Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. Winners. Shorlists.

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Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Western Australian Government in 1982 to honour and celebrate the literary achievements of Western Australian writers. Until 1990 they were called the WA Week Literary Awards. They are now known as the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Awards have the following categories:

* Fiction * Poetry* Scripts* Non-fiction* Children's Books* Young Adults

Works that make a major contribution to the understanding of Western Australia's past will also be eligible for the West Australian History Award. Prize-money of $7,500 is awarded to winners in each category and all category winners, and the winner of the West Australian History Award, will be eligible to win the Premier's Prize of $20,000.

For the Australia-Asia Literary Award click here

2007 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Winners- Oct 30th 2008
NON-FICTION	Antonio BUTI - Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience UWA Press This biography is the first comprehensive biography of former High Court Justice, President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Chancellor of Murdoch University, W.A. Inc. Royal Commissioner and President of the Uniting Church of Australia, the late Sir Ronald Wilson. ‘Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience’ makes an important contribution to legal and political biography, one that will be of immense public significance and interest, containing, as it does, great insights into this highly complex, thoughtful and talented Australian. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
POETRY	Hal COLEBATCH - The Light River connorcourt publishing Colebatch is one of those versatile literary voices that our 21st century society needs - celebrating both the utterly local, such as the minute glory of shells on Rottnest shores, and the distant ‘scream of jet fighters’ above the hills of Lebanon. As Les Murray says in his foreword, this collection is ‘more tranquil than some of his earlier ones’. It is indeed a ‘light river’ rather than the polemical white-water raftings that Colebatch has sometimes released. Even so, in ‘The Heroes’ he savages a couple of Australian ex-prime ministers. Colebatch, who in his day jobs as lawyer and media commentator is usually restrained by verbal decorum, can be virulent in verse. Calming down again, he is an assured host, inviting us to share his praise for St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and for more ephemeral high points such as para-sailers soaring above the Swan River. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
SCRIPT	Elissa DOWN and Jimmy the Exploder - The Black Balloon Black Balloon Film Productions Down skilfully portrays the touching story of a teenage boy, Tom, struggling to deal with his autistic and sometimes embarrassing brother while trying to fit in with his classmates in a new school in a new town. The author draws a convincing portrait of Tom’s family, with his pregnant mother relying on his help to deal with the unpredictable antics of autistic Charlie. The story of Tom’s growing relationship with school friend Jackie, his genuine affection for Charlie and the challenges he faces with Charlie’s embarrassing behaviour, reaches a dramatic climax with Tom’s explosion of anger when Charlie ruins his birthday party and humiliates him in front of Jackie. Down’s script is truthful, warm and thought-provoking, based on her own family experiences. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
HISTORY	Ruth Marchant JAMES - Cottesloe: A Town of Distinction Town of Cottesloe An expansion of her earlier book, ‘Heritage of the Pines’ (1977) which concluded at World War II, this volume begins with the period of the ‘first inhabitants’ and early European settlement and brings the story to the present day. It includes extensive new research and interviews, and previously unseen photographs. It combines big - 2 - picture issues with the minutiae of everyday life, and ranges across everything from geology to social history, from education to business, from religion to beach culture. Though focussed on one area of Perth’s coastal strip, it also offers some broader reflections about life in Perth. The book is well designed, its large format lending itself to the attractive use of photographs. The referencing procedures are excellent, with useful appendices and a comprehensive bibliography. The writing is readable and attractive. In all, the author shows her knack for a thorough mining of the past for the information and entertainment of the present. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
CHILDRENS BOOKS	Liz LOFTHOUSE and Robert INGPEN - Ziba came on a Boat Penguin/Viking Beautifully written with spare, lyrical text and deeply moving illustrations, this picture book captures the experiences of a young Afghani girl and her mother escaping to Australia in a small boat. Moods and movement of the story echo the motion of the sea. Using a strong, often monochromatic colour palette, with cover images and endpapers capturing the microcosm of the boat adrift in the deep blues of night and ocean, Ingpen’s incomparable illustrations capture haunting portraits, moments of domestic warmth and the vastness of the sea in its differing moods. Universal experiences of refugees are condensed into the intimate story of one little girl, as Ziba’s fears and confusion are soothed by memories of home and the comfort of her mother’s presence. Poignant and restrained, open ended but in a hopeful mood, this picture book will have wide appeal to a broad audience as well as young children. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
FICTION	Stephen SCOURFIELD - Other Country Allen & Unwin A travel editor who with this debut novel has reached leagues beyond mere recall and genial publicity, Scourfield rubs our noses in the dust of his fictional terrain of dysfunction. If we had not previously listened to men with ‘raspy chainsaw voices’, we have now. The author’s talent for authentic dialogue is just one of the qualities making these characters of a harsh northern Australia so credible. There’s a town ‘clinging on…torn between booming mines, pastoralists struggling in a degraded landscape and families on welfare’. On the rough face of it, this is a story of two brothers and their father but at a deeper level the book evokes many other varieties of creaky relationship. We learn a little of how a real public war, far away in Europe, launched the many private conflicts into which this particular family fell. A glossary, by the way, might have helped overseas readers drawn into the otherness of this Top End but perhaps unable to distinguish ‘swags’ from ‘ringers’ who are ‘larrikining and chiacking’. ‘Other Country’ has pathos and grit in equal measure. QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|
YOUNG ADULTS	Ken SPILLMAN - Love is a UFO PAN For Oscar, life is ‘weird and getting weirder’ after his parents separate, his father moves on to a new relationship, and then Dad suddenly dies. Confused about what he is supposed to feel, Oscar finds some enlightenment discussing his problems with sympathetic adults, but when his attention is captured by a cute new girl in the park he has yet one more problem to figure out. Family relationships under stress are vividly conveyed through wildly veering emotions. Chapters are short and punchy, leavened with email exchanges and perfectly capturing the tone and mood of a young teenage boy dealing with complex life issues in the 21st century. How Oscar navigates his way through his adolescent grief with an angry mother, ‘zombie’ sister, Dad’s girlfriend and assorted school problems could be a story drowned in angst, but in the skilful hands of this author, Oscar’s emotional journey is told with sensitivity and a lively dollop of humour QBD books au\| seek Books au\| the nile books au \| fishpond books au\|abeBooks australia & new zealand \|

