Celebrating books at the ABIAs
Representatives from ALIA, publishers, writers and lovers of reading attended the presentation of the Australian Book Industry Awards on 28 April 2021. These annual awards celebrate the exceptional work of Australian authors and publishers.
The full list of winners are as follows:
• Publisher of the Year: Penguin Random House Australia
• Small Publisher of the Year: University of Queensland Press
• Book of the Year: Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark by Julia Baird, published by HarperCollins Publishers
• Literary Fiction Book of the Year: A lonely girl is a dangerous thing by Jessie Tu, published by Allen & Unwin
• Bookshop of the Year: AVID Reader
• Audiobook of the Year: Tell Me Why by Archie Roach, published by Simon and Schuster + Sound Kitchen
• Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year: The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham, published by Penguin Random House Australia
• Biography Book of the Year: The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku, published by Pan Macmillan Australia
• Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year: Bindi by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Dub Leffler, published by Magabala Books
• Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year: The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay, published by Scribe Publications
• General Fiction Book of the Year: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, published by Affirm Press
• Book of the Year for Older Children: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, published by Allen & Unwin
• Book of the Year for Younger Children: The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor, published by Affirm Press
• Illustrated Book of the Year: In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky, published by Murdoch Books
• International Book of the Year: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, published by Bloomsbury
• General Non-fiction Book of the Year: Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark by Julia Baird, published by HarperCollins Publishers
• Book Retailer of the Year: Readings
• Rising Star of the Year: Pooja Desai
• Children’s Picture Book of the Year: Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Adam Briggs, Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra, published by Hardie Grant Children's Publishing
The awards were also attended by representatives of the Australia Reads campaign, an initiative which aims to increase the number of Australians reading, and the frequency with which they read. You can learn more about this campaign on pages 11-12.