Helen Garner inducted into the Australian literature hall of fame

The popular author says her first novel Monkey Grip may not have been printed without a local publishing industry

Helen Garner has been inducted into the Australian literature hall of fame by the Australian Publishers Association. Picture: Darren James

When Helen Garner wrote her now-famous first novel Monkey Grip, set in dodgy, druggy shared houses in Melbourne, she was grateful it was past the time when Australian writers had to publish first in Britain.

“I thank my lucky stars that by the time I came along it was no longer necessary to get published first in London. Imagine the knock-backs Monkey Grip would have copped there!” she told The Australian.

More than four decades after that novel was published by Melbourne-based McPhee Gribble, Garner has been inducted into the Australian literature hall of fame by the Australian Publishers Association.

“McPhee Gribble took a punt on me. They were ready for a book that came out of the share houses and swimming pools of 1970s inner-city Melbourne. They knew what I was talking about and they sensed Australian readers would too,’’ Garner said.

“So I didn’t have to churn out tedious set-ups of where Lygon Street was, or explanations of what the Pram Factory meant culturally, or who these musicians and actors and junkies and single mothers were. I could just rip into it and tell my story the way I needed to.”

Garner, 77, has received the Lloyd O’Neil Award in recognition of her “outstanding contribution” to publishing. Artist, editor and publisher Erica Wagner, 53, has also been inducted into the hall of fame, receiving the Pixie O’Harris Award for her contribution to children’s literature.

Garner, who went on to write novels such as The Children’s Bach and non-fiction such as The First Stone, joins a hall of fame that includes David Malouf, Ruth Park, Morris West, Tom Keneally, Peter Carey, Di Morrissey, Bryce Courtenay, Margaret Fulton and Richard Walsh.

“I’m very surprised and enormously flattered to find myself honoured in this company,’’ Garner said.

The hall of fame awards were announced on Tuesday in tandem with the short-lists for the Australian Book Industry Awards. The ABIAs, the red carpet night of local publishing, will not be held live due to coronavirus but will be live-streamed on YouTube on May 13.

The literary fiction short-list puts recent awards winners head to head. Tara June Winch is there for The Yield, which this week dominated the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and so is Favel Parrett, for There Was Still Love, the Indie book of the year. Also short-listed are Christos Tsiolkas for Damascus, Charlotte Wood for The Weekend and Lucy Treloar for Wolfe Island.

The full short-lists can be viewed at www.abiawards.com.au