ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

The Northern Territory Writers’ Centre has announced the shortlist for the Chief Minister’s Book of the Year, presented biennially.

The awards are part of the search for the Territory Read NT Book of the Year, and are funded partly by the NT Chief Minister and partly by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.  The total prize money in 2016 is $9000.

There are three categories

• Chief Minister’s Book of the Year Award, for a published book across all genres by an NT resident.
• Best Non-Fiction, for a prose work other than fiction. Includes biography, auto-biography, creative non-fiction, history, philosophy and literary criticism by an NT resident.
• Best Young Adult or Children’s Fiction, for a published book in either genre by an NT resident. In the case of picture books, prize money will be split between the author and the illustrator.

For some reason, they don’t publish a shortlist for Non-fiction or Children’s fiction…

The shortlisted titles for Book of the Year are:

• Nona and Me (Clare Atkins, Black Inc.)  This is a YA title, see the Black Inc website.   
• Highway of Lost Hearts (Mary Anne Butler, Currency Press).  This is a play, see the Australian Plays website.    
• My Two Blankets (Irena Kobald, illus by Freya Blackwood, Little Hare).  A children’s picture book, see a review at Kids Book Review.   
• Being Martha’s Friend (Meg Mooney, Picaro Press).  Poetry, see a review at Cordite.  
• Tambora (Derek Pugh, self-published).  A travel memoir, see the author’s website.    
• The Burning Elephant (Chris Raja, Giramondo), YA, on my TBR see the review at the SMH (Apologies if you find it paywalled.)

The winners of the Territory Read Awards will be announced on 27 July at the State Library of Darwin.