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Winner Booker Award, Indie Book AwardsLONGLIST ANNOUNCED

FOR THE 2018 INDIE BOOK AWARDS
Celebrating 10 Years of the Indie Book Awards

Australian independent booksellers, members of Leading Edge Books, are thrilled to announce their Longlist for the Indie Book Awards 2018!

In 2018, we’re celebrating 10 years of the Indie Book Awards. Established in 2008, what makes the Indie Book Awards unique is that it’s the Australian independent booksellers themselves who nominate their best titles for the year; select the Longlist; judge the Shortlist and vote for the Category and Book of the Year winners – the entire process is based on the selection and involvement of independent booksellers, members of the Leading Edge Books group, making it one of the most democratic awards in the Australian literary calendar.

The Awards recognise and celebrate the indie booksellers as the number one supporters of Australian authors. What makes our Indies uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Aussie books of the past year to their customers and readers, is their incredible passion and knowledge, their contribution to the cultural diversity of the Australian reading public by recommending beyond the big brands, and their love of quality writing.

The Awards cover the best Australian books in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction, Children’s books (up to 12yo), Young Adult (12+) and Illustrated Non-Fiction (new for 2018).

Since the Awards inception ten years ago, Indies have a well-deserved reputation for picking the best of the best in Australian writing. Past Book of the Year winners have gone on to be bestsellers and win other major literary awards. Previous winners include: The Dry by Jane Harper; The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; The Bush by Don Watson; The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan; The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; All That I Am by Anna Funder; The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do; Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey; and Breath by Tim Winton.

Galina Marinov, National Group Manager of Leading Edge Books says: We are hugely excited to announce the Indie Book Awards 2018 Longlist – one of the strongest lists we’ve seen since the Awards inception ten years ago. The list is a tribute to the exceptional quality of Australian writing and publishing and the skills and knowledge of independent booksellers in choosing the best. In recognition of the high standard of locally published illustrated books, this year we’ve introduced a category award for Illustrated Non-Fiction.

Announced early in the calendar year, The Indie Book Awards are now considered the forerunners of all major Australian book awards.

The Longlist for the Indie Book Awards 2018 is:

FICTION LONGLIST

A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey (Penguin Books Australia)
The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
First Person by Richard Flanagan (Random House Australia)
Force of Nature by Jane Harper (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Choke by Sofie Laguna (Allen & Unwin)
The Passage of Love by Alex Miller (Allen & Unwin)
The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham (Hachette Australia)
Taboo by Kim Scott (Pan Macmillan Australia)
On the Java Ridge by Jock Serong (Text Publishing)
City of Crows by Chris Womersley (Pan Macmillan Australia)

NON-FICTION LONGLIST

Danger Music by Eddie Ayres (Allen & Unwin)
Working Class Man by Jimmy Barnes (HarperCollins Australia)
The Museum of Words by Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
Saga Land by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
Mrs Kelly by Grantlee Kieza (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein (Text Publishing)
Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massy (University of Queensland Press)
Detours by Tim Rogers (HarperCollins Australia)
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Tracker by Alexis Wright (Giramondo Publishing)

DEBUT FICTION
The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey (Allen & Unwin)
Wimmera by Mark Brandi (Hachette Australia)
Australia Day by Melanie Cheng (Text Publishing)
Terra Nullius by Claire Coleman (Hachette Australia)
The Last Man in Europe by Dennis Glover (Black Inc.)
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Clubby Sophie Green (Hachette Australia)
To Become a Whale by Ben Hobson (Allen & Unwin)
Storyland by Catherine McKinnon (HarperCollins Australia)
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt (Hachette Australia)
Half Wildby Pip Smith (Allen & Unwin)

ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION

Maggie’s Recipe For Life by Maggie Beer with Professor Ralph Martins (Simon & Schuster Australia)
Ostro by Julia Busuttil Nishimura (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Ferment by Holly Davis (Murdoch Books)
Cornersmith: Salads and Pickles by Alex Elliott-Howery & Sabine Spindler (Murdoch Books)
Native: Art & Design with Australian Plants by Kate Herd & Jela Ivankovic-Waters (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Paris: Through a Fashion Eye by Megan Hess (Hardie Grant Books)
Beyond the Rock by Janelle McCulloch (Bonnier Publishing Australia)
Hummus & Co by Michael Rantissi & Kristy Frawley (Murdoch Books)
Dreamscapes by Claire Takacs (Hardie Grant Books)
Flowersmith by Jennifer Tran (Hardie Grant Books)

CHILDREN’S
Pig the Star by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Australia)
Mopoke by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)
I’m Australian Too by Mem Fox & Ronojoy Ghosh (Illus) (Scholastic Australia)
The Very Noisy Baby by Alison Lester (Affirm Press)
I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon (Allen & Unwin)
Tales From a Tall Forest by Shaun Micallef (Hardie Grant Egmont)
The Extremely Inconvenient adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty (Allen & Unwin)
Polly and Buster: The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster by Sally Rippin (Hardie Grant Egmont)
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Hachette Australia)
Florette by Anna Walker (Penguin Books Australia)

YOUNG ADULT
Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood & Simmone Howell (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian (Text Publishing)
Wilder Country by Mark Smith (Text Publishing)
Untidy Towns by Kate O’Donnell (University of Queensland Press)
Sparrow by Scot Gardner (Allen & Unwin)
The Silent Invasion by James Bradley (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Finding Nevo by Nevo Zisin (Walker Books Australia)
Draekora by Lynette Noni (Pantera Press)
My Life as a Hashtag by Gabrielle Williams (Allen & Unwin)
The Secret Science of Magic by Melissa Keil (Hardie Grant Egmont)

The Shortlist will be announced on 15 January 2018, with the Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner being announced at the Leading Edge Books Annual Conference Awards Dinner to be held on Monday 26 March, 2018 in Hobart, TAS. 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the Indie Book Awards. Come and celebrate with us.

The Indie Book Awards would like to gratefully acknowledge the 2018 Awards Sponsors: Affirm Press, Pan Macmillan Australia, Allen & Unwin, Hachette Australia, Thames & Hudson Australia, Bloomsbury Australia and Awards partner: Simon & Schuster Australia and Books+Publishing.

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