Oscar-award winning actress Cate Blanchett judged the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s first literary award, The Hope Prize along with former Governor General Quentin Bryce and author Kate Grenville.
They selected 10 stories from more than 1,000 entries to feature in Hope: An Anthology.
The anthology certainly achieves the prize’s purpose, which is to get us into the minds and emotions of disadvantaged Australians so we can move beyond the stereotypes and stigma. It’s also a good read – and not just a worthy one.
Quentin Bryce says the stories gave her a profound sense of the isolation and marginalisation many Australians endure every day.
Blanchett also found them illuminating and uplifting.
The award-winning story, ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ by Catherine Moffat, is a compelling tale – acutely observed and deeply compassionate. It takes us into the lives of a single-parent family forced to live in their car – with all the perils this entails for two young children whose father has a crook back and is struggling to find employment.
The remaining nine stories in the anthology show us the complexities of life for people who are isolated, disabled, child carers, underpaid, violated, refugees or asylum seekers. Many also reveal their resilience.
Bryce says, “We’ve got so busy and self-centred and materialistic and these stories say ‘look around you’.”
Yes.
