FULL LIST: QUEENSLAND’S BEST BOOKS REVEALED
An author’s treechange to Boonah in the Scenic Rim provided the setting for the novel that won The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year at last night’s Queensland Literary Awards.
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An author’s treechange to Boonah in the Scenic Rim provided the setting for the novel that won The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year at last night’s Queensland Literary Awards.
Tabitha Bird’s A Lifetime of Impossible Days, a magical tale of family heartbreak and healing, is the debut book for the 43-year-old, who moved from Brisbane with her husband and three sons seven years ago and found the right place to bring her work-in-progress to life.
The book, which sprang from a writing exercise during counselling over her own childhood trauma, resonated strongly with readers, with voting for the award up 40 per cent this year.
Last night’s COVID-safe online ceremony, also awarded the richest prize, the $25,000 Queensland’s Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance, to Cairns author Joe Gorman for Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland.
The judges said the book was a superbly written insight into rugby league’s State of Origin and shone “a light on key individuals and events within a social and political context”.
Gorman, 30, says he is proud that a book about rugby league has been recognised in this way by Queensland’s literary community.
“The idea for the book came out of the 2015 NRL grand final between the Cowboys and the Broncos. It was north versus south, little brother versus big brother, but the respect between the two sides showed that nothing brings Queenslanders together like rugby league.”
Winners took home a total of $238,500 in prize money across 11 categories that include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and unpublished work.
WINNER’S LIST
Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance ($25,000): Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland by Joe Gorman by Joe Gorman (UQP)
The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award: ($15,000):
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (UQP)
The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award ($15,000):
Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography by Helen Ennis (HarperCollins)
Griffith University Children’s Book Award ($15,000):
As Fast As I Can by Penny Tangey (UQP)
Griffith University Young Adult Book Award ($15,000):
Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller (UQP)
The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award
($10,000): A Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird (Penguin)
Queensland Writers Fellowships ($15,000 each, plus professional development support to the value of $4,500):
Sara El Sayed; Anna Jacobson; Amanda Niehaus
Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Awards
($10,000 plus career development support to the value of $2,500 each):
Zenobia Frost; Yen-Rong Wong
University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection ($15,000).
Lucky Ticket by Joey Bui (Text Publishing)
Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection
Awarded to an outstanding collection of poetry by an Australian writer. ($15,000):
Heide by Pi.O (Giramondo Publishing)
David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer
Awarded for an outstanding manuscript by an unpublished Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer. ($15,000, plus publication with UQP):
The Space Between the Paperbark’ by Jazz Money (poetry, NSW)
Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer
Awarded for an outstanding manuscript by an unpublished Queensland writer.
Prize: $15,000, plus publication with UQP
‘If You’re Happy’ by Fiona Robertson