2007 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PREMIER’S BOOK AWARDS SHORTLIST- Announced October 17th, 2008

Non-Fiction Shortlist

Paul TOOHEY
Killer Within
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Antonio BUTI
Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience
Publisher: UWA Press

Gina WILKINSON
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sky
Publisher: East Street Publications

Estelle BLACKBURN
The End of Innocence
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Russell GUEHO
Rhythms of the Kimberley
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Fiction

Stephen SCOURFIELD
Other Country
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Susan MIDALIA
A History of the Beanbag
Publisher: UWA Press woller_geraldine

the_seamstress Geraldine WOOLLER (right)
The Seamstress
Publisher: UWA Press

Jessica WHITE
A Curious Intimacy
Publisher: Penguin Group (Australia)

Children’s Books

Wendy BINKS
Scrambled Egg
Publisher: Self t/a Stunned Emu Press

Meg McKINLAY
Annabel, again
Publisher: Walker Books

Brian HARRISON-LEVER
Three Kings
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Ambelin KWAYMULLINA
Crow and the Waterhole
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Liz LOFTHOUSE & Robert INGPEN
Ziba came on a Boat
Publisher: Penguin Group (Australia)

Poetry

Murray Jennings
Flash Company
Publisher: Stone’s Publishing P/L

Caroline CADDY
Esperance
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Hal COLEBATCH
The Light River
Publisher: Connor Court

Scripts

John BISHOP
The Greatest Woman in the World
Producer: Prickly Pear Playscripts WA

Kelly LEFEVER
The Circuit: Episode 1 – A Long Way Home
Producer: Media World Pictures

Elissa DOWN & Jimmy the Exploder
The Black Balloon
Producer: Black Balloon

Young Adults

Anthony EATON
Skyfall: Book Two of the Darklands Trilogy
Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Brigid LOWRY
Tomorrow all will be Beautiful
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Juliet MARILLIER
Cybele’s Secret
Publisher: Pan MacMillan

Ken Spillman
Love is a UFO
Publisher: Pan MacMillan

History Award

Ruth Marchant James
Cottesloe: A Town of Distinction
Publisher: Town of Cottesloe

Graeme HENDERSON
Unfinished Voyages: Western Australian Shipwrecks 1622-1850
Publisher: UWA Press

Bob REECE
Daisy Bates: Grand Dame of the Desert
Publisher: National Library of Australia

Verity NORMAN & John E deBURGH NORMAN
A Pearling Master's Journey: In the Wake of the Schooner Mist
Publisher: BPA Print Group P/L

Shaun Tan's Arrival Wins Premier's Prize for 2006

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (right) has won the Premier's Prize in the 2006 (awarded 2007) Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. The judges had described Mr Tan’s book as an ‘intriguing and elegant artwork’, which captured intimate personal moments and the ‘vast scale of human movement across time, space and cultures’. Shaun Tan also took out the Children’s Book Award category.

