Dr Julieanne Lamond’s Lohrey is the joint winner of prestigious 2023 Walter McRae Russell Award
Julieanne Lamond with Dr Roger Osborne.
Dr Julieanne Lamond is the joint winner of the 2023 Walter McRae Russell Award for her book Lohrey which is an exploration of the remarkable career of Tasmanian writer and novelist Amanda Lohrey across the contemporary literary landscape.
Dr Lamond’s announcement as the joint winner of the award along with Dr Roger Osborne’s The Life of Such is Life came earlier this month. The Walter McRae Russell Award is given to the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject published in the preceding two calendar years.
The “sprightly, incisive… and unorthodox” book by Dr Lamond is the first in the new series on contemporary Australian authors from Melbourne University Press.
“The series aims to write about important and perhaps under-recognized Australian literary writers in a manner that not only advances our understanding of them in the scholarship, but also speaks to a general readership,” Dr Lamond said.
“My book Lohrey is an introduction to Amanda Lohrey’s work for readers and traces the remarkable career of a brilliant novelist who chronicles contemporary Australian life, social and political concerns, and is deeply interested in how political formations impact people’s daily lives.”
Amanda Lohrey is the author of several acclaimed novels including Camille’s Bread, Vertigo and The Morality of Gentlemen. She is the recipient of several awards including the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
The Australian Book Review states “Lohrey is a necessary consideration of Amanda Lohrey's writing and an indication of the health of Australian literary studies.”
Dr Lamond feels honoured to have won the Walter McRae Russell Award which is judged by scholars in the literary field.
“It means a lot to me to have received the respect and acknowledgment for my work from my peers. Winning the award is more special as it was jointly won with Dr Osborne, an excellent scholar and someone I have worked together closely with over the years,” she said.