Monash alumnus wins Patrick White Award

November 2008

Playwright, screenwriter and Monash alumnus John Romeril (BA(Hons) 1971) was announced as the 2008 winner of the prestigious Patrick White Literary Award.

In a career spanning five decades, the prolific writer has penned almost 80 works, including plays The Kelly Dance and The Floating World and film script One Night the Moon (with Rachel Perkins). He began writing for the theatre while still a student at Monash University. Romeril went on to become a founding member of the Australian Performing Group at the legendary Pram Factory.

Notable Australian novelist Patrick White set up the award in 1975, using the prize money from his 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature. The award is presented to an author who has made a substantial contribution to Australian literature, but who has not yet received due recognition.

In announcing the $30,000 award, chairman of the selection committee Michael Costigan said that John Romeril was the ideal recipient.

“With the huge significance of his contribution to Australian literature, the relative modesty of his public reputation and his evident potential to produce more work that is innovative and engaging, he was seen as an excellent candidate for an award that is highly regarded by writers and throughout the literary community,” Mr Costigan said, as reported by The Canberra Times.

Past recipients of the Patrick White Literary Award include Bruce Dawe, Thea Astley, Christina Stead and Sumner Locke Elliot. Mr Romeril is only the second playwright to receive the award.