UQP authors longlisted for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize

Congratulations Melissa Lucashenko and Tony Birch, whose respective novels Edenglassieand Women & Childrenhave been longlisted for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize!

With prize money of $100,000, the ARA Historical Novel Prize gives Australian and New Zealand historical novelists the chance to be recognised in a class of their own, with the most significant prize purse for literature in Australasia.

The shortlist will be announced 02/10/2024, with winners announced on 23/10/2024.

The judging panel for the Adult Category includes Tony Maniaty (Chair), Meenakshi Bharat, Sienna Brown, Catherine Chidgey and Michael Williams.

According to Chair, Tony Maniaty:

‘The broad range of titles entered in this year’s prize reflected the vibrancy and solid health of the historical fiction genre in Australia and New Zealand. While a substantial number of entries continued to employ traditional modes of storytelling, the degree to which many writers were emboldened to break the boundaries of conventional historical fiction was apparent, and welcome.

These entries shifted away from a classic focus on historical movements and events into more abstract interpretations of history, giving strong voice to characters often left out of official records, as well as approaching topics often not addressed in this area of literature – inviting us to consider notions of ‘the past’ in new ways. Fashion, art and architecture, and a deep engagement with landscape and settings, were some examples of different and interesting entry points into the genre.

The variety of voices was wide and refreshing, coming from both established and emerging authors, and the quality of writing within our chosen longlist was considered exceptional. Overall, an outstanding crop of historical fiction.’

Women & Children by Tony Birch

It’s 1965 and Joe Cluny is living in a working-class suburb with his mum, Marion, and sister, Ruby, spending his days trying to avoid trouble with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school. One evening his Aunty Oona appears on the doorstep, distressed and needing somewhere to stay. As his mum and aunty work out what to do, Joe comes to understand the secrets that the women in his family carry, including on their bodies. Yet their pleas for assistance are met with silence and complicity from all sides. Who will help Joe’s family at their time of need?

Women & Children is a novel about the love and courage between two sisters, and a sudden loss of childhood innocence.

Edenglassieby Melissa Lucashenko

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.