Two new books about important Australian authors from Sydney University Press begin what the series editor, Professor Robert Dixon, calls "a celebration of Australian literature, which was a few years ago declared dead". Shirley Hazzard: New Critical Essays, edited by Brigitta Olubas, was launched by Michelle de Kretser and Alex Miller: The Ruin of Time by Robert Dixon was launched by Felicity Plunkett at the university last week. Miller flew up from Victoria for the event while a note of sadness came from the knowledge that Hazzard is unwell in New York, where she has lived for 50 years. Olubas compiled the book from papers given at a symposium on Hazzard's work at Columbia University in 2012 and among them is a tantalising taste of a biography in progress by journalist Jan McGuinness. Olubas is also editing (for publication in 2016) a collection of Hazzard's non-fiction, including pieces on the United Nations, autobiographical travel stories, book reviews and prefaces, and literary lectures she gave at Princeton in 1972. Dixon says the Sydney Studies in Australian Literature series will continue with books on Richard Flanagan (who will be the subject of a symposium on September 25-26), Tim Winton, Elizabeth Harrower, and an overview of contemporary writing.

A PRIZE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Despite its name, the new Voss Literary Prize has nothing to do with Patrick White but it has an interesting history. Vivian Voss was born in 1930, had a BA from Sydney University, loved history and literature, never married and when he died in 1963 left a lifetime interest in his inherited Queensland property to a friend who died in 2012. The mysterious Voss' will created a charitable trust for the advancement of literary work including an annual prize for the author of "a novel published or unpublished during the preceding year". The trustees appointed Australian University heads of English to oversee and judge the award and they quickly decided that including unpublished novels was impossible. To speed the process in the first year the judges Brenda Walker, Philip Butterss, Brigitta Olubas, Amanda Nettelbeck and Anthony Uhlmann nominated a longlist of 11 novels and each ranked their top five to create a shortlist of familiar and popular novels: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane, Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas, Eyrie by Tim Winton and The Swan Book by Alexis Wright. The winner of the $6500 prize will be announced on November 19.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMAS

If I didn't already admire the American writer and bookshop owner Anne Patchett I would after reading her recent letter to the editor in The New York Times: "I was grateful to see my book This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage mentioned in Paperback Row (Oct. 19). When highlighting a few of the essays in the collection, the review mentions topics ranging from "her stabilizing second marriage to her beloved dog" without benefit of comma, thus giving the impression that Sparky and I are hitched. While my love for my dog is deep, he married a dog named Maggie at Parnassus Books last summer as part of a successful fund-raiser for the Nashville Humane Association. I am married to Karl VanDevender. We are all very happy in our respective unions."