Announcing the 2021 Shortlist for the Deakin University Nonfiction Prize!

Express Media is delighted to announce the shortlist for The 2021 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize In 2021, entries were received from across Australia and spanned essay, memoir, poetry, journalism and experimental creative nonfiction. Submissions explored the human experience, the environment, self-care, food, culture and mental health.Express Media is thrilled by the number of entries and by the incredible calibre of the writing submitted. 160 entries were received which is the most the prize has ever received! It only seems fitting given the incredible quantity of high calibre work, that for the first time ever we have selected a shortlist of nine outstanding entries for this prize!The shortlist was decided by external judges appointed by Express Media, with the winners selected by the Deakin University Nonfiction judging panel; Briohny Doyle, Lur Alghurabi and Mira Schlosberg.The 2021 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize shortlist is:

• ‘What's For Dinner Tonight?’ by LinLi Wan
• 'Selfish' by Suri Matondkar
• 'Shades of Longing' by Shu-Ling Chua
• 'Eight Butterflies (walong paruparo)' by Mark Mariano
• 'Two Histories and a Seedling' by Eva Addinsall
• 'A Fox Runs Out of a Bush, Jumps Into the Air, and Disappears' by Carly Stone
• 'Having A Body Has Always Been About Reaching' by Maddie Godfrey
• 'Buying flowers for someone who wants to die' by Millie Baylis
• 'Becoming the Popstar of Self-Care' by Tiia Kelly

This year’s judging panel had this to say about the incredible nine shortlisted writers:“As a judging committee we appreciated the range and calibre of the entries submitted to this year's prize. The work of the nine shortlisted writers ranges wildly, from a compelling deep dive into insomnia to hilarious critique of self-care and wellness, to a poetic reflection on life and death. These pieces shared a deep engagement with their subjects, a unique voice and a commitment to pushing the bounds of the nonfiction genre. We are delighted with this shortlist and want to sincerely congratulate these outstanding writers on their work.”Our shortlisted writers will receive an invitation to an exclusive craft development masterclass with some of Australia’s best nonfiction writers and a generous selection of new-release books from Black Inc.The winner of the 2021 Deakin Nonfiction Prize will receive a cash prize of $1,500 and an editorial mentorship to develop their work from Managing Editor and Express Media board member Julia CarlomagnoThe prize winner will be announced in the coming weeks. 

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Mark Mariano is a Filipino writer, editor, content producer, and social media whiz from Doonside, on Darug land. Proudly queer, Mark’s work spans across Queerstories, SBS Voices, United Nations NSW, ABC, and Netflix ANZ. He’s part of the Sweatshop Western Sydney Literacy Movement, in which he contributed to and sub-edited their 2021 anthology, ‘Racism’.

Tiia Kelly is a writer and critic from Naarm. She’s interested in everyday performance, the internet as a distinct place, and the influence of pop culture in how we construct our identities. You can find her work in Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Voiceworks, Scum Mag, The Big Issue, and elsewhere.Shu-Ling Chua is a Melbourne-based essayist, critic and poet. Her debut essay collection, Echoes, was shortlisted for the 2021 Small Press Network Book of the Year Award. She is interested in image, femininity, memory, interiors, and the blurry boundaries between private and public. Photo credit: Leah Jing McIntoshMillie Baylis is a writer and arts worker. Her work has been published in places like Kill Your Darlings, Overland and The Big Issue. She has been a Wheeler Centre hot desk fellow, a Moreland writer in residence and was shortlisted for the Kat Muscat Fellowship. She is currently at work on her first manuscript.LinLi Wan is a Chinese-Malaysian-Australian reader, editor and (occasional) writer. She is a recent UQ Arts/Law graduate and is currently pursuing a Masters in Writing, Editing and Publishing. She loves stories and storytellers. Lin writes for the girl she used to be and the woman she hopes to become.Using essays, movement, poetry, play and conversation, Eva Rose Addinsall composes loving and thought-provoking odes to the earth, its rhythms and its bodies. A practice that flows with gratitude between the unceded lands of Bundjalung and Wurundjeri country.Suri has a very long legal name that is always misspelt and has never felt right. So now, she’s just ‘Suri’. She likes reading too much fanfiction and writing about Indian-girl stuff.Carly Stone is a writer and editor living on Wurundjeri Country. You can find their writing in Meanjin Quarterly, Going Down Swinging, The Lifted Brow and Cordite, among others. Carly is interested in insomnia, affect and nonsense. They are an Editor at Voiceworks Online.Maddie Godfrey is a writer, educator and sessional academic who lives on Whadjuk Noongar land. They are the recipient of the 2020 Kat Muscat Fellowship, the 2021 Tom Collins Poetry Prize and the 2022 Varuna Poetry Flagship Fellowship. Recently Maddie was awarded a WA Youth Award for their ‘Creative Contributions’ to Western Australia. www.maddiegodfrey.com

Congratulations to all our shortlisted writers!