Thirty-four books/scripts were shortlisted in seven categories from the 155 entries. Entries were received in the following categories: Fiction, Poetry, Writing for Young Adults, Children’s books, Scripts, Non-fiction and West Australian History. Prize-money of $7,500 is awarded to winners in each category.

2006 winners

Fiction: Simone Lazaroo The Travel Writer (Pan Macmillan Australia)

In the late 1980s, in London, Ghislaine de Sequeira lies in a hospital bed. Once an obituary writer in Malacca, she practiced eloquence in the face of death for years. But now she is dying, and it is her bereft daughter Isabelle's turn to art lazaroo_simone iculate the meaning of a life at its end. (Simone Lazaroo, right receiving her award from Hon. Sheila McHale)
The Travel Writer is a moving and beautifully written study of the lives of a mother and daughter from Malacca and their passionate and frustrating pursuit of love in a colonial and post-colonial situation. As in Lazaroo’s earlier novels, these women are ‘Eurasian’, ethnically and culturally between Europe and Malaya, longing for England’s sophistication yet exploited by those English men to whom they turn for love and a sense of belonging. The generations’ different situations are subtly delineated as the daughter lovingly writes her dying mother’s life, which is paralleled with her own in London. The women gain wisdom and strength, but the men too are seen as victims of their own lack of courage. Malaya before independence, with its superstitions and its own colourful take on English, comes brilliantly to life as the novel’s language effortlessly recreates both cultures and the imbalance of power that is mirrored in the lives of the two women.

Swinging between the “hysterically quiet’ of Australian towns and China’s commercialisation of Mao, between allegorical voyages and densities of affection, Dennis Haskell’s All the Time in the World provides explorations of the nature of truth and the meaning – if any – of human emotions. Language stands here in varying relations to the world, sometimes fragile, sometimes firm, in portraying a deep link between “the unsayable” and the ordinary.

Is love meaningless or utterly valuable? Are the meanings of human life discovered or made? Is identity rooted in place or flying about a globalised world? The book explores meanings underwritten by death, and pits a breadth of language against the values of a contemporary world dominated by the anonymity of money.
Joint: Non-fiction: Quentin Beresford Rob Riley: An Aboriginal Leader (Aboriginal Studies Press)

This is much more than the biography of one of the Nyoongah people’s best-known modern day leaders. It is a passionate analysis of a lifetime of political activism, a powerful and compelling story revealing how Riley’s childhood experiences had a profound effect on his adult life. As an activist he struggled not only against the intransigence and ignorance of federal and state governments, but also his critics within the Nyoongah community. They resented his public profile attained through his fearless advocacy of justice for his people – whether he was opposing police violence and intimidation, the intolerance of a rapacious mining community, or resistance to the concept of native title. Riley lost more battles than he won; however, as Quentin Beresford explains in this magisterial study, he gained enormous respect in the Western Australian and national communities for his tireless advocacy on behalf of indigenous Australians.

Peter Edwards, Arthur Tange: Last of the Mandarins (Allen & Unwin)

arthur_tange Sir Arthur Tange was one of Australia’s most powerful and influential public servants, working with a succession of Prime Ministers from Chifley to Fraser. A man of great intellectual capacity, who was always willing to give ‘frank and fearless advice’ to ministers on both sides of politics, in this life story Peter Edwards explores Tange’s private life and public career, including his role in reforming two major Departments of State. He headed the first, External Affairs, from 1953 to 1965, then after a five-year interlude as High Commissioner to India was in charge of Defence from 1970 to 1979. Today the organization of both departments still bears his imprint. In this elegantly written study Edwards convincingly argues that Tange was one of the most influential of those mandarins, Dr H C Coombs among them, who guided Australia’s development in the mid-twentieth century. Review link by Neil James

Western Australian History: Bobbie Oliver and Patrick Bertola The Workshops: A History of the Midland Government Railway Workshops (University of Western Australia Press)

the_workshops For ninety years from 1904 Midland’s Railway Workshops were one of Western Australia’s best known industrial sites, where several thousand employees laboured to build and repair locomotive engines and rolling stock. Twelve authors, headed by Patrick Bertola and Bobbie Oliver, have collaborated to write an exemplary history of this important industrial facility which was constructed and then closed amid political controversy. The authors’ contributions are grouped into four sections : Context; The Working Factory; Culture and Leisure; Closure and Afterwards; exploring every dimension of the workplace from the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s office to the factory floor, together with the employment of women munitions workers in World War 11. This is a major contribution to Australian industrial history.

