Sam Elkin’s powerful autobiography Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga is one of the books in the running for this year’s National Biography Award.
The National Biography Award was established in 1996 to encourage the highest standards of biography and autobiography writing and to promote public interest in these genres. Awarded annually, it is one of Australia’s richest prizes for biographical writing and memoir.
Elkin’s work is one of two books from WA based publishing house Upswell that’s made the short list. Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars by Abbas El-Zein is also among the six titles up for the award.
They join Bennelong and Phillip: A history unraveled by Kate Fullagar, Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths by Matthew Lamb, Madame Brussels: The life and times of Melbourne’s most notorious woman by Barbara Minchinton with Philip Bentley, and John Berger and Me by Nikos Papastergiadis.
Sylvia Martin, the Chair of the award said a diverse range of projects had been submitted to this year’s competition.
“This year’s entries for the National Biography Award encompassed a fascinating range of approaches to life writing, including biography, memoir and innovative hybrid forms.
“The 103 submitted works included literary, historical, political and sporting biographies of single subjects, dual biographies and collective biographies. Many of the personal memoirs covered stories of illness, grief and loss, war and trauma. These were often harrowing, but some were leavened with humour in the face of adversity, while others imparted solace and new insights.” Martin said.
Almost two-thirds of the entries were from debut authors.
“All these diverse projects contributed to our knowledge and understanding of Australia’s evolving place in the world against its complex and contested history as a nation of Indigenous inhabitants and immigrants. All were testament to the transformative power of life writing, for both author and reader.” Martin said.
This August the authors on the short list will be appearing at an event at the State Library of New South Wales.
OUTinPerth chatted to Elkin about writing his book back in 2024.
In 2024 the award was won by Lamisse Hamouda for the book The Shape of Dust: A father wrongly imprisoned. A daughter’s quest to free him.
