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

Everything is Water

Simon Cleary (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

Simon Cleary walked the length of the Brisbane River from its source to the coast during unseasonal rain and flooding. His adventure traverses nature, history and encounters with its stoic ‘river-people’. The river becomes the protagonist and story. The author is the storyteller who captures and emulates its ebb and flow. 

Nightingale

Laura Elvery (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments:

A fresh take and richly reimagined life of the enduring mythology of Florence Nightingale both as an ambitious young woman and in the final days of her life in her nineties, this well-researched novel explores courage, duty, responsibility, passion, suffering and the lingering legacy of war. Haunting, evocative, atmospheric and highly inventive and original.   

Dirrayawadha

Anita Heiss (Simon & Schuster)

Judges' comments: 

A sweeping, epic historical First Nations novel of love, passion, revenge, dispossession, war and truth-telling centred on the Waradyuri people that highlights Indigenous language and acknowledges humans’ desire to connect. In-depth research emphasises the fearlessness and courage of significant Aboriginal figures. Ambitious and highly accessible, with sharp dialogue and engaging characters, this story gives an important perspective on Australia’s history.  

Annette Kellerman, Australian Mermaid

Grantlee Kieza (HarperCollins)

Judges' comments: 

Born in 1886, Annette Kellerman was a record-breaking swimmer and high diver before becoming a legendary performer in Europe and North America. Her vaudeville and variety shows paved the way to groundbreaking Hollywood movies. Famous for her revolutionary one-piece swimming costume, Grantlee Kieza’s biography embodies Kellerman as a poster girl for healthy living.  

Black Witness

Amy McQuire (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

Amy McQuire deftly investigates notions of objectivity and the violence of settler-colonialism in this impassioned essay collection. Her excoriating account of injustice and the systemic mistreatment and suppression of dissent underpinning it testifies to the necessity of Black media. In page after page, she demonstrates the necessity of Black Witness as a form of unceded sovereignty. 

Red Dirt Blue Lights

Tess Merlin (AndAlso Books)

Judges' comments: 

Set in 1970s rural Queensland around the Indigenous community of Cherbourg, a young and inexperienced policewoman juggles her responsibilities with her sensitivities towards the harsh realities of discrimination, racism and authoritarianism. Well researched and drawing on the real-life experiences of the author, this novella received close scrutiny and approbation by Aboriginal Elder Uncle Eric Law AM. 

First Name Second Name

Steve MinOn (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

Highly original literary autofiction, historical fiction, ghost story, and a contemporary consideration of race and sexuality, this novel transcends genre to weave a compelling tale of the protagonist’s Chinese and Scottish ancestors in a multi-generational and enthusiastically intersectional story of Queensland life. An extraordinary story in a unique voice that explores the liminal period between death and what comes afterwards. 

Bina: First Nations Languages, Old and New

Gari Tudor-Smith, Paul Williams, Felicity Meakins (La Trobe University Press in conjunction with Black Inc.)

Judges' comments: 

An indispensable guide to the state of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages today. While the book is informed by high scholarly expertise in the most ancient of tongues, it also manages to convey the linguistic vitality, resourcefulness, and creativity of First Nations people into the present.