Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA), in partnership with Australia’s leading essential building and infrastructure services provider ARA Group, is excited to announce the winners of the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
The winner of the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize – Adult Category is Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko (University of Queensland Press)
The winner of the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize – Children and Young Adult (CYA) Category is Spies in the Skies by Beverley McWilliams (Pantera Press).
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EDENGLASSIE BY MELISSA LUCASHENKO
University of Queensland Press
ABOUT MELISSA LUCASHENKO
Melissa Lucashenko is a Goorie (Aboriginal) author of Bundjalung and European heritage. Her first novel was published in 1997 and since then her work has received acclaim in many literary awards. Killing Darcy won the Royal Blind Society Award and was shortlisted for an Aurealis award. Her sixth novel, Too Much Lip, won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance. It was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Stella Prize, two Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, two Queensland Literary Awards and two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Melissa is a Walkley Award winner for her non-fiction, and a founding member of human rights organisation Sisters Inside. She writes about ordinary Australians and the extraordinary lives they lead. Her latest book is Edenglassie.
QUOTE FROM MELISSA
“I am thrilled and delighted to be awarded the 2024 HNSA Historical Novel Prize. All my previous books have contained some historical elements, but Edenglassie is my first foray into historical fiction proper. I never dreamed shifting genres would have this wonderful result. The ARA Prize is a powerful tool to help shift the Australian national narrative towards a truer history, one which includes all people on this continent.”
ABOUT EDENGLASSIE
In this epic novel set in Brisbane when First Nations people still outnumber the colonists, award-winning Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko tells two extraordinary stories set five generations apart.
When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white justice.
Two centuries later, fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny. Together they care for obstinate centenarian Granny Eddie, and sparks fly, but not always in the right direction. What nobody knows is how far the legacies of the past will reach into their modern lives.
In this brilliant epic, Melissa Lucashenko torches Queensland’s colonial myths, while reimagining an Australian future.
FROM THE JUDGING PANEL
The judging panel for the Adult Category included Tony Maniaty (Chair), Meenakshi Bharat, Sienna Brown, Catherine Chidgey and Michael Williams.
According to Chair, Tony Maniaty: Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie is a fiercely original exploration of Australia’s past and its enduring consequences – an ambitious, epic novel that cracks what the author calls the ‘racist mythmaking’ that has painted Aboriginal people so negatively.
The novel weaves together two powerful streams – 19th century colonialism, and contemporary Indigenous existence in Australia. Lucashenko’s deft handling of these dual timelines illuminates the brutal realities of colonisation while celebrating the resilience of Indigenous cultures. While the novel is geographically specific, and wonderfully so, painting vivid images of South-East Queensland ‘then and now’, there’s a strong sense of the universal, showing the often-tragic impacts of displacement across history.
Lucashenko’s deep research into the colonial history of Moreton Bay in the 1850s shines through, as does the deep love between the towering Mulanyin, arriving from the Nerang region, and Nita, an orphaned Moreton Bay woman who works for family of Tom Petrie, a man of integrity caught up in the culture war of his time.
In the contemporary strand, Edenglassie sees the no-nonsense Eddie Blanket in a Brisbane hospital, attended by her very feisty relative Winona; both become engaged in contemporary Brisbane life, one at a personal level and the other more politically, yet equally with enduring scepticism.
Across the novel the characters – historical figures and those assembled into life by Lucashenko’s vivid imagination – spring from the page with vitality and conviction. In both eras, concepts of tradition and idealism are confronted, often brutally, with rising tensions, violence and grief. The novel’s climactic ending is a powerful convergence of the narrative threads, offering an intensely moving revelation that leaves readers to reflect on the impact of history and the possibility of healing and renewal.
Written with the wit, heart and intelligence that define Lucashenko’s work and here amount to virtuoso storytelling, Edenglassie a timely work that enriches the landscape of historical fiction.