Children's book & Overall: Shaun Tan The Arrival (Hachette Livre Australia)
Through his intriguing and elegant artwork in this ground-breaking 128-page wordless picture book/graphic novel, Tan captures both intimate personal moments (note his studies of hands) and the vast scale of human movement across time, space and cultures. Travelling from his family in a city overshadowed by some nameless threat to a foreign land, the un-named protagonist encounters many strange customs as well as other new arrivals, each with compelling reasons for starting a new life. The journey unfolds through varied illustrations in sepia tones, drawing the viewer deeply into the immigrant experience. The storytelling is both simple and complex, with close views of small, familiar details of daily life set in a wide and surreal landscape. Between its endpapers with their sixty ‘passport portraits’ of immigrants from many cultures, this beautifully designed book conveys a universal message of hope and humanity

Writing for Young Adults: Kate McCaffrey (right)Destroying Avalon (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)

Moving to a new school, Avalon has difficulty in finding friends – and then the mccaffrey_kate real terror starts. The victim of relentless, vicious defamatory messages on the internet, Avalon is too devastated and confused to think how to defend herself until a tragedy brings release. This strong novel is grounded in the realities of secondary school culture, dialogue and relationships, where peer pressure has escalated into a new and dangerous realm. There are important messages in this riveting, fast paced story with high appeal for its target audience of young adult readers. A gripping, thought-provoking story of cyber-bullying, this novel may be a timely warning to parents and teachers of the present and rapidly evolving dangers facing young people today. Authors Website

Script: Hellie Turner Sardines (Tropic Sun Theatre Queensland)

An accidental encounter by two damaged people has unexpected results in this absorbing two-hander. In the confined setting of a bed-sitter, Jason, an opportunistic thief, confronts and is confronted by Gloria, an agoraphobic physically and emotionally wounded by her past. With sensitivity Turner moves these very different characters seamlessly from a verbal battleground to a resolution, whereby they come to a tentative understanding of the other’s choice of lifestyle and offer each other a new way of looking at the world and their position in it

2005 winners

* Fiction: Carrie Tiffany Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living (Picador)
* Poetry: Rod Moran The Paradoxes of Water (Salt Publishing)
* Non-fiction:
o Richard Bosworth Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945 (Allen Lane History S.) (Allen Lane/Penguin)
o Philippa Nikulinsky and Stephen D Hopper Soul of the Desert (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
* Western Australian History & Overall: Sue Davenport, Peter Johnson (historian) and Yuwali Cleared Out: First Contact in the Western Desert (Aboriginal Studies Press)
* Children's book: Wendy Binks Where's Stripey? (Stunned Emu Press)
* Writing for Young Adults: Kirsty Murray A Prayer for Blue Delaney (Children of the Wind S.) (Allen & Unwin)
* Script: Reg Cribb 'Last Train to Freo' (Sue Taylor Media)

2004 winners

* Fiction & Overall: Gail Jones Sixty Lights (Random House Australia)
* Poetry: Miriam Wei Wei Lo Against Certain Capture (Five Islands Press)
* Non-fiction:
o Greg Craven Conversations with the Constitution: Not Just a Piece of Paper (Law at Large S.) (University of New South Wales)
o Kate Lance Redbill: Redbill: From Pearls to Peace - The Life and Times of a Remarkable Lugger(Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Western Australian History: Anthony Barker Behind the Play (West Australian Football Commission)
* Children's book: Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding A Home for Bilby (Magabala Books)
* Writing for Young Adults: Anthony Eaton Fireshadow (University of Queensland)
* Script: 'Jolly Read Yandy' (Black Swan Theatre Company)

2003 winners

* Fiction: Brett D'Arcy The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks (Vintage)
* Poetry: John Kinsella Peripheral Light: Selected and New Poems (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Non-fiction:
o John Dowson Old Fremantle (University of Western Australia)
o Stephen Kinnane Shadow Lines (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Children's book: Mark Greenwood The Legend of Lasseter's Reef (Cygnet/University of Western Australia)
* Writing for Young Adults: Colin Bowles Nights in the Sun (Penguin)
* Script & Overall: Reg Cribb 'Last Cab to Darwin' (Pork Chop Productions/Black Swan Theatre Company)

