Canberra poet Paul Hetherington has won the inaugural Marion Halligan Award, honouring the late novelist, presented at the 2024 ACT Literary Awards last week.

The event, organised by MARION, the leading organisation for writing in the ACT, recognises and celebrates the achievements of writers from the ACT and surrounding regions.

Marion Halligan died earlier this year; the award celebrates the life and work of the writer, “whose elegant prose and insightful storytelling captivated readers,” a spokesperson said.

“Marion was an enduring force of creativity, intellect, wit, and wisdom. This award recognises works that demonstrate uniqueness, literary excellence, and/or transcend genre boundaries.”

Dr Hetherington received the award for his book of poetry Sleeplessness (Pierian Springs Press).

“Sleeplessness renders and explores its speaker’s insomnia for the hours between three a.m. and the early morning, presenting a captivating series of reflections on love and desire, language, reading, identity and intersubjectivity,” the blurb reads. “The series of four extended and interlinked poetic sequences moves meditatively and laterally, often in astonishing ways, translating a world of ideas and associations into sensuous language.

“The poems foreground the beguiling, if troubling, problematics of interpersonal connections and the challenges involved in translating an individual’s own experiences-and their experiences of another-into authentic ways of saying and understanding. These poems continuously approach the ineffable, sitting at the boundary between bodily knowledge and language’s attempts to catch and name, transforming the idea of in-betweenness into a thrilling threshold between intimacy and strangeness, ardour and uncertainty, and speaking and silence. Night in these poems becomes a doorway into a state of becoming, generating a language that connotes a condition of perpetual and seductive inquiry, asking the reader to understand themselves newly through the act of reading.”

Dr Hetherington is Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra. He has published 18 poetry collections, a verse novel and 14 chapbooks, and received more than 40 awards and nominations, including the 2021 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize.

The award was presented by Marion Halligan’s family. This award is selected from all entries to the Literary Awards, and only given if a suitable work is identified.

The 2024 Awards recognise work published in 2023 across four categories. The categories are children’s books (including picture books, middle-grade and young adult fiction); fiction; non-fiction; and poetry. The Awards welcome both self-published and traditionally published works.

Across all categories, judges consider which entries stand out in their brilliance, and demonstrate literary excellence; a powerful narrative structure; and considered and impactful use of language.

This year’s judges were Professor Frank Bongiorno (who last year won the ACT Book of the Year award for the third time), Dr Paul Collis, Krys Saclier, and Beejay Silcox.

Fiction

Winner (traditionally published): Girl in a Pink Dress, Kylie Needham (Penguin Random House)

“Far away from the glittering lights and famous personalities of the Sydney art world she once knew, Frances now lives a quiet life in a remote mountain town, pursuing her art. When an invitation arrives from a former lover to attend his painting exhibition at a celebrated gallery, Frances is plunged back into the past, when a single act changed the course of her life. Told across two time periods, Girl in a Pink Dress is a sharp-eyed and compelling story about love and art, about sacrifice and ambition, and the often damaging relationship between artist and muse.”

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Untethered, Ayesha Inoon (HQ Fiction: An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

Highly Commended (self-published): The Last Famine, Elisa Cristallo

Shortlisted:

• The Measure of Sorrow, J. Ashley-Smith (Meerkat Press)
• The Last Love Note, Emma Grey (Penguin Random House)

Non-fiction

Winner (traditionally published): Bennelong & Phillip: A History Unravelled, Kate Fullagar (Scribner)

“The first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.

“Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled.

“Fullagar’s account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men’s marriages, including Bennelong’s best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip’s unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire.

“To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong’s world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar’s approach his and Phillip’s histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.”

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Helena Rubinstein: The Australian Years, Angus Trumble (La Trobe University Press/Black Inc.)

Winner (self-published): Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III, Kristen Alexander

“Kristen Alexander has produced a meticulously researched, accessible and wide-ranging study of a group of prisoners of war whose experiences are more encrusted in legend than most. Stalag Luft III was the setting for ‘The Great Escape’, made famous in the book by Australian writer and former POW Paul Brickhill and the acclaimed 1963 film. Alexander’s story is of the Australians in the camp, and it is a gripping one of their experiences from capture to return – when, indeed, they managed to survive the war. The research, based on family records and extensive work in public archives, underpins a model social history that contributes to our understanding of the physical and emotional experiences of POWs, as well as the hardships endured, outside the barbed wire, by those who loved them.”

