Congratulations to Jane Harper, author of The Dry, winner of the Debut Fiction category, and the Indie Book Awards Book of the Year. Well-deserved!
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2017 INDIE BOOK AWARDS
January 16, 2017
Australian independent booksellers are pleased to announce the Shortlist for The Indie Book Awards 2017.
The Indie Book Awards, as chosen by independent booksellers, members of Leading Edge Books, reward and promote excellence in Australian writing. Galina Marinov, National Group Manager of Leading Edge Books says, ‘There are no bigger supporters of Australian writing and publishing in this country than independent booksellers. Their love of book, knowledge and passion for Australian stories play indispensable role in keeping Australian publishing and culture alive. The 2017 Indie Book Awards Shortlist is a tribute to the enormous depth and breadth of writing talent in this country. We are excited to be supporting and working on the Indie Book Awards campaign again and look forward to the announcement of the Category Winners and the overall Indie Book Awards Winner on 20th March.’
Affectionately termed ‘indies’, Australian independent booksellers have a proud reputation for choosing the best in Australian writing, with many of the shortlisted books in previous years going on to be bestsellers and win other major literary awards. Since its inception in 2008, the Indie Book Awards have chosen Breath by Tim Winton, The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, All That I Am by Anna Funder, The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, The Bush by Don Watson and The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood as previous overall winners.
The twenty shortlisted books will be vying for the top spot as the Indie ‘Book of the Year’ for 2017. Panels of expert judges (all indie booksellers and avid readers) will choose the winners in the five book categories – Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s and Young Adult. Independent booksellers from around the country will then vote to select their favourite book for the year.
The category winners and the overall ‘Book of the Year’ winner will be announced on Monday, 20th March, 2017 at the Leading Edge Books Annual Conference Awards Dinner, at the Marriott, Surfers Paradise.
The Shortlist for The Indie Book Awards 2017 is:
FICTION SHORTLIST
The Good People by Hannah Kent (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Where the Trees Were by Inga Simpson (Hachette Australia)
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (Allen & Unwin)
NON-FICTION SHORTLIST
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford (Allen & Unwin)
Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
DEBUT FICTION SHORTLIST
The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley (Affirm Press)
The Midnight Watch by David Dyer (Penguin Books Australia)
The Dry by Jane Harper (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Goodwood by Holly Throsby (Allen & Unwin)
CHILDREN’S SHORTLIST
Circle by Jeannie Baker (Walker Books Australia)
Pig the Winner by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Australia)
The 78-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton (Illus) (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Wormwood Mire by Judith Rossell (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
YOUNG ADULT SHORTLIST
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
The Road to Winter by Mark Smith (Text Publishing)
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland (Penguin Books Australia)
The Indie Book Awards would like to gratefully acknowledge the 2017 Awards Sponsors: HarperCollins Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia, Hardie Grant, Hachette Australia, Bonnier Publishing and Hardie Grant Egmont, and Awards supporter: Simon & Schuster Australia.
Meredith Jaffe, Hoopla, Best Books of 2016
The year 2016 has been the most topsy-turvy of my forty-three years. I will probably write a memoir about it in ten years’ time. So much going on personally that I am still digesting. Which is why the launch of my first novel, The Birdman’s Wife has brought me such joy. I’m humbled, honoured and more than a little bit excited that The Birdman’s Wife, the story of Elizabeth Gould, the pioneering 19th century ornithological illustrator and wife of John Gould, the ‘birdman’ has been received with such warm and open arms.
Melissa Ashley 