The Commonwealth Writers' Prize shortlists have been announced, and we are very pleased indeed to see Helen Garner’s wonderful novel The Spare Room in the running for this prestigious prize.

The Spare Room now goes through to the next phase of the competition, where the South East Asia and Pacific regional judging panel will meet to decide the two regional winners for Best Book and Best First Book. The regional winners will be announced on 11 March in Sydney, the overall winners on 16 May at the Auckland Writers' and Readers Festival.

Text warmly congratulates Helen.