Australia denies asylum to writer but grants him literary awards

Behrouz Boochani has won two lucrative and prestigious literary awards ... from a country that has denied him asylum — and entry — for almost six years.

Boochani is a Kurdish Iranian writer caught up in Australia’s immigration policy, which places asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat in offshore processing centers.

He wrote his debut (and now award-winning) book, No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, via text message because the island where he’s been kept doesn’t have reliable internet, the Guardian reports.

Boochani’s translator accepted the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Prize for Non-Fiction on his behalf; read more about his reaction to it in the Guardian.