Handbook aimed at Yes voters in voice referendum wins Book of the Year

A handbook designed to bring out the Yes voice in the voice referendum is the book industry’s Book of the Year, with Hedley Thomas and Trent Dalton also taking out prizes | FULL LIST

From left: Thomas Mayo, Hedley Thomas, Trent Dalton.

A handbook designed to bring out the “Yes” vote in the referendum to establish an Indigenous voice to parliament has been named Australia’s Book of the Year.

Indigenous activist Thomas Mayo and former ABC journalist Kerry O’Brien wrote The Voice to Parliament Handbook to “answer the most commonly asked questions about why the voice should be enshrined in the Constitution”.

The Voice to Parliament handbook has been named Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards

The handbook was sold as a way to “heal the nation” and as a souvenir, with the authors saying: “If the ‘Yes’ vote is successful, this book will also become a keepsake of an important and emotional milestone in Australia’s history.”

The voice was ultimately rejected by a majority of voters in a majority of states. The handbook sold more than 100,000 copies.

The judges of the Australian Book Industry’s 2024 Book of the Year acknowledged the inability of the handbook to reach “No” voters, but said: “Despite the voice referendum’s shortfall in support for change, this accessible guide stands as a poignant reminder of a significant moment in Australian history.” The handbook, published by Hardie Grant Publishing, also won the ABIA ­Social Impact and General Non-Fiction Book of the Year awards.

Other winners of Australian Book Industry Awards, which were announced in Melbourne on Thursday night, included two names well-known to readers of The Australian: Trent Dalton, for Lola in the Mirror (Literary Fiction Book of the Year) and Hedley Thomas, for The Teacher’s Pet (Audiobook of the Year).

Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton is the Literary Fiction Book of the Year

Hedley Thomas won Audiobook of the Year for The Teacher’s Pet.

Welcome To Sex by Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes was ­described by publishers Hardie Grant as a frank conversation with the nation’s young about the goings-on in the bedroom.

It was taken off the shelves at Big W after complaints by parents and immediately became a bestseller at other retailers and online. It won the prize for Book of the Year for Older Children, with the judges praising the book industry for “rallying behind the guide when faced with attempts by a minority to censor its content and ban it from shelves – a victory that validates the demand for trustworthy content.”

Biography of the Year was awarded to Miles Franklin Award-winning author Anna Funder for Wifedom: Mrs ­Orwell’s Invisible Life, which ­examined the role of George ­Orwell’s wife.

Maxine Beneba Clarke received the Book of the Year for Younger Children for a collection of poetry called It’s The Sound of the Thing. Jane Godwin and Anna Walker received the Children’s Picture Book of the Year prize for A Life Song.

Welcome to Sex: Your no-silly-questions guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out, by Yumi Stynes and Dr Melissa Kang, was removed from the shelves at Big W.

Rebecca Yarros received the prize for International Book of the Year for Fourth Wing.

Magabala Books, based in Broome, WA, took the award for Small Publisher of the Year for its work in nurturing “the talent and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices”.

Australian Publishers Association CEO Michael Gordon-Smith said: “In a year when the rights and freedoms of many of our fellow humans around the world have been misrepresented and vilified, the need for accessible, clear and trusted information has never been more pronounced. The winners of this year’s awards stand as a poignant reminder of how books and reading significantly enrich our society.”