CEO says: The voice of Marlborough Man has been chosen

Hello and welcome to November!

On Friday night I had the privilege of being in Sydney for the announcement of Libby Angel as the winner of the Barbara Jefferis Award for The Trapeze Act. Though she did not win, we are incredibly proud of Madelaine Dickie, whose book Troppo made the shortlist of this important literary award.

Named for the highly regarded feminist and founding member of the Australian Society of Authors, the award is for the ‘best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society’. Despite these criteria, chief judge Sandra Yates noted in Friday’s Sydney Morning Herald that a number of books entered into the award featured negative portrayals of women – in direct opposition to what the Barbara Jefferis is all about.

Talking to Linda Morris, Yates said: ‘We [women] don’t need any more books about our capacity to endure, I think we have established that.’ Madelaine’s book was a finalist alongside From the Wreck by Jane Rawson, Storyland by Catherine McKinnon and Goodwood by Holly Throsby – all excellent examples of books that show women who are empowered by their circumstances.

In other news, we can announce that Geordie actor Jerome Pride is the voice of Alan Carter’s Marlborough Man. With well over 50 audiobooks under his belt, he has been described as a skilled reader whose Sunderland accent will no doubt bring extra authenticity to the main character of Nick. Jerome recently featured in the remake of Wake in Fright and in Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch story and we’re thrilled to have him on board. The Marlborough Man audiobook edition will be available from Wavesound soon.

Fremantle Press crime novels may also soon feature on the big screen, albeit it in a small way. We were contacted by the art department working on the movie version of Tim Winton’s Dirt Music recently. The movie is currently being filmed in the Kimberley, Perth and the Goldfields. We sent them off with a box full of Fremantle Press books and which will be seen in Lu Fox’s house (played by Garrett Hedlund). Go see the movie to find out which books, if any, make it into the final cut.

Till next time,

Jane.