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WA Premier’s Book Awards shortlists announced

The shortlists for the 2023 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced.

The shortlisted books in each category are:

The Western Australian Writer’s Fellowship ($60,000)

  • Carolyn Wadley Dowley
  • Madison Godfrey
  • Michael Trant
  • Norman Jorgensen
  • Tracy Ryan

Premier’s Prize for Book of the Year ($15,000)

  • Clean (Scott-Patrick Mitchell, Upswell)
  • Nimblefoot (Robert Drewe, PRH)
  • The Red Witch: A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard (Nathan Hobby, MUP)
  • The Shield and the Spear: The Kimberley Land Council (Joe Fox, Magabala)
  • Thistledown Seed: A memoir (Louise Helfgott, Brandl & Schlesinger)

The Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer ($15,000)

  • Acacia House (Vivien Stuart, self-published)
  • Banjawarn (Josh Kemp, UWAP)
  • Bone Picker (Thomas Simpson, Ginninderra)
  • T (Alan Fyfe, Transit Lounge)
  • The Assassin Thief (Madeline Te Whiu, New Dawn)

Premier’s Prize for Children’s Book of the Year ($15,000)

  • Lion is that You (Moira Court, Fremantle Press)
  • Nenek Tata and the Mangrove Menace (Judith Vun Price & Jacqui Vun, Crotchet Quaver)
  • Owl and Star (Helen Milroy, Fremantle Press)
  • The Raven’s Song (Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble, A&U)
  • Wild Australian Life (Leonard Cronin, illus by Chris Nixon, A&U)

The Daisy Utemorrah Award for Unpublished Indigenous Junior and YA Fiction ($15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala)

  • ‘Getting Dusty’ (Jared Thomas)
  • ‘The Ultimate AGD’ (Kim Morrison)
  • ‘A Queen’s Glory’ (Kristie Harris).

The WA Premier’s Literary Awards recognise excellence in WA writing, while the Daisy Utemorrah Award is open to Indigenous writers from all states and territories. The new Premier’s Prize for Book of the Year category has been made possible by sponsorship from Writing WA.

For more information on the shortlist, see the State Library of WA website.

 

Category: Awards Local news