

She had a number of short fiction pieces published, but was unable to realise her aim to complete a novel.

With generous support from family and friends, this prize aims to help someone outside the mainstream find a voice for themselves.

The prize

The winner will receive a cash prize of $3,000 plus a three-month mentorship with an established writer. There is also the opportunity for publication of the winning excerpt in Mascara Literary Review. On completion, the winning manuscript will be presented to Black Inc.

Judges

Three of Australia’s leading writers, Christos Tsiolkas, Nyadol Nyuon and Tony Ayres, are the judges of the prize in 2018.

General

In July, Black Inc will launch ‘The Fireflies of Autumn’, the debut novel of inaugural Deborah Cass Prize recipient, Moreno Giovannoni. An interview with Moreno can be found online at Books + Publishing.

Last year’s winner, Rafeif Ismail, will be hosting an upcoming workshop: Writing and Intersectionality. Writers Vic’s Ellen O’Brien spoke to Rafeif about the impact winning the Deborah Cass Prize has had on her career.