2002 winners moondyne_joe_cover

* Fiction: Gail Jones Black Mirror (Picador)
* Poetry: Barbara Temperton Going Feral (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Non-fiction:
o & Overall: Richard Bosworth Mussolini (Edward Arnold)
o Walmajarri storytellers, ed. Joyce Hudson, Pat Lowe & Eirlys Richards Out of the Desert: Stories from the Walmajarri Exodus ((Magabala Books)
* Children's book: Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac Moondyne Joe (Cygnet/University of Western Australia)
* Writing for Young Adults: Pat Lowe Feeling the Heat (Penguin)
* Script: Hellie 'Turner Bench'

2001 winners dirt_music_cover

* Fiction & Overall: Tim Winton Dirt Music (Picador)
* Poetry: Dorothy Hewett Halfway up the Mountain (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Non-fiction:
o John Bailey (writer) The White Divers of Broome (Macmillan)
o Jan Gothard Blue China: Single Female Migration to Colonial Australia (Melbourne University Publishing)
* Children's book: Deborah Lisson The Yankee Whaler: The Diary of Thomas Morris, Bunbury 1876 (My story) (Scholastic)
* Writing for Young Adults: Julia Lawrinson Obsession (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Script: Sally Riley & Archie Weller 'Confessions of a Headhunter'

2000 winners

* Fiction: Simone Lazaroo The Australian Fiancé (Pan Macmillan)
* Poetry: Mark Reid Parochial (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Non-fiction:
o & Overall: Michèle Drouart Into the Wadi (Fremantle Arts Centre)
o Robert Drewe The Shark Net: Memories and Murder (Viking)
* Children's book: Kirsty Murray Zarconi's Magic Flying Fish (Allen & Unwin)
* Writing for Young Adults: Anthony Eaton The Darkness (University of Queensland)

1999 winners

* Fiction & Overall: Kim Scott Benang: From the Heart (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Poetry: Tracy Ryan The Willing Eye (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Historical & Critical Studies: Estelle Blackburn Broken Lives (Stellar Publishing)
* Children's book: Reg Bolton Showtime: Over 75 Ways to Put on a Show (Dorling Kindersley)
* Writing for Young Adults: Glyn Parry Scooterboy (Hodder Headline)
* Special Award: Victor France, Larry Mitchell & Alison Wright Abrolhos Islands Conversations (Fremantle Arts Centre)

1998 winners

* Overall: Carolyn Polizzotto Pomegranate Season (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Fiction: Pat Jacobs Going Inland (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Poetry: (joint winners)

John Kinsella The Hunt (Fremantle Arts Centre)
Fay Zwicky The Gatekeeper's Wife (Brandl & Schlesinger)

* Historical & Critical Studies: Quentin Beresford & Paul Omaji Our State of Mind: Racial Planning and the Stolen Generations (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Children's book: Pat Lowe & Jimmy Pike Desert Dog (Magabala Books)
* Writing for Young Adults: Deborah Lisson Red Hugh (Lothian)
* Script Award: Ingle Knight 'Milk and Honey' (Perth Theatre Company)

1997 winners

* Overall: (joint winners)

Robert Drewe The Drowner (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Gail Jones Fetish Lives (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)

* Fiction: (joint winners)

Robert Drewe The Drowner (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Gail Jones Fetish Lives (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)

* Poetry: Alec Choate The Wheels of Hama: Collected War Poems (Victor Publishing)
* Historical & Critical Studies: Phillip Playford Carpet of Silver: the Wreck of the Zuytdorp (University of WA Press)
* Children & Young Adult's Books: Deborah Lisson A Place of Safety (Mammoth (Reed Books))
* Special Award: Songs of Strength: Sixteen Women Talk About Cancer (Women's Cancer Group (Macmillan))
* Script Award: Dickon Oxenburgh and Andrew Ross 'Merry-Go-Round-In -the Sea' (Black Swan Theatre)

1996 winners

* Overall: Banjo Woorunmurra & Howard Pedersen Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance (Magabala Books)
* Fiction: (joint winners)

Heather Grace The Lighthouse Spark (Fremantle Arts Centre)
Dave Warner City of Light (Fremantle Arts Centre)

* Poetry: Dorothy Hewett Collected Poems (Fremantle Arts Centre)
* Historical & Critical Studies: Banjo Woorunmurra and Howard Pedersen Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance (Magabala Books)
* Children & Young Adult's Books: Helen Bell Idjhil (University of Western Australia Press)
* Special Award: Mike Leonard The Kimberley - A journey through Northwest Australia (CIS Cardigan Street Publishers)
* Script Award: Sarah Rossetti Culture Clash (Rosenbaum Whitbread)

1982- 1995 Winners External Link to Official State Library of Western Australia