Dr Shady Cosgrove nominated for The Australian/ Vogel Literary Award

The Faculty of Creative Arts is pleased to announce that Creative Writing lecturer Shady Cosgrove was nominated for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award.

This coveted annual prize has launched the careers of some of Australia's most successful writers and is given to an author under 35 years of age for an original unpublished manuscript of fiction or Australian history or biography.

The prize money of $20,000 is currently the richest and most prestigious writing award for an unpublished manuscript in Australia. The prize was first initiated in 1979 in a collaboration between The Australian newspaper and publisher Allen & Unwin. Sponsored by Vogel's Bread, the winner was announced Thursday 13 September during a reception at the offices of Allen and Unwin.

This year's five finalists from NSW, VIC ranged in age from 28 to 34 and were chosen from nearly 150 applicants. Judge Marlee Day, said the young authors are no longer trying to write the Great Australian Novel, just great novels (The Weekend Australian's Review)

To be eligible for the award, manuscripts must be at least 30,000 words and the winner's work will be published by Allen and Unwin.

Dr Shady Cosgrove of the School of Journalism and Creative Writing, was been nominated for her work 'She Played Elvis'. This piece of creative non-fiction tracks her journey across the United States with her Australian partner to visit Graceland. The 75,000 word memoir about pilgrimage, family and nationhood shares her experience of re-acquaintance with America.

Dr Cosgrove graduated from Vassar College, New York in 1996 and completed her doctorate at the Australian National University in 2002. She has a background in Journalism working with the Sydney Morning Herald and Illawarra Mercury before joining the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong in 2004.

The Australian, September 8 2007
Shady Cosgrove (33, NSW; She Played Elvis): With the solid companionship of her Australian boyfriend, Shady embarks on a timely journey to Graceland via her American heritage. This unusual Elvis narrative casts an intriguing spotlight on Americana, but is also a moving, witty and original meditation on the idea of pilgrimage, family, home and loss. It has an eccentric sensibility, sharply observed characters, and an emotional undercurrent suggesting greater depth. Cosgrove is a classy, intelligent writer with a clear eye for the telling detail.