Details of the regional winners for the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize have been released. The Prize provides for winners in the two categories of Best Book and Best First Book, and regional winners are chosen from Africa, Caribbean & Canada, Eurasia, and SE Asia & South Pacific. Australian novels have done quite well with this prize in the past, with Best Book winners in 1991 David Malouf The Great World, 1993 Alex Miller The Ancestor Game, 1998 Peter Carey Jack Maggs, 1999 Murray Bail Eucalyptus, 2001 Peter Carey True History of the Kelly Gang, and 2002 Richard Flanagan Gould's Book of Fish.
This year Australian books have won the regional categories for Best Book for The White Earth by Andrew McGahan, and Best First Book for Home by Larissa Behrendt. Home was featured on this weblog recently as a "worthy book unnoticed". No longer unnoticed it would seem.
Winners will be announced on Wednesday 30th March.
