Award-winning Fremantle Press novel surfs onto the Dobbie Literary Award longlist

City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award winner Madelaine Dickie is in the running for the 2018 Dobbie Literary Award for her novel Troppo. Worth $5,000, the award, which is a part of the Nita B Kibble Literary Awards, recognises a first published work by an Australian woman writer.

Speaking from her home in Exmouth, Western Australia, Dickie said she was delighted to be longlisted for an award that celebrates women’s stories and women’s contribution to literature.

‘I’ve spent the last five years working in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia. When you live a long way from a major city, it can be tough promoting a book and tough connecting with readers,’ said Dickie. ‘As an emerging writer, I am so grateful to be on the longlist for such a prestigious award because it means people who perhaps haven’t heard of my book will learn of it, then borrow it or buy it, read it and love it, and hopefully share it with others!’ said Dickie.

Troppo is told from the perspective of Penny, a young Australian woman working and surfing in Sumatra, Indonesia. Dickie said, ‘Penny’s Sumatran experiences are quite different to those of her male contemporaries, and in some ways, as a woman, she faces even more challenges. It’s wonderful to receive recognition for this kind of story.’

Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter said Troppo is the perfect book to be recognised by this national award. ‘It has a strong female lead, a gripping storyline, beautiful writing and has been created by an author who is going places,’ said Richter.

The biennial Nita B Kibble Literary Awards aim to encourage Australian women writers to improve and advance literature for the benefit of the community. Previous winners of the Dobbie Literary Award include Lucy Treloar, Favel Parrett, Tara June Winch, Melissa Lucashenko and Ellen van Neerven (who features in the forthcoming Fremantle Press title Meet Me at the Intersection),

The shortlist will be announced in early June, with the winners announced in July. More information about the award can be found on the trustee’s website: https://www.perpetual.com.au/kibble/

Madelaine Dickie won the 2014 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award and travelled to Tokyo, Japan after securing a 2017 Asialink Arts Residency. She is currently working on a new novel, a surf noir crime fiction thriller about two Aussie blokes who go missing on a surf drift through Mexico. Troppo is available in all good bookstores and online.