The Indie Book Awards have been announced — congratulations to the winners!
FICTION
Horse by Geraldine Brooks (Hachette Australia), see Jennifer’s review at Tasmanian Bibliophile at Large
NON-FICTION
The Book Of Roads And Kingdoms by Richard Fidler (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
DEBUT FICTION
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien (HQ Fiction, HarperCollins), see Theresa’s review at Theresa Smith Writes
ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION
First Nations Food Companion by Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan (Murdoch Books)
CHILDREN’S
Runt by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
YOUNG ADULT
The Brink by Holden Sheppard (Text Publishing)
Indie Book of the Year
Runt by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
I read ‘Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, a novel about the Puritans in Massachusetts. That novel was very good, and I believe I also read ‘March’ which was excellent also. I did not realize she was an Australian writer.
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By: Anokatony on March 21, 2023
at 2:26 am
She is a very good writer indeed, though I haven’t read this one yet.
Australian? American? What does nationalism even mean once we make our homes elsewhere? I’ve just reviewed Dominic Smith’s latest, and he was born here but has lived in the US for ages. Peter Carey is the same.
And in reverse, so am I. Born somewhere else, lived here, not entirely one thing or the other and contentedly so.
For reasons I cannot explain adequately even to myself, I think of Peter Carey as Australian because his books have an Australian sensibility, even the ones that have nothing to do with Australia. Conversely, increasingly, I think of Geraldine Brooks as American. Nothing about her writing seems Australian and the same is true of Dominic Smith’s.
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 9:12 am
You learn something new every day, Tony. She essentially lives in the USA, and has yet to write a novel set in Australia. BTW, her first novel Year of wonders was pretty good too. Before that she wrote nonfiction Including Nine parts of desire about the position, treatment of women in the Middle East (she had been a journalist there.)
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By: whisperinggums on March 21, 2023
at 8:12 am
I enjoyed Caleb’s Crossing but not The Secret Chord. You read my review at the time, so you know how much I disliked it. She had been a writer whose new releases I always read, but not since that one.
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 10:54 am
I did enjoy Year of Wonders (apart from the ending) but failed to engage with March so abandoned it. I know Horse has garnered a lot of praise but I’m not convinced it is one for me. I shudder whenever I see horse racing on TV
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By: BookerTalk on March 21, 2023
at 9:21 am
It’s a long time since I read March, but I remember enjoying that one. I thought Brona at This Reading Life had liked Horse, but I can’t find it on her blog so it must have been someone else…
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 10:57 am
Wasn’t me, but a couple of my colleagues read it and loved it. Brooks is American, but she still retains her home in my local suburb. She popped into our shop several times over the summer – we had lots of signed copies :-)
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By: Brona's Books on March 21, 2023
at 8:59 pm
Oops, I meant to go back and fix that to say that Brooks calls herself an Australian-American on her website, but I pressed send too soon.
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By: Brona's Books on March 21, 2023
at 9:04 pm
Does she divide her time (equally) between here and there?
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 9:52 pm
I don’t know about equally but yes.
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By: Brona's Books on March 22, 2023
at 8:29 am
Excellent! Loved both Horse and All That’s Left Unsaid.
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By: Theresa Smith Writes on March 21, 2023
at 2:12 pm
Thanks, Theresa!
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By: Lisa Hill on March 22, 2023
at 9:35 am
I really enjoyed ‘Horse’ … you saw it on my blog, Lisa ;-)
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By: Jennifer on March 21, 2023
at 2:13 pm
Ah, that’s where it was! I’ll add a link to it now, thanks:)
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 2:31 pm
And I read Runt, but it’s part of a post with 2 other children’s books, so you have to scroll down to the end.
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By: Brona's Books on March 21, 2023
at 9:01 pm
Thanks, Brona!
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By: Lisa Hill on March 21, 2023
at 10:06 pm