Now in its seventh year, the Deborah Cass Writing Prize is pleased to announce the 2021 shortlist of nine works by writers from a migrant background.

The shortlisted writers are CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

Gary Paramanathan, The Dreaming

Gisele Weishan, The Marigold Girl 

Patrick Arulanandam, The Seconds of Holroyd House 

Bryant Apolonio, Independencia 

Mesh Tennakoon, The Lollipop Lady 

Sam Elkin, Magic Waters 

Chamberlain Zhang, Si Bo – Fourth Uncle – Eagle Flight

Irina Frolova, On the Tail of the Firebird 

Maria Katsabanis, Motherlode: Memory, Mothers and Migration 

The Deborah Cass Prize is awarded to an unpublished first- or second-generation migrant writer, of any age and from any state or territory in Australia. The Prize winner will receive $3,000, a three-month mentorship with an established writer, publication of their entry in Mascara Literary Review, and an introduction to Black Inc. publishers for consideration of their finished manuscript.