The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award hopefuls tell of home and family

For the all-female shortlist of this year’s Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award submitting their manuscripts was a leap of faith.

Anna Hui Tran’s shortlisted manuscript, The Red Thread, tells of the Chinese-Australian immigrant experience.

The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript by a young writer – which this newspaper, a bread maker and a publisher launched more than three decades ago – boasts an impressive list of former winners.

Four-time Miles Franklin winner Tim Winton won the prize for his book An Open Swimmer, while Kate Grenville received the top gong three years later for her debut novel, Lilian’s Story. Among the list of past winners are Tom Flood, Brian Castro, Mandy Sayer, Gillian Mears, Andrew McGahan and, controversially, Helen Demidenko back in 1993.

Nell Pierce, pictured with baby Mo, wrote about a young woman’s complex relationship with her foster brother. Picture: Aaron Francis

This year three aspiring writers have been shortlisted and are in contention to win $20,000 and the chance to have their book published by Allen & Unwin.

For the all-female shortlist – a literary agent, an accountant and a tech analyst – submitting their manuscripts was a leap of faith, a chance to take something private and show it to the world.

Rachel Caplin, who was born and raised in Perth and now lives in Israel, began writing her manuscript in 2018 shortly after the death of her grandmother.

Her book, The Spoon and the Sea, is about the life of a British Jew who lived through the upheavals of the Middle East after the Second World War during and the creation of the state of Israel.

Rachel Caplin.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing but never had any formal training,” said Ms Caplin, 30, who works for a FinTech company in Tel Aviv. “But when my grandmother passed away my husband encouraged me to write about it as a way of helping with the grief.”

Anna Hui Tran, who was raised in Sydney and now lives with her husband in the US, first began writing as a 25-year-old, but did not have ambitions of becoming an author. Ms Tran started writing her novel, The Red Thread, as a memoir and a “love letter to family, friends and to Sydney” but later revised it into a novel, incorporating different aspects of the ­Chinese-Australian immigrant experience.

A decade ago, the 34-year-old accountant completed a creative writing diploma so she could pursue her passion for writing alongside her day job. She said the prospect of winning the Vogel’s and getting her first book published would encourage her to keep on writing.

Nell Pierce, who recently returned to Melbourne after living in the US, started her manuscript in 2017 while she was working as a literary agent in New York.

Her manuscript, A Place Near Eden, is set in an Australian seaside town and concerns a young woman’s complex relationship with her foster brother after the divorce of her parents. “It’s a story of their relationship and coming to terms with the past. It also explores memory and different versions of the truth, often around shared events,” Ms Pierce said.

The prize began life in 1980 when Niels Stevns, the owner of Vogel’s Bread in Australia, approached The Australian about establishing a prize for young writers. This year’s overall winner will be announced next weekend.