The Australian Women\'s Weekly - June 2018

Winning women

After a year in which
forces that have
clipped the wings of
women have dominated
headlines, the writers and
publishers of Australia rose
up and showed the
strength of the female
voice. The industry has
honoured the stories that
captured the hearts of
readers this year, such as
Sarah Schmidt’s See What I
Have Done and The Trauma
Cleaner: One Women’s
Extraordinary Life in Death,
Decay and Disaster, by
Sarah Krasnostein. The
Weekly’s own country cook,
Maggie Beer, and Professor

Ralph Martins, were

awarded the prize for

Illustrated Book of the Year

for Maggie’s Recipe for Life.

But the biggest winner of

the night was debut author

Jessica Townsend, whose

sprawling fantasy

Nevermoor: The Trials of

Morrigan Crow has earned

her comparisons with J. K.

Rowling. Jessica ascended

the ABIA stage three times

to collect statuettes

including the overall prize,

Book of the Year. Her novel

is already a global hit, with

20th Century Fox optioning

the film rights. Backstage, a

thrilled Jessica put the

book’s success down to

the fact that she had fun

writing it. “I wrote the

thing that I loved.”

The Weekly’s Editor-at-

Large and Books Editor,

Juliet Rieden, presented

Michael Robotham with

the award for General

Fiction Book of the Year

for The Secrets She Keeps.

Rock icon Jimmy Barnes

picked up an award for

Working Class Man.

“The act of sitting down

and writing has

started a healing

process in me that

has been long

overdue,” Barnes said.

Women shone at the 2018 Australian Book Industry

Awards, proudly sponsored by The Weekly.

ABIA

GALA

NIGHT

From top: Annabel

Crabb, Leigh Sales

and Maggie Beer;

Juliet Rieden and

Michael Robotham;

Jessica Townsend.