Meet the winners of the National Biography Award: Ann-Marie Priest

My Tongue Is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood, Ann-Marie Priest’s biography one of Australia’s finest poets, has won this year’s National Biography Award. The Michael Crouch Award for a Debut Work has been awarded to Tom Patterson for Missing, a gripping story about a brilliant misfit and former law student who lives for decades in the wilderness of northern New South Wales. 

Be among the first to hear from the winners of the 2023 National Biography Award, in conversation with last year’s winner for Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears, Dr Bernadette Brennan, and one of this year's judges, Rick Morton.

Since 1996, the National Biography Award has celebrated excellence in biography, autobiography and memoir writing. With a prize pool of $42,000, it is the nation’s richest prize for Australian biographical writing and memoir. The overall winner receives $25,000. The $5,000 Michael Crouch AC Award is be presented to the best debut biography or memoir in honour of the late Library benefactor and former Award supporter.

This year’s shortlist included the diaries of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper’s memoir, a portrait of a poet and remarkable true stories by three debut writers. Join the winners of this year’s prize as they discuss their award-winning works shortly after the announcement.

The award is supported by the State Library of NSW Foundation, the Holman Family, Sarah Crouch, Rob Thomas AO and Sam Meers AO. This has been a fixture on Australia’s literary calendar thanks to the generosity of Dr Geoffrey Cains, the late Michael Crouch AC and the Nelson Meers Foundation.