Australian War Memorial’s Les Carlyon Literary Prize

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra has announced shortlisted finalists for the Les Carlyon Literary Prize.

The prize is named in honour of historian, author and journalist Les Carlyon AC, who was a member of the Council of the Australian War Memorial from May 2006 until his passing in March 2019.

Talking about the entries this year, Australian War Memorial Head of Military History, Dr Karl James, said, “The impacts of war have been a strong theme this year, particularly in works dealing with recent conflicts in the Middle East.

“The subject matter ranges from frontier violence to recent conflicts. The bulk of the entries were non-fiction with strong representation from veterans, family historians, journalists and academics.”

The judging panel considered literary merit, the contribution of the work to understanding the Australian experience of war and conflict, authenticity and credibility, and originality.

Four works were shortlisted from more than 30 works submitted for the prize:

• Xavier Fowler, “Not Playing the Game: Sport and Australia’s Great War” (Melbourne University Press)
• Stephen Gapps, “Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance, 1822–1824” (NewSouth Books)
• Christine Helliwell, “Semut” (Penguin Books Australia)
• Ben McKelvey, “Mosul: Australia's secret war inside the ISIS caliphate” (Hachette Australia).

• Topics:

• Literature / Writing
• History
• Awards