Event: Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2020

Authors Wai Chim and Helena Fox (Photo: Sarah Steed)

In an unexpected and unusual year, reading has been more important than ever. Today, at the end of the year, we had the announcement of the winners of the 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, and the celebration of a bunch of special stories and their creators. Congratulations to the winners and all the shortlisted authors.

Winner for Young Adult Literature: 

• How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox (read our review)
  

'[A] beautifully written, poetic and heart-breaking portrayal of grief, trauma, guilt and mental illness.'

Shortlisted for Young Adult Literature:

• The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim
• The Honeyman and the Hunter by Neil Grant
• When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn (read our review)
  
• This Is How We Change the Ending by Vikki Wakefield (read our review)
  

Winner for Children's Literature:

• Cooee Mittigar: A Story on Darug Songlines by Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson
  

'After traversing the organic and tactile design and muted colours of the cover, the reader is led into a textually and visually rich world which, despite being in English and Darug, is in fact a love song to the natural beauty of wider Australia, and the proud traditions of its original inhabitants.'

Shortlisted for Children's Literature:

• Cheeky Dogs: To Lake Nash and Back by Dion Beasley and Johanna Bell
• One Careless Night by Christina Booth (read our review)
  
• Winter of the White Bear by Martin Ed Chatterton (read our 12 Curly Questions with Martin Chatterton)
  
• Catch a Falling Star by Meg McKinlay (read our review)
  

You can read more on the official website for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, and also watch the video of the livestream of the awards.