Highly Commended (self-published): What Cancer Said: And What I Said Back, Kellie Nissen

Shortlist

• Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country, Ryan Cropp (La Trobe University Press/Black Inc.)
• The Sparrows of Kabul, Fred Smith (Puncher & Wattmann)

Poetry

Winner (traditionally published): The Moon the Bone: Selected Poems 1986-2022, Tim Metcalf (Ginninderra Press)

“Working in the Australian bush for almost forty years has brought forth from Tim Metcalf a robust, adaptable and independent poetry, the downside being that he is less known in the urban centres. This selection from his nine books aims to redress the situation and bring this wide-ranging and extensively published poet to broader attention.”

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Meaty Bones, K A Nelson (Recent Work Press)

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Apostles of Anarchy, Sandra Renew (Recent Work Press)

Shortlist

• sifting fire writing coast, Elanna Herbert (Walleah Press)
• Sleeplessness, Paul Hetherington (Pierian Springs Press)

Children’s books

This year, the Children’s literature section received a particularly broad field of entries from picture books through to YA fiction; as such, the judges awarded winners in both the younger and older reader sections, as well as a non-fiction children’s book award.

Winner – Picture Book Award (traditionally published): The Turtle and the Flood, Jackie French and Danny Snell (ill.) (HarperCollins Publishers)

“A companion title to the best-selling The Fire Wombat, this is the story of Myrtle, a small turtle who, by heading uphill, tells the other animals that a flood is coming.

“Myrtle the turtle knows everything about the waterhole where she lives in the creek. She can also sense the giant flood that is coming, long before other animals or humans. And when Myrtle begins her long, slow climb up the mountain to safety, who will follow her?

“From the award-winning duo of The Fire Wombat, Jackie French and Danny Snell have now created a fascinating and beautifully illustrated story about Myrtle, a Common Long-necked Turtle; reptiles that can predict the weather very accurately.”

Winner – Nonfiction Children’s Book Award (traditionally published): Wildlife Compendium of the World, Tania McCartney  (Hardie Grant Explore)

“From amphibians and reptiles to monotremes and pilosa, discover our world of enchanting fauna in this stunning, illustrated book, Wildlife Compendium of the Worldby Tania McCartney.

“Divided by continent, and with a handy map opener, you can explore some of the wildest, weirdest and cutest animals that call Earth home. Each animal profile includes the Latin name, type, diet, size, weight, conservation status, curious facts about the species, and the collective noun or baby name for that animal.

“Meet a slug that resembles a banana and a fuzzball mammal with 90 strands of hair per follicle. Marvel at an ant that burns like fire, a pig-beaver-hippo-cow-camel hybrid that eats its own poop, and a creature with the shortest lifespan on Earth (five minutes!). Discover that a group of bears is called a sloth and a baby lizard is called a hatchling. “Wildlife Compendium of the World also features sections on animal types and environments, animal rights, a word glossary and the conservation status of each animal. With a lustrous textured cover, this book is a wonderful resource and the perfect gift for children and adults alike.”

Winner – Older Readers Award (traditionally published): We Didn’t Think It Through, Gary Lonesborough (A&U Children’s)

“From the author of the award-winning The Boy from the Mish, comes a compelling coming-of-age YA novel about sixteen-year-old Jamie Langton finding his future and navigating the challenges of racism, family and friendship in a small Australian town.

“The thought comes to me: This is how I die. Dally is going to lose control and crash us into a pole or a house and we will be killed on impact.

“The justice system characterises Jamie Langton as a ‘danger to society’, but he’s just an Aboriginal kid, trying to find his way through adolescence.

“Jamie lives in Dalton’s Bay with Aunty Dawn and Uncle Bobby. He spends his downtime hanging out with his mates, Dally and Lenny. Mark Cassidy and his white mates – the Footy Heads – take every opportunity they can to bully Jamie and his friends. On Lenny’s last night in town before moving to Sydney, after another episode of racist harassment, Jamie, Dally and Lenny decide to retaliate by vandalising Mark Cassidy’s car. And when they discover the keys are in the ignition… Dally changes the plan. Soon they are all in Mark Cassidy’s stolen car cruising through town, aiming to take it for a quick spin, then dump it.

