Geraldine Brooks has just picked up some hardware at the Australian Industry Book Awards. She recieved both Book of the Year and Literary Fiction Book of the Year for People of the Book, who’s heroine is Australian rare-book expert Hanna Heath who is offered the job of analysing and conserving the famed Jewish volume and in doing so becomes determined to unlock its history.
Other winners on the night were:
Newcomer of the Year - Pauline Nguyen for her cookbook/memoir Secrets of the Red Lantern
Illustrated Book of the Year - Maggie Beer for Maggie’s Harvest
Book of the Year for Younger Children - Li Cunxin’s children’s version of Mao’s Last Dancer
Book of the Year for Older Children and the International Success Award - John Flanagan for his novel Rangers Apprentice 7: Erak’s Ransom
General Non-Fiction Book of the Year - Kaz Cooke for Girl Stuff
Biography of the Year Award - Darleen Bungey for Arthur Boyd: A Life
