Debut memoir wins Australia’s richest literary prize

In February this year, first-time author Veronica Gorrie took home Australia’s richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature at the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, for her memoir Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience (Scribe). ‘Her personal journey, from thinking she can change Aboriginal worlds through joining the police force…

Two Walker titles jointly win Prime Minister’s children’s literature prize

Two titles published by Walker Books Australia jointly won the children’s book category of the prestigious and valuable Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in 2021: middle-grade graphic novel Fly on the Wall (Remy Lai) and picture book How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley). Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text) took…

Aus YA shows its range

From horror to fantasy with some wit and mystery along the way, Australian YA shows its range in several recent deals. Two recent acquisitions by Australian publishers present a similar premise: What We All Saw (Mike Lucas, Penguin) is ‘an upmarket horror tale between four friends, four truths and one nightmare which brings them all…

London calling

Ahead of this year’s London Book Fair (LBF), in this issue of Think Australian we once again round up the latest rights sales and acquisitions from Australia, as well as the titles on offer at LBF in fiction, nonfiction and children’s/YA. We also profile author Debra Dank, whose debut memoir We Come With This Place…