Queensland Literary Awards winners for 2022

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch congratulated the 2022 winning writers announced tonight as part of the 2022 Queensland Literary Awards.

“The Queensland Literary Awards recognise the importance of telling and sharing our stories, celebrating top talent and inspiring readers everywhere,” the Premier said.

“Quentin Beresford’s book Wounded Country: The Murray-Darling Basin – a contested history has won the Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance, highlighting how we must learn from our past and cherish and respect culture and country.

“Telling the truth about our often uncomfortable history through literature is an important step in working towards reconciliation, and comes at a time when our Government on behalf of all Queenslanders has made significant commitments to advance our Path to Treaty.”

The Premier also acknowledged the two winners of the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards for outstanding Queensland writers up to 30 years of age, who will each receive $10,000 plus career development support.

“It’s good to see multi-talented Brisbane writers and publishers – founding editor of the zine Woolf Pack, Rebecca Cheers, and founder of print publication PLATYPUS, Marilena Hewitt – receive these awards for their passionate work around accessibility, community and cultural truth-telling in the creating and publishing spaces,” the Premier said.

“Congratulations to all the winners for their exceptional creativity and inspiration that tell the great stories of our cultural diversity.

"The LNP cut funding for the Premier’s Literary Awards within days of coming to government in 2012, and my government was pleased to restore funding to this important program after coming to office.”

Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch congratulated Melissa Ashley, Geneve Flynn and Mary-Rose MacColl as the three recipients of the Queensland Writers Fellowships for 2022, each to receive $15,000, plus career development support.

“These three extraordinary Queensland writers have several acclaimed works to their names including The Birdman’s Wife, Swimming Home and Tortured Willows: Bent, Bowed, Unbroken not the least among them,” the Minister said.

“Queensland Writers Fellowships give these authors support to tap into even greater creative potential and I look forward to following their trajectory as they devote time and space to researching and writing their next books.”

Minister Enoch said the Queensland Literary Awards paid special tribute to writers of all levels of achievement, and diversity.

“The Queensland Literary Awards enrich our lives with remarkable stories and help to build a more inclusive and respectful future for Queensland,” Minister Enoch said.

“The narratives captured on a page can inspire us to reflect on the truths of our shared history.

“These awards deliver on the priorities of Creative Together 2020-2030: A 10-Year Roadmap for arts, culture and creativity, by elevating First Nations arts, sharing our stories and celebrating our storytellers,” the Minister said.

“The  Palaszczuk Government supports State Library of Queensland to provide opportunities for writers to progress their works and to champion meaningful and iconic stories for readers.”        

State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald AM said the Queensland Literary Awards give voice to a diversity of perspectives and ideas that connect us all.

“State Library has managed the awards in collaboration with sponsors, donors, and the literary community since 2014. We are proud to continue nurturing and championing the careers of all Queensland writers, from emerging to established,” Ms McDonald said.

For more information: Queensland Literary Awards

2022 Queensland Literary Awards winners

Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance
Awarded to an outstanding work, by an Australian writer, focused on documenting, discussing or highlighting a uniquely Queensland story. Prize: $25,000

• Wounded Country: The Murray-Darling Basin – a contested history (NewSouth) by Quentin Beresford

Queensland Writers Fellowships

Awarded to three Queensland authors to advance a writing project over a 12-month period. Prize: three Fellowships of $15,000 each, plus professional development support to the value of $4,500

• Melissa Ashley
• Geneve Flynn
• Mary-Rose MacColl

Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards
Awarded to two outstanding Queensland writers up to 30 years of age. Prize: two awards of $10,000, plus career development support to the value of $2,500 each

• Rebecca Cheers
• Marilena Hewitt

The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award
Awarded to an outstanding work of fiction by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• The Other Half of You (Hachette Australia) by Michael Mohammed Ahmad

The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award
Awarded to an outstanding work of non-fiction by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• Lies, Damned Lies (Ultimo Press) by Claire G. Coleman

Children’s Book Award
Awarded to a work, suitable for children up to 12 years old, by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• Kunyi (Magabala Books) written and illustrated by Kunyi June Anne McInerney.

Griffith University Young Adult Book Award
Awarded to a work, suitable for young adults aged 13 to 19, by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• Girls in Boys’ Cars (Pan Macmillan) by Felicity Castagna

University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection
Awarded to an outstanding collection of short stories by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• Dark as Last Night (University of Queensland Press) by Tony Birch

Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection
Awarded to an outstanding collection of poetry by an Australian writer. Prize: $15,000

• Stasis Shuffle (Hunter Publishers) by Pam Brown

Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer

Awarded for an outstanding manuscript by an unpublished Queensland writer. Prize: $15,000, plus publication with University of Queensland Press

• Yen-Rong Wong, ‘Things Left Unsaid’

David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer Awarded for an outstanding manuscript by an unpublished Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer. Prize: $15,000, plus publication with University of Queensland Press

• Mykaela Saunders for ‘Always Will Be – stories of Goori sovereignty, from the future(s) of the Tweed’

The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award

Awarded to an outstanding book by a Queensland author, taken from eligible books entered in the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories. The winner of The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award is determined by public vote. Prize: $10,000

• Another Day in the Colony (University of Queensland Press) by Chelsea Watego

ENDS

Media contact – Bill Walker 0437 859 987