“But it’s a bad plan. And as a consequence, Jamie ends up in the youth justice system where he must find a way to mend his relationships with himself, his friends, his family and his future.”

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Phonobet, Kathy Weeden and Kim Drane (ill.) (NLA Publishing)

Highly Commended (traditionally published): Surprise at the End of Onkaparinga Lane, Rhian Williams and Martina Heiduczek (ill.) (Walker Books Australia)

Highly Commended – Education (traditionally published): Strong Little Platypus, Emma Janssen (Twinkl Originals)

Winner (self-published): That Book About Space Stuff, David Conley

“It’s got stars so hot they’ll sizzle you like a sausage in the Sahara.

“It’s got planets so cold they’ll freeze you like an ice cream in Alaska.

“It’s got asteroids and atoms, moons and meteors, comets and kilonova.

“It’s got plenty more but you’ll have to see for yourself!

“It’s That Book About Space Stuff!

“That Book About Space Stuff is a richly illustrated, scaffolded text with humourous and helpful pictures to take readers for a journey through space, starting with the Sun and finishing with Spacetime and the Multiverse. This is a must-have for any space enthusiast, young or old!

“Reader beware! Once you’ve begun reading a ‘That Book’ it’s hard to stop!”

Highly Commended (self-published): Phoenix and Ralph, Barbie Robinson and Ian Robertson (ill.)

Shortlist:

• Neil, the Amazing Sea Cucumber, Amelia McInerney and Lucinda Gifford (ill.) (Affirm Kids)

The Anne Edgeworth Fellowship Award

Jemima Parker and Gill Watson shared the Anne Edgeworth Writer’s Fellowship, worth $5,000 and provided to an emerging writer in the Canberra Region to advance their development in the craft of writing. Each receives $2,500.

Jemima Parker was recognised for her creative achievements in children’s literature, a genre in which she has developed considerable skill. She aims to extend her talents into writing young adult fiction, which promises to be a stepping stone for further creative literary accomplishments. This fellowship will enable her to dedicate more time to undertaking a mentorship with Pip Harry, whose guidance has been inspirational for her development.

Gill Watson received the award to provide her with mentorship, editorial assistance, and the opportunity to deepen her understanding of the editing and publishing process from industry professionals. Gill is making significant progress towards completing the first draft of her novel, This Could be Ours – a Künstlerroman set in the Canberra and Queanbeyan-Palerang region.

The Fellowship is provided annually by the Anne Edgeworth Trust, and is administered by MARION.

Anne Edgeworth (also known as Anne Godfrey-Smith) was a prominent poet, writer, theatre director, academic, conservationist, and activist for reconciliation. She died in June 2011.

The June Shenfield National Poetry Award

The June Shenfield Poetry Award is an annual, nationwide prize established in memory of the poet June Shenfield. This award encourages the writing, publishing, and reading of poetry, specifically among emerging Australian poets.

• Judge: Dan Hogan
• First Place: ‘Momentum’, Cate Furey (ACT) – $1,000
• Second Place: ‘Wasabi Peas’, Lucinda Ferguson (NSW) – $700
• Third Place: ‘Now Who Let These Thoughts In?’, Hayden William (NSW) – $500

The MARION Fellowship Award

Callie Doyle-Scott received the MARION Fellowship Award, which recognises an Australian emerging writer from any state or territory, and offers them full program access and some co-designed development for their practice with MARION’s creative producer, Zhi Cham, where appropriate.

“Callie Doyle-Scott is a writer and game maker,” Zhi Cham said. “Callie’s experience in game-making gives her a keen ability for world-building. Her novel manuscript, Soup for the Moon, impressed us with its immersive and enchanting quality. We are thrilled to be able to support Callie in her journey of bringing Soup for the Moon to life. One of these ways will be through a mentorship with Isobelle Carmody, who enthusiastically agreed upon reading Callie’s highly original and exciting sample. We look forward to supporting and growing Callie’s writing practice through the MARION Fellowship Award.”

The Anderson Pender Foundation enabled prizes across all award categories this year. Each of the nine winners in the Book Awards section, as well as the Marion Halligan Award winner, received $500.