On 3 December 2017, A. R. Levett was awarded first prize in the KSP Memoir Awards 2017 for his memoir, The Visit. The memoir is a powerful piece that deals with confronting mental illness in the family and oneself. It also offers insight into the state of mental health treatment in W.A. You can read a copy of it here.

Competition judge, Dr Rachel Robertson, had this to say about 'The Visit':
"The Visit by Andrew Levett, WA is the Winner! As it happens, The Visit also explores a father-child relationship
within a residential care setting, though in a different context. The narrator here visits his father in a mental health facility, confronted both by the environment and by seeing his dad so unwell. This is an excellent piece of memoir, establishing setting and character very effectively and giving us access to the narrator’s feelings in highly economical ways. The dialogue is particularly well written. This work challenges us to think about things we may not want to consider. It addresses an important and very topical issue for our time in a powerful way." You can read Dr Robertson's full judge's report here.

A. R. Levett would like to thank Barbara Turner-Vesselago for prompting him to write the memoir, as well as Mardi May and the KSP Past Tense Group for helping him edit it down from over 1,500 words. He would also like to thank  Tabetha Rogers Beggs, Lisa A. Wolstenholme, and Helen Doran-Wu for helping him rework a very purple version of 'The Visit'.

The KSP Memoir Awards 2017 featured a bevy of great memoirs. A. R. Levett would like to congratulate fellow winners K. W. George, Ashleigh Hardcastle, Rachelle Rechichi, and Catherine Johnstone. For more information about the KSP Memoir Awards 2017 or competition winners, please visit the KSP website. A. R. Levett recommends reading the memoir of the other winners.

The KSP Writers' Centre has just informed A. R. Levett that he has been short-listed for his memoir vignette, 'The Visit', in the KSP Memoir Competition. The memoir is a powerful piece that deals with confronting mental illness in the family and oneself. It also offers insight into the state of mental health treatment in W.A.

Competition judge, Rachel Robertson, will read her report and announce the winners at Katharine's birthday from 2.15pm on Sunday 3 December 2017. Come along to the event to support A. R. Levett and the other short-listed authors, listen to readings of their stories, as well as enjoy lunch and the festivities provided by the KSP Writers' Centre.

Fingers crossed.

Break out the champagne! In a stroke of double fortune, A. R. Levett has been awarded not only a fellowship at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre (KSP), but also a residency at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia (FAWWA)!

A. R. Levett's KSP fellowship runs from 10 July until 23 July 2017. During his fellowship, A. R. Levett will be working on his novel-in-progress, 'The Rebels', and attending regular writing groups. He will also be attending fellow resident Lee Batterby's workshop, World Building 101, from 1pm-4pm on Saturday 22 July 2017, and facilitating Lee's author talk to the Fantasy, Science-Fiction, and Horror group on 23 July 2017 from 10am-12pm. The latter is $5 for members, $12 for general public. All are welcome

In addition to this, A. R. Levett will be the FAWWA Writer-in-Residence from 12 November until 25 November 2017. During his stay the centre, he will redraft his novel-in-progress, 'The Rebels', and run two, yet to be determined, workshops for the FAWWA membership. Stay tuned for more information.

On 19 November 2006, A. R. Levett was presented with a Commended Award in the Glen Phillips Poetry Prize for his poem 'Paternal Lessons'.

From Peter Jeffrey's judge's report:

"PATERNAL LESSONS by A.R LEVETT shows how negatively the older macho culture accepts a pattern of life that is inherently sterile if not outright abusive in the advice it wants to relay to the coming generations. It moves through a recognisable pattern of quatrains which reflect chauvinism, wage slavery and greed, one eyed factionalism, alcoholism and hospitalisation and parental neglect of the recognition of childhood achievements, to a final three liner betrayal with perhaps incestual ambiguity of shocking intensity. Full marks for the control of graduated revelation that generates a superb climax."

Here is the poem:

PATERNAL LESSONS

Lessons from my father:

women are nice to look at and touch,
the only worthwhile ones
are those who bare their bodies
in trashy magazines;

swelter in a factory
where your talents atrophy
seize every cent
as if everyone owes you;

football is life,
barrack for the Eagles,
abuse the television
when your team is losing;

scull so much you
pass out mid-conversation,
your committed hospital stay
an honour badge;

leave your reserved seat empty
at your expectant child’s
award-earning ceremonies
to escape on sudden vacation.

The hardest lesson of all
one drunken night
I prefer your sister.