Sydney author Elizabeth Harrower’s prize worth the wait

Sydney author Elizabeth Harrower won her first book prize yesterday, almost 60 years after the publication of her first novel.

86-year-old famous Australian author, Elizabeth Harrower photographed at home in Cremorne, New South Wales, 14 April, 2014. After an extended absence from writing, Elizabeth Harrower has released a new book. Pic - Sam Mooy

Sydney author Elizabeth Harrower won her first book prize yesterday, almost 60 years after the publication of her first novel, when she received the $5000 Voss Prize for In Certain Circles.

The award capped a good week for Harrower, 87, with In Certain Circles also beingshortlisted for the $80,000 fiction prize in the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

Harrower published four novels between 1957 and 1966. In Certain Circles was due to be published in the early 1970s but she withdrew it and effectively stopped writing. Her achievement was recognised in 1996 with the Patrick White Award but still she remained silent. However, she was persuaded to publish In Certain Circles last year following the critical success of her reissued earlier works.

The Voss Prize, now in its second year, was established via the will of Queensland historian and literature lover Vivien Robert de Vaux Voss. The other shortlisted writers were Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Tribe), Sophie Laguna (The Eye of the Sheep), Gerard Murnane (A Million Windows), Christos Tsiolkas (Merciless Gods) and Rohan Wilson (To Name Those Lost).