That’s all they have in common, though. It would be difficult to find two more dissimilar essays, a measure of Calibre’s versatility and the diversity of the writers who are drawn to it. Jane Goodall’s theme, like her succinct title (‘Footprints’), has a kind of suaveness and urgency as she explores ideas about ecology and personal responsibility with reference to Kate Grenville, Mrs Aeneas Gunn, Nevil Shute and a sublime short story by Leo Tolstoy.

Kevin Brophy’s fruity title (‘“What’re yer lookin’ at yer fuckin’ dog?”: Violence and Fear in Žižek’s Post-political Neighbourhood’) introduces an amazing tale of domestic mayhem and incivility in present-day inner Melbourne. Kevin Brophy’s tormentors may have been the neighbours from hell, but what a tale it is. To make sense of this five-year drama, Kevin Brophy draws on the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek and his theory that violence – ubiquitous violence, as he sees it – is the very basis of late capitalist ‘post-political’ life.

The two winning essays appear in their entirety in this issue. The author’s biographical notes appear on page 64.

Kevin Brophy commented thus on learning the news: ‘I am grateful to CAL and ABR for making this award possible, and so valuable. I have been drawn to the essay form over and over again during my writing life, in part, I think, because those rambling speeches my father made at the dinner table to us children were essays. I learned it from him. I love the essay as a form because it has room for story, thought, research, personal elements and even poetry. It can offer every kind of writing, modulating and criss-crossing throughout. I must thank my family too, for once again allowing me to write about our life and our experiences – and, as usual, for suffering my exaggerations, refinements and inventions as the thing got written.’

Jane Goodall remarked: ‘Calibre is a very special prize because it brings together essay writers from across the country who have urgent things to say and a distinctly personal way of saying them. It’s wonderful to receive an award in this kind of company. Writing can be a mysteriously isolated and inactive form of activity, but it always seeks connection back to the world, and I so wanted this essay to be connected. “Footprints” is all about connections, starting with the strange ways that stories have of cross-linking their themes and images, even across great distances of space, time and culture. Ultimately, it’s about the connection between the earth and the human foot.’

Calibre is a joint initiative of ABR and Copyright Agency Limited’s Cultural Fund. Like the winners, ABR is enormously grateful to CAL for enabling us to present this unique and lucrative essay prize and for advancing the cause of essay writing in this country.

Meet the Calibre winners

ABR readers will have two opportunities to meet our two Calibre winners and hear them discuss their essays. The first event, in Sydney, on April 2, will be over by the time this issue reaches most of our readers, and practically all the places have been reserved as we go to print. The Melbourne event will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8. The venue is Experimedia, within the State Library of Victoria on Swanston Street. This is a free public event, co-presented by ABR and CAL. Reservations are essential: (03) 9429 6700 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tracy Ryan wins the Poetry Prize

Last month we shortlisted six poems for the 2009 ABR Poetry Prize. The judges – Morag Fraser, Paul Hetherington and Peter Rose – had chosen them from 500 entries, our largest field to date. Selecting a winner proved difficult, given the evenness and quality of the shortlist, but in the end the judges chose Tracy Ryan’s poem ‘Lost Property’. She receives $4000 from ABR.

Tracy Ryan was born and grew up in Western Australia. For a number of years she lived in Cambridge, England, and then in Ohio, USA, where she was an affiliate scholar and creative writing teacher in Kenyon College’s English Department. In Australia she has published five volumes of poetry, including Scar Revision (2008), and three novels, most recently Sweet (2008), all with Fremantle Press. She has won several literary prizes, including the Mattara Poetry Prize and the Western Australian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. She now lives in wheatbelt Western Australia with her husband and two children, and is researching a PhD on Stendhal.

Tracy Ryan had this to say on being told she had won: ‘I’m honoured, delighted and very surprised. I’m a keen reader of the ABR but have never published a poem in it before. This is a pleasant way to start! And the poem belongs to an unpublished manuscript of new work, tentatively called The Argument. It feels as if the award somehow helps bring that new book into being.’

ABR and the judges are grateful to all the poets who entered this competition, and congratulate the other shortlisted poets: Judith Beveridge, Lisa Gorton, Kathryn Lomer, Rose Lucas and Angela Malone.

Held over

Because of the long Calibre essays, we have postponed until May two major features that were advertised in the previous issue: John Kinsella’s lengthy article on Peter Porter, and Humphrey McQueen’s assessment of the new National Portrait Gallery.