Writers Prize 2015 Finalist Essays Robyn Annear Nick Gadd Kate Ryan David Sornig Maria Tumarkin

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

melbourneprize.org A message from the Executive Director of the Prize Trust

The Writers Prize 2015 is a new award offered this year to continue the tenth anniversary celebrations of the annual Melbourne Prize. It is offered together with the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015, Best Writing Award 2015 and the Civic Choice Award 2015, which combined, is one of the most valuable literary awards in . This eBook, which has been produced with the generous support of Griffith Review, presents the top five essays in the Writers Prize, which are new works by published Victorian authors. The five have been selected by this year’s judges: Mark Rubbo OAM of Readings, Wheeler Centre Director Michael Williams, Melbourne Writers Festival CEO Lisa Dempster and writer Craig Sherborn. The Writers Prize is valued at $20,000 and is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, in association with the Malcolm Robertson Foundation. The five finalists received $2,000 each.

Please visit www.melbourneprize.org for further information, and for the final announcement of the winners of the Melbourne Prize for Literature and Awards. To showcase the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015, and to continue public engagement with ’s abundant literary talent, the twenty finalists across all categories are exhibited at between 9 and 23 November. 4

The public will have an opportunity to vote for the finalists in each category, including the Writers Prize, to win the $6,000 Civic Choice Award. This can be done both online at www.melbourneprize.org and in the free exhibition catalogue. Those who vote in the Civic Choice Award, supported by Readings and Hardie Grant Books, will go into the running to win an overnight stay at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins. The Melbourne Prize for Literature and Awards support Melbourne’s status as an international UNESCO City of Literature. The designation recognises the importance of literature to the city and the State, and the central role that writers have played, and continue to play, in the cultural life of our community. With the support of all our partners and patrons this year, the Melbourne Prize Trust is delighted to provide opportunities for writers to demonstrate the importance of literature in a vibrant and creative commu- nity. We are proud to have the Victorian Government as a partner through its City of Literature initiative and the support of the City of Melbourne 2015 Arts Grants Program. We would like to thank the literary sector and the many organisations, publications and websites that are immensely supportive in raising awareness of our program. The Melbourne Prize Trust, established in 2004, is a not-for-profit cultural organisation providing financial support, career development and exhibition opportunities for Victorian writers, musicians and sculptors, via the annual Melbourne Prize. Providing significant opportunities for three important cultural sectors, the annual Melbourne Prize runs in a three-year cycle, which includes the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture (2014), the Melbourne Prize for Literature (2015) and the Melbourne Prize for Music (2016). We would like to thank Griffith Review for their generous support of this eBook.

Simon Warrender Executive Director & Founder Melbourne Prize Trust CONTENTS 7 Places without poetry ROBYN ANNEAR

35 The unconscious of the city NICK GADD

64 Psychotherapy for normal people KATE RYAN

91 Jubilee: A hymn for Elsie Williams on Dudley Flats DAVID SORNIG

147 No skin MARIA TUMARKIN

griffithreview.com ESSAY Places without poetry Robyn Annear

IT IS A fact that among those people of European ancestry, one in six consid- ers coriander to tas