The Zookeeper's War

First novel scoops $100k PM's prize - ABC News

Steven Conte's book The Zookeeper's War won the $100,000 prize in the face of stiff competition against David Malouf, Tom Keneally, Malcolm Knox, and Dorothy Porter.

This is Kevin Rudd's inaugural  Prime Minister's Literary Awards winner and it must be an incredible book because I've read David Malouf and Tom Keneally and you'd be hard pressed to win against those two because they are such expert, absorbing writers. The other two authors I haven't read so I cannot comment. In many ways this is the year where a great unknown beats the sure picks. It happened at the Olympics too. How many times did the favourite or the defending champion not get the gold ? So, Steven Conte's book will be going on my must read list. Given the setting and the time it has a good chance of being a powerful read. I like the idea our Prime Minister is supporting literary awards because we have some great writers in Australia and they survive despite the lack of encouragement...and we are a nation of readers no matter what the Naplan may lead us to believe. Although, those results may indicate we might lose one of our nation's passions and we are passionate about our reading.