2021 Queensland Literary Awards Winners and Finalists

Queensland Premier's Award for a work of State Significance

$25,000 | Supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland

WINNER
Biting the Clouds
by Fiona Foley
University of Queensland Press

FINALISTS
Car Crash by Lech Blaine (Black Inc.)
Ordinary Matter by Laura Elvery (University of Queensland Press)
A Question of Colour by Pattie Lees with Adam C Lees (Magabala)
Change Machine by Jaya Savige (University of Queensland Press)

 

The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by The University of Queensland

WINNER
Song of the Crocodile
by Nardi Simpson
Hachette Australia

FINALISTS
Friends & Dark Shapes by Kavita Bedford (Text Publishing)  
Revenge: Murder in Three Parts by S.L. Lim (Transit Lounge) 
The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey (Text Publishing)
The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Random House

 

The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by The University of Queensland

WINNER
Amnesia Road  
Luke Stegemann
NewSouth Publishing

FINALISTS
Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine (Black Inc.)
Into the Loneliness - The Unholy Alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates by Eleanor Hogan (Newsouth Books)
Truth Telling - History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement by Henry Reynolds (NewSouth Books) 
The Carbon Club by Marian Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)  

 

Children’s Book Award

$15,000 | Supported by Susan Hocking and Ian Mackie, and their family,
through The Hocking Mackie Trust at APS Foundation

WINNER
Bindi
Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Dub Leffler
Magabala Books

FINALISTS
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Hachette)
How to Make a Bird by Meg McKinlay illustrated by Matt Ottley (Walker Books)
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst by Jaclyn Moriarty illustrated by Kelly Canby (Allen & Unwin)
We are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad illustrated by Martina Heiduczek (ABC Books)

 

Griffith University Young Adult Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by Griffith University

WINNER
Metal Fish, Falling Snow 
by Cath Moore               
Text Publishing

FINALISTS
The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (Text Publishing)
Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim (Allen & Unwin) 
The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough (Allen & Unwin)
The Erasure Initiative by Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)

 

University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection

$15,000 | Sponsored by University of Southern Queensland

WINNER
Ordinary Matter 
by Laura Elvery               
University of Queensland Press

FINALISTS
Smokehouse by Melissa Manning (University of Queensland Press)  
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan (Brio Books)
Born Into This by Adam Thompson (University of Queensland Press)
Broken Rules and Other Stories by Barry Lee Thompson (Transit Lounge)

 

Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection

$15,000 | Sponsored by Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund

WINNER
Terminally Poetic 
by Ouyang Yu   
Ginninderra Press

FINALISTS
Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen (University of Queensland Press)
Airplane Baby Banana Blanket by Benjamin Dodds (Recent Work Press)
Change Machine by Jaya Savige (University of Queensland Press)
Homecoming by Elfie Shiosaki (Magabala Books)

 

David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer

$15,000 | Sponsored by Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund

WINNER
'Mekauwe = Tears Volume #1 (Notes For Song) 1970-2020'
by Ngankiburka-mekauwe (Senior Woman-of Water) Georgina Williams

FINALISTS
'Politiks' by Chella Goldwin

 

Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer

$15,000 | Supported by Jenny Summerson through the Queensland Library Foundation

WINNER
'The Whitewash'            
by Siang Lu

FINALISTS
'On the Exhale' by Jason Gent
'The Luminous Heart' by Natalie Sprite 
'It's Chemical' by Lillian Telford

 

The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award

$10,000 | Sponsored by The Courier-Mail

WINNER
Mary’s Last Dance 
by Mary Li
Penguin Random House Australia

FINALISTS

All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton (HarperCollins Publishers)
With My Little Eye, Sandra Hogan (Allen & Unwin)
Flyaway, Kathleen Jennings (Picador Australia)
From Where I Fell, Susan Johnson (Allen & Unwin)
Banks, Grantlee Kieza (ABC Books)
A Question of Colour, Pattie Lees with Adam C Lees (Magabala Books)
All the Murmuring Bones, A.G. Slatter (Titan Books)