Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance

2023 shortlist

Congratulations to the finalists!

Cover of We Come with This Place by Debra Dank showing the silhouette of a person against a stylised painted orange and yellow map

We Come with This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing)

Judges' comments

An astonishing dual memoir of the author and her beloved Gudanji Country. Through lyrical prose, Dank narrates her childhood of discovery, her passion for learning, and the revelations of family history. It’s a deeply personal reflection on the meaning of belonging and the resilience it creates in us all. 

Cover of The Bravest Word by Kate Foster

The Bravest Word by Kate Foster (Walker Books Australia)

Judges' comments

Richly imagined, finely written and with a refreshing openness about the challenges young people face when they experience anxiety and depression, The Bravest Word is a novel that has undoubtedly started many conversations. Its sentences and scenes resonate with both sensitivity and warmth, broadening its appeal. A necessary, timely, and memorable work. 

Cover of The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt

The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments

Lyrical and compassionate, the poetic skill and engagement of The Jaguar is a moving exploration of family dynamics, ageing, memory, desire, nature, and art, combined with a passionate rage about our care of our elders and a hopeful and optimistic call for change. Technically brilliant and experimental, this collection is intelligent, accessible, nuanced and finely balanced.   

Bone Memories by Sally Piper (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments

Bone Memories is a deeply considered and multi-layered examination of the way trauma is held in Australian soil. Through the prism of one near-shattered family, the novel shows that healing is possible when radical listening is at the heart of what we do, so we might move towards radical living. 

Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (Giramondo Publishing)

Judges' comments

A deeply contemplated novel concerned with issues of sovereignty, ongoing colonisation and climate change that is both timely and urgent. Praiseworthy is simultaneously satirical, comic, and lyrical. A work of stunning exhilarating sentences that builds to an extended elegy and ode to Aboriginal storytelling, lore, and sovereignty. 