The winner of the 2005 National Biography Award has been announced as The Boy in the Green Suit by Robert Hillman, from Scribe Publications.
In the "Australian Book Review", Michael
McGirr said of this book: "One of the many attractions of this book is the wry affection with which the older man is able to look back upon his younger self. This is a tribute to both the writer and, in a sense, to Hillman as a human being ... The Boy in the Green Suit is an exquisitely painful book about one of the besetting conditions of modern life: restlessness ... There's an old adage that you can change the scenery but not yourself. Hillman tells that story with poignancy and warmth."
The shortlisted works for this year's award were:
Inside Out by Robert Adamson
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
The Boy in the Green Suit by Robert Hillman
Midnight Water by Gaylene Perry
Sparrow Garden by Peter Skrzynecki
In further news, the prize-money for the award was increased yesterday to $A20,000.
