Bram Presser (born 1976) is a Melbourne personality, known for his involvement in the Melbourne music scene and
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community. He fronted the Jewish punk rock prankster band
Yidcore
Yidcore are an Australian Jewish punk rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1998. Known primarily for playing punk covers of Jewish and Israeli songs, the band started writing more of its own material in later albums.
Logo and
The band's lo ...
and was the singing voice for
Mick Molloy
Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts ''The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network.
L ...
in the 2006 Australian comedy film
BoyTown
''BoyTown'' is a 2006 Australian comedy film, directed by Kevin Carlin and starring an ensemble cast of prominent Australian comedians, including Glenn Robbins, Mick Molloy, Bob Franklin, Wayne Hope and Gary Eck. It was filmed in Melbourne, Vict ...
. Following the breakup of Yidcore in December 2009, Presser turned to writing. He is a monthly columnist for The
Australian Jewish News
''The Australian Jewish News'' (''AJN'') is a newspaper published in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2019 it has been a local partner of ''The Times of Israel''.
History
The ''AJN'' is descended from ''The Hebrew Stand ...
and is the author of the literary blog ''Bait For Bookworms''. His first short story, ''The Prisoner of Babel'', was published in Volume 7 of ''The Sleepers Almanac'' and another story, ''Crumbs'', won The Age Short Story Award for 2011. In an interview with The Age, Presser said the story was part of a novel he had been working on for several years.
In 2000, Presser was a Bachelor of Laws Prize recipient, being awarded the Butterworths Prize (Advanced Legal Research).
In 2007, Presser was painted by acclaimed Sydney artist and cardiologist
Dennis Kuchar
Dennis Lawrence Kuchar (b. 7 June 1956 - d. 7 May 2022) was a cardiologist based in Sydney, Australia. He performed research on the signal averaged ECG. This research laid the groundwork for the current paradigm of ECG use for prediction of ...
for the
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
.
In 2015 he appeared at the Melbourne Jewish Comedy Festival in the show "What’s So Funny? A Literary L’chaim"
On 28 August 2017 Presser released his first book, titled ''The Book of Dirt'', a novel about love, family secrets and Jewish myths.
''The Book of Dirt'' won three prizes in the 2018
NSW Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
: the Christina Stead Prize for fiction, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, and the People's Choice Award. It also won the 2018
Voss Literary Prize
The Voss Literary Prize is an annual award named in honour of historian Vivian Robert de Vaux Voss (1930–1963). It is awarded to the best novel published in the previous year and is managed and judged by the Australian University Heads of Engli ...
. ''The Book of Dirt'' was published in the USA in 2018, where it won the