SPIES IN THE SKIES BY BEVERLEY McWILLIAMS
Pantera Press
ABOUT BEVERLEY MCWILLIAMS
Beverley McWilliams loves sharing history with young children. In August 2019, she published her debut picture book Born to Fly, which received a notable commendation from the CBCA.
Beverley’s writing has also been published online and in magazines, and she is a regular contributor to The School Magazine, Australia’s longest-running literary publication for children.
Beverley is the event coordinator for the Society Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI SA) and a member of the Australian Society Authors. She lives by the beach in beautiful South Australia with her family and menagerie of pets who provide endless inspiration.
QUOTE FROM BEVERLEY
‘I feel so privileged to be the recipient of the ARA Historical Novel Prize. Historical fiction makes history accessible and engaging for young readers, providing them with a doorway into the past. It is wonderful to see historical fiction being celebrated, and I am thrilled that Spies in the Sky has been recognised for this prestigious award.’
ABOUT SPIES IN THE SKIES
Royal Blue is a royal racing pigeon from a long line of champions. Every morning he wakes in his comfortable loft at Sandringham House, eats the very best seeds and spends the day training with his best friend to be the fastest and strongest pigeon in Britain.
But there’s a war going on, and things are changing. Then one day the King himself comes to the loft and chooses Blue for a very special assignment.
As Blue goes on missions, helping with rescues, carrying secret messages and facing dangers he never could have imagined, one thing will become clear: never underestimate a pigeon.
FROM THE JUDGING PANEL
The judging panel for the CYA Category were Anna Ciddor (Chair), Danielle Clode and Lystra Rose.
According to Chair, Anna Ciddor, she and fellow judges, Lystra Rose and Danielle Clode, had no trouble agreeing on the winning title, despite the tough competition. Spies in the Sky by Beverley McWilliams offers everything they could wish for a children’s historical novel. The gripping story arc carries readers through to a satisfying and uplifting ending, and the historical content, based on in-depth research into pigeons used as spies in World War II, is a crucial part of both the plot and the setting, creating a seamless immersive experience. Although Beverley McWilliams tells the story from the pigeons’ point of view, she has made the clever decision not to restrict herself to realistic pigeon behaviour. Instead, her anthropomorphic approach allows the book to explore important themes for children such as friendship issues, learning how to be a team player, courage and empathy. A thought-provoking, enjoyable and uplifting historical novel, exactly right for this age group.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is worth a total of $150,000 in prize monies. The Prize awards $100,000 to the Adult category winner, with an additional $5,000 awarded to each of the remaining two shortlisted authors. In the Children and Young Adult (CYA) category, the winner receiveS $30,000, while the two shortlisted authors will receive $5,000 each.
The prize is open to novels where the majority of the narrative takes place at least 50 years ago by authors who are Australian or New Zealand citizens or residents.
This year the ARA Historical Novel Prize increased its prize pool by 50% to $150,000, made possible through the generous patronage of ARA Group. Edward Federman, the ARA Group Founder, Executive Chair, Managing Director and patron of the arts says:
“It has been a pleasure to be involved in making a long-lasting contribution to the arts, particularly to the historical fiction genre that has not always received the attention it rightly deserves.
Our hope is that the ARA Historical Novel Prize will not only make a considerable difference to the lives of this year’s winning authors, but also shine a light on the historical fiction genre and the work of all entrants across Australia and New Zealand.”
ABOUT ARA GROUP
The ARA Group provides essential services for facilities and infrastructure throughout Australia and New Zealand. ARA takes pride in their engagement within the community through the ARA Endowment Fund. The Fund is committed to making a meaningful difference by donating 100% of its annual interest earnings to The Go Foundation, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation and The David Lynch Foundation. Since 2017, the ARA Group has sponsored the Historical Novel Society Australasia’s biennial conferences. ARA is Principal Partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Monkey Baa Theatre, the Story Factory, and Crown Sponsor of Taronga Zoo.
