Kim E Anderson: The Prize

Kim E Anderson discusses her newly released book, The Prize, with Melanie Kembrey – inspired by the real-life events of the 1943 Archibald Prize scandal. 

When the Archibald Prize was barely two decades old, and World War II was drawing to a close, William Dobell’s portrait of his lover and fellow artist Joshua Smith was announced as the prize winner. It was the subject of an extreme public backlash and eventually a court case alleging it was not a portrait, but a caricature. At a time when homosexuality was still illegal, and the scourge of Modernism was infecting Australian art, the Archibald controversy gripped the nation and placed the value of art up for public debate. The Prize asks whether it is possible to choose between love and art, acceptance and exile. 

Kim E Anderson grew up in Sydney and has worked for a variety of book publishers and media organisations. She set up a new media division for HarperCollins in New York before returning to Australia where she joined PBL Online to set up Australia’s number one online portal ninemsn.com.au. She joined the Nine Television Network followed by Southern Star Entertainment. In 2009 she founded a social media site for readers based in New York. An avid reader, she now lives in Sydney and is also a non-executive director of a number of ASX listed companies and a director of the Sax Institute.

Melanie Kembrey has been a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald for more than a decade and is currently editor of arts and culture publication Spectrum.