Chelsea Watego’s bracing reality check wins popular vote in the Book of the Year award

She admits her literary debut is confronting but Brisbane academic Chelsea Watego has won $10,000 taking out The Courier-Mail people’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award.

Colonialism might seem like a thing of the past but it’s echoing still in Australian society according to Brisbane academic and author Chelsea Watego.

Her controversial book Another Day in the Colony, her literary debut, featuring stunning cover art by Queensland artist Michael Cook, is a fierce manifesto in support of First Nations people.

It is published by Brisbane-based UQP and has just taken out The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award for $10,000. The award was presented Thursday night at the Queensland Literary Awards ceremony at the State Library of Queensland.

Watego, 43, a Munanjali and South Sea islander woman is Professor of Indigenous Health in the Faculty of Health at QUT and is a mother of five who lives at Inala in Brisbane’s south.

Chelsea Watego’s Another Day in the Colony features cover art by internationally acclaimed Queensland artist Michael Cook. Picture: Supplied

She says she wrote her book for the black community and expects other readers might find it “shocking and discomforting” as she explores the lingering affects of colonialism in a series of essays, some quite personal.

“I got arrested for no reason a couple of years ago,” Watego says.

“The book is me telling the truth about that and other things I have encountered. It’s not a book of trauma tales though. I’ve had different responses. From mob, they say it’s uplifting but whitefellas say it is angry.”

The Courier-Mail editor Chris Jones congratulated Professor Watego and said the award continued to reflect interest in issues of the day and that the current debate about the Voice to parliament shows “how open Australians are to having conversations we should probably have had a long time ago”.

“It’s important that we have a diversity of views and that we support books and writing in Queensland,” Jones says.

“We have such depth of literary talent in this state and the award reflects that. We want to support writers and our award helps us do just that.”

Chelsea Watego, winner of The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, at home in Inala. Picture: Liam Kidston

The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award ($15,000) for an outstanding work of fiction by an Australian writer was won by Michael Mohammed Ahmad for The Other Half of You (Hachette Australia) while Wounded Country: The Murray-Darling Basin – a contested history (NewSouth) by Quentin Beresford won the $25,000 Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Beresford’s book was a worthy winner for “highlighting how we must learn from our past and cherish and respect Culture and Country”.

“Telling the truth about our often uncomfortable history through literature is an important step

forward in working towards reconciliation, and comes at a time when the Queensland Government, on behalf of all Queenslanders, has made significant commitments to advance our Path to Treaty,” she said.

“By celebrating the books and significant stories showcased in the literary awards we can share the conversations to build a more inclusive and respectful future for Queensland.”

Author Mary-Rose MacColl received a writers fellowship at the Queensland Literary Awards. Picture: Supplied

Queensland Writers Fellowships of $15000 were awarded to Melissa Ashley, Geneve Flyn and much loved Brisbane author Mary-Rose MacColl who started her career as a journalist at The Courier-Mail.

In the 2016 she won The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award for her novel Swimming Home. She was nominated again in the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards in The Courier-Mail People‘s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award for For a Girl.

State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald says the awards “give voice to a diversity of perspectives and ideas that connect us all”.

“The awards recognise and celebrate the creative endeavours of established writers and emerging talent who cast light on untold stories and bring new characters to life,” she says.

FOR THE FULL WINNERS LIST, please visit The State Library of Queensland