A collection of essays prompted by the lives of other writers has been recognised with the ACT's premier literary prize.
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Spinoza's Overcoat by Subhash Jaireth was awarded the $10,000 ACT Book of the Year prize at a small ceremony at the Civic Library on Thursday morning, while Bernard Collaery's Oil Under Troubled Water and Moya Pacey's Doggerlands were highly commended.
Jaireth's book, published by Transit Lounge in 2020, is a collection of essays about the writers which have enriched Jaireth's life.
Jaireth said he had tried, through writing the book, to become worthy of a Ngunnawal welcome statement that says a person is welcome to leave behind their footprints.
"I hoped by writing this book and by writing it about poets, writers all over the world, I am trying to become worthy that those words would be addressed to me and I would be allowed to leave my footprints these wonderful lands," he said.
Jaireth also paid thanks to his wife and his readers when he accepted the award on Thursday.
"Without the reader, a book is like a house without windows," he said.
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Jaireth was born in Punjab and spent nine years in Russia studying geology and literature.
He emigrated to Australia more than 35 years ago, where he has translated Indigenous poets into Hindi.
Jaireth has said he is convinced that "by visiting or seeing places where a poet was either born or died, or where this or that poem was written, one can find an opening to the emotional world of a poem".
Arts Minister Tara Cheyne, who presented the award, said Jaireth was a writer of international significance and Canberra was lucky he called the city home.
"The judges considered that Spinoza's Overcoat represented the culmination of decades of work. This major achievement takes a broad literary perspective, pushing form and progression of poetics. This is first-class cultural criticism, in a voice that is daring and rare, moving and lifting. Subhash Jaireth is a superb writer, poet and researcher, and above all true to himself," Ms Cheyne said.
The award was judged by Dr Paul Collis, Jacqui Malins and Sam Vincent.
Six books had been shortlisted for the 2021 award, including the poetry collections Utterly by PS Cottier, who serves as the Canberra Times poetry editor; Nigh by Penelope Layland.
The Trials of Portnoy by Patrick Mullins, which detailed the end of literary censorship in Australia after Penguin's high-profile decision to publish a local edition of Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, had also been shortlisted.
Twenty-one books were nominated for the 2021 award, which recognises contemporary literary works by ACT-based writers.
The prize has been awarded every year since 1993.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
