Published 12 March 200912 March 2009 · Main Posts Congratulations, Christos Tsiolkas Jeff Sparrow The Slap‘s now won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for South East Asia and the Pacific. Nice — and characteristic — quote from Christos here. Tsiolkas’s book was up against Helen Garner’s The Spare Room, Tim Winton’s Breath, Joan London’s The Good Parents, Aravind Adiga’s Between The Assassinations and New Zealander Paula Morris’s Forbidden Cities in the regional category. “Competition is a weird thing in the arts — how do you judge between such different writers?” Tsiolkas said before the ceremony yesterday. The real reward, he said, was being acknowledged in such accomplished company. And, he added, “It’s nice to know Mum and Dad will be proud of this.” In the three months since it came out in November, The Slap has sold 35,000 copies, according to publisher Allen & Unwin. But Tsiolkas said books could not be written with sales or prizes in mind. “I wanted to write a contemporary novel set in my suburban world,” he said. The Slap is about the ramifications of a man slapping someone else’s child at a backyard barbecue. The Australian’s reviewer, Venero Armanno, wrote of it: “It’s often said that the best politicians are those who can instinctively divine the zeitgeist of their country’s centre. For the ones who can’t, I would place The Slap as mandatory bedside table reading.” The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, which is chaired by an Australian, Nicholas Hasluck, was established in 1987 to reward the best authors writing in English across the Commonwealth. New Zealand author Mo Zhi Hong won the regional prize for best first book for The Year of The Shanghai Shark. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 10 November 202311 November 2023 · Subscriberthon 2023 On the final day of Subscriberthon, Overland’s most important members get to have their say Editorial Team BORIS A quick guide to another year of Overland, from your trusty feline, Boris. I liked the ginger cat story, though it made my human cry. I liked the talking cat, too, but I’m definitely in the “not wasting my time learning to talk” camp. But reading is good. And writing is fun, though it’s been challenging […] 1 First published in Overland Issue 228 9 November 20239 November 2023 · Subscriberthon 2023 On the second-last day of Subscriberthon, Overland’s co-chief editor Evelyn Araluen speaks truth to power Editorial Team To my friends and comrades, I’m not sure if there’s language to communicate how this last month has utterly changed me. This time a few weeks ago the busyness and chaos of bricolage arts and academic labour had so efficiently distracted me from my anxiety about the upcoming referendum that I forgot to prepare myself for its inevitable conclusion.