ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

‎‘Deadly’ is a word that has a special meaning in Aboriginal English: it means Awesome! Excellent!

So the Deadlys are awards for Excellence, and every year they are awarded to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across multiple fields, including music, sport, the arts, entertainment and leadership.

This year, Ali Cobby Eckermann from the Aboriginal Kokatha; Aboriginal Yankunytjatjara people, won the Deadly  Arts award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature for her story, Ruby Moonlight published by Magabala Books.

Ruby Moonlight is a verse novel set in the 1880s in South Australia.   A story of love forbidden by both Aboriginal and settler culture, the novel explores the impact of colonisation through Ruby’s survival of massacre and her yearning for human company – which leads to her love for a solitary White trapper called Jack.

Ali Cobby Eckermann has been the recipient of numerous awards.  She was granted an ASA Mentorship for Poetry in 2006, and has featured in the Northern Territory Literary Awards as a winner or a finalist in 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005.  She was Highly Commended in the Eyre Writers Literary Awards, 2008, and was both Highly Commended and a winner in the 2006 Survival Writing Competition.