The 2024 ABIA winners
The winners of the annual Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) were announced last night! Our congratulations to the winning authors, illustrators and publishers.
The 2024 ABIA Book Award winners are:
ABIA Book of the Year, General Nonfiction Book of the Year & Social Impact Book of the Year
The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo & Kerry O'Brien
Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo and acclaimed journalist Kerry O’Brien have written this The Voice to Parliament Handbook easy-to-follow guide for the millions of Australians who have expressed support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, but want to better understand what a Voice to Parliament actually means. 'We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.' These words from the Uluru Statement from the Heart are a heartfelt invitation from First Nations People to fellow Australians.
General Fiction Book of the Year
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho.
The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge – who makes it, who can access it, and what is lost when it is withheld. In this beautiful companion to the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams explores another little-known slice of history seen through women's eyes.
Illustrated Book of the Year
Australian Abstract by Amber Creswell Bell
There is no single neat definition of abstract art. It makes no attempt to represent reality; instead it has its own visual language using shape, colour and form with no rules. An explosion of creative expression and gestural force, Australian Abstract explores the constantly evolving genre and how it offers unparalleled artistic freedom, inviting deeply personal connection and interpretation from both artist and viewer.
The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
Hera Stephen is clawing through her mid-twenties, working as an underpaid comment moderator in an overly air-conditioned newsroom by day and kicking around Sydney with her two best friends by night. While everyone around her seems to have slipped effortlessly into adulthood, Hera is caught between feeling that she is purposefully rejecting traditional markers of success to forge a life of her own, and wondering if she's actually just being left behind.
Green Dot is witty, profound and painfully relatable in its exploration of solitude, desire, and the allure of chasing something that promises nothing. It is a must-read for fans of Meg Mason, Sally Rooney and Dolly Alderton.
Children's Picture Book of the Year (ages 0-6)
A Life Song by Jane Godwin & Anna Walker (illus.)
A musical journey from the time a child's life song first begins, through all its modulations, adding new verses and extra voices through the years, until it becomes their own unique composition - and one that is ultimately a part of the beautiful, grand and glistening score of the world. From the award-winning team that created classics such as Don't Forget, All Through the Year, Tilly and Starting School, comes an exquisite, universal and captivating picture book that carries us through a child's life journey on the magical metaphor of song.
Book of the Year for Younger Children (ages 7-12)
It's the Sound of the Thing by Maxine Beneba Clarke
This extraordinary collection celebrates the joy of language and features enticing and relatable poems about everyday life - the sounds of the block, the boredom of detention and the happenings in the schoolyard. It's the Sound of the Thing is an exuberant and evocative collection of poetry for young people from Maxine Beneba Clarke, one of Australia's most innovative and celebrated poets.
Book of the Year for Older Children (ages 13+)
Welcome to Sex! by Dr Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes
Welcome to Sex! is a frank, age-appropriate introductory guide to sex and sexuality for teens of all genders, from the creators of the best-selling guides Welcome to Your Period, Welcome to Consent and Welcome to Your Boobs. Inclusive, reassuring and all about keeping sex fun, real, and shame-free, with case studies, first-person accounts and questions from real teens; Welcome to Sex! will help readers navigate their sexual debuts with confidence!
Other winners include:
Biography Book of the Year
Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder
International Book of the Year
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Literary Fiction Book of the Year
Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton
Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year
Artichoke to Zucchini by Alice Oehr