Australian author Charlotte Wood shortlisted for Booker Prize

Australian author Charlotte Wood has been nominated for the Booker Prize for her novel ‘Stone Yard Devotional’.

Transcript

00:00Charlotte Wood is no stranger to awards and accolades and now her book The Stoneyard Devotional

00:09is one of just six nominated for one of the most prestigious prizes in the world, the

00:14Booker Prize.

00:15She spoke to us here on the red carpet in London.

00:18To be on the long list was just a huge and lovely shock.

00:24To make the short list was just incredible so I just feel super lucky to be here on a

00:29list of amazing novels.

00:30For those that haven't read it, what is Stoneyard Devotional about?

00:35Stoneyard Devotional is about a woman who abandons her marriage and her job and her

00:42home in the city and sort of almost stumbles into living in a cloistered religious community

00:50down on the Monaro in New South Wales, which is where I grew up and where my narrator grew

00:55up.

00:56It's about a whole lot of things including forgiveness and atonement.

01:02It's about the moral challenge of despair.

01:07I spoke to one of your fans a little earlier and she said that you're already considered

01:12a boss in Australia and that the rest of the world is now catching on.

01:16Is that how it feels?

01:17Well that's a very lovely thing to be said.

01:20I have felt so much love from Australia.

01:24My phone's been pinging all day with messages of good luck and just of support.

01:31It makes me feel a bit emotional actually.

01:34The last time an Australian won the Booker Prize was Richard Flanagan in 2014.

01:39No Australian woman has ever won the top prize and so if Charlotte Wood were to win this

01:44year, it'd be a historic moment and a proud one for Australia.