Book it in: Furphy Literary Award directors Sam (left) and Adam Furphy with the new book and statue of their great, great, great uncle, celebrated writer Joseph Furphy, at Welsford St, Shepparton.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
The second annual edition of The Furphy Anthology is out now, offering 16 short stories chosen from this year’s $20,000 Furphy Literary Award.
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Eclectic, funny surprising and poignant, the winning and shortlisted stories were chosen from more than 500 entries in this year’s competition, each reflecting a unique Australian experience.
The winning entry, Oranges, by Toowoomba-based writer Thomas Alan, tells the story of an angry kid in a country town.
Celebrated Shepparton-born author and award judge Anson Cameron described Oranges as “beautifully rendered small-town dystopia”.
The story won Mr Alan the award’s $15,000 first prize and a residency program at La Trobe University.
Second-placed story Holden by Adelaide-based writer Michelle Prak, and third-placed No Good Deed by South Australian author Andrew Roff, are also included in the anthology.
Award co-director Adam Furphy said the popularity and high standard of entries this year showed there was a bright future ahead for Australia’s richest short story prize.
“I believe the interest will get even bigger, along with the quality and recognition of the award,” Adam said.
His cousin and fellow award co-director Sam agreed.
“It’s still in its early days — and remember the past two years have been COVID years. You would think that writers would have had more time to put pen to paper — but I really do think that as we return to our lives, people can look forward with some confidence to increasing entries to the award,” Sam said.
Anthology available: Furphy Literary Award directors Adam (left) and Sam Furphy believe the annual award and anthology will grow in status in the future.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
Adam said their goal was to raise the status of the Furphy Literary Award for short stories to that of the Miles Franklin Award — Australia’s most prestigious literary prize for novelists.
“We think that’s achievable. And something that we think is very appropriate given that Joseph had a professional relationship with Miles Franklin,” Adam said.
The Furphy Literary Award is named in honour of the cousins’ great, great, great uncle Joseph Furphy — the Shepparton-born writer of the classic Australian novel Such is Life, published in 1903.
Originally established in 1993, the Joseph Furphy Commemorative Literary Prize was relaunched as a national award in 2020. There are also four junior/youth categories open to young people from the Greater Shepparton area.
Sam said the Shepparton link had been an important one to maintain, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when award presentations were forced online.
“It’s always been our ambition to have Shepparton as the central point in the Furphy award and the anthology — to recognise this as Joseph’s home town and where we both still have our businesses,” Sam said.
The Furphy Anthology 2021,published by Hardie Grant Books, is available at all good bookshops and online.
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