Writer Murray Middleton is the first to admit he is not a practical man. He is incapable of tying knots, struggles at hotel reception desks and during our interview he spills his flat white all over himself.
"I am shocking at most facets of life," he says. Yet Middleton, 31, has clearly found his niche.
The Melbourne resident was announced the winner of the coveted Vogel's Literary Award on Monday night and has had his short story collection When There's Nowhere Else To Run published.
The award, which offers publication by Allen & Unwin and $20,000 prize money, has been the launching pad for some of Australia's most successful writers including Tim Winton, Kate Grenville and Gillian Mears.
"I am never going to feel like I at all belong with any of those people," Middleton said. "It's always intimidating when you read the works of past winners because you realise you're nowhere near as good as any of them."
Despite his modesty, Middleton beat 100 other hungry writers to claim the award and this is only the second time a short story collection has won in its 35-year history.
The collection's 14 pared-back stories are set around Australia and are tied together by their explorations of displacement, with characters running away from collapsing lives.
Middleton himself has been charging, more than running, at the doors of the publishing industry for close to a decade after studying a writing course at university.
"I think I originally liked the idea of being a writer. I think a lot of people like the idea of it. The last decade has been about understanding the actuality of what is involved in it. Most of my time is spent at a desk getting shocking posture," Middleton said.
While he won the prestigious Age Short Story Award in 2010, his previous two attempts to take out the Vogel's were unsuccessful.
"I figured I could load up and have one more crack at this award before I'm 35 and hit the cut-off. I could always feel that clock ticking from when I first found out about the Vogel's."
While the winner was only publicly revealed on Monday night, Middleton has been involved in a rigorous editing process for the past seven months with the renowned Australian writer Cate Kennedy as his mentor.
During the day he worked as a teacher's aide and when the school bell rang he stayed back to thrash out 15 drafts of the collection.
"I think I have learnt more in the last seven months than I did in a five year writing degree, particularly about owning every artistic choice you make, because it stops at me. Every word in there I am responsible for, for better or worse," he said.
Middleton, who lists Nam Le, Raymond Carver and Elliot Perlman as influences on him, now hopes to try his hand at writing a novel. And we should expect something very different next time we see his name on a book cover.
"I want to try to work on pushing myself, using new techniques, trying to master them. I want to bring something new to the table."
