‘Beloved Land’ wins ACT Book of the Year

10 March 2015 Books+Publishing

Gordon Peake’s Beloved Land: Stories, Struggles and Secrets from Timor-Leste (Scribe) has won the 2014 ACT Book of the Year Award.

Peake’s book, which explores nation-building in Timor-Leste following its independence in 2002, was chosen from a shortlist of five that also included: 18 Days: Al Jazeera English and the Egyptian Revolution (Scott Bridges, Editia), Earthmasters: The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering (Clive Hamilton, A&U), The Petrov Poems (Lesley Lebkowicz, Pitt Street Poetry) and Who We Were (Lucy Neave, Text).

The judging panel noted the strength of ‘meticulously researched, well-crafted works of non-fiction’ among the nominations for the 2014 award.

Beloved Land also won the inaugural People’s Choice Award, which was open to all shortlisted titles.

The ACT Book of the Year Award, valued at $10,000, recognises quality contemporary Australian literary works including fiction, nonfiction and poetry, by ACT authors published in the previous calendar year. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the eligibility for the award changed last year so that entrants must reside within the ACT’s boundaries.