The 2018 Premier’s Literary Awards winners were announced tonight. Links are to the prize website, and to my reviews.
Bram Presser won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the People’s Choice award and the Glenda Adams Prize for New Writing. (Well, I did tell you it was a pretty special book, didn’t I?)
The Book of Dirt (Text Publishing) by debut novelist Bram Presser, see my review
The Indigenous Writers’ Prize went to Taboo (Picador) by Kim Scott and it also won Book of the Year. See my review
These are great books, but some terrific books missed out too. See my post about the shortlist.
Other winners were (via Twitter):
The Ethel Turner Prize winner for YA literature went to Zana Fraillon for The One that Disappeared (Hachette).
The Patricia Wrightson Prize for children’s literature went to How to Bee by Bren Macdibble
The Multicultural NSW Award went to Roanna Gonsalves for The Permanent Resident (UWAP).
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry was awarded to Bella Li.
Black is the New White by Nakkiah Lui won the 2018 Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting.
The Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting went to Amanda Blue & Jacob Hickey AND Jane Campion & Gerard Lee.
Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth (Penguin) by Paul Ham won the 2018 Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction.
Congratulations to all the authors, editors and publishers!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Not happy about the great Kim Scott getting a consolation prize.
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By: wadholloway on April 30, 2018
at 8:22 pm
Book of the Year isn’t a consolation prize!!!
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By: Lisa Hill on April 30, 2018
at 8:32 pm
So pleased Bram Presser got such recognition!
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By: ablay1 on April 30, 2018
at 10:04 pm
Yes!
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By: Lisa Hill on April 30, 2018
at 10:18 pm
I clearly need to read The book of dirt!
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By: whisperinggums on April 30, 2018
at 10:17 pm
Yes!
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By: Lisa Hill on April 30, 2018
at 10:18 pm
Yes you are right…Presser’s book is deserving of a win. What was very wrong on this occasion is the FACT that a week before… an email was send out to all shortlisted participants that NO ONE WOULD KNOW WHETHER THEY HAD WON…UNTIL THE NIGHT ITSSELF. Unfortunately this was a fraudulent claim…as I heard from several winners personally. The winners knew a week beforehand and were sworn to secrecy. For every category there were 5 authors who came to the event under false hope. Would they all have gone had they known?? I doubt it as many came from interstate. The choice should have been theirs without the pretense which was so callously and disrespectfully displayed by the organisers. As an observer i am gobsmacked by the audacity of it.
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By: nicole marie nieuwland on May 2, 2018
at 8:39 am
That is unfortunate… it’s bad enough to be disappointed without feeling that you’ve been conned into making an expensive trip. I think it comes about because whereas awards used to be fairly low-key, now they’re all vying for publicity, and of course they want a crowd at the event…
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By: Lisa Hill on May 2, 2018
at 6:42 pm
[…] Find out what Lisa Hill has to say. […]
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By: NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2018 | Write or Wrong on May 2, 2018
at 3:58 pm
[…] Looking Glass’ because my pesky cough reasserted itself, but I did get to say hello to multi-award-winning Bram Presser (and Alec Patric who was speaking in another session), and it was interesting to hear Bram […]
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By: 2018 Melbourne Jewish Book Week Sunday 6/5/18 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on May 6, 2018
at 6:56 pm