ACT Book of the Year
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Winner
 | Frank Bongiorno |  |
SYNOPSIS
In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia’s political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day.
Depicting a wonderful parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives – this enthralling account looks at the political insiders in the halls of power, as well as the agitators and outsiders who sought to shape the nation from the margins.
A work of political history like no other, Dreamers and Schemers will transform the way you look at Australian politics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank Bongiorno is the author of three acclaimed histories: Dreamers and Schemers, The Eighties and The Sex Lives of Australians. He is professor of history at the Australian National University and president of the Australian Historical Association.
Highly Commended
 | Marion Halligan |  |
SYNOPSIS
One morning, Lucy Halligan lay on her bed with her cat and went to sleep. Soon after, her heart stopped. But her mother, writer Marion Halligan, forced hers to keep beating.
More joy than sorrow, this profoundly moving memoir celebrates Lucy’s life, weaving together everyday details and treasured events.
Words for Lucy sees Marion at the peak of her writing powers, telling the story of a mother surviving the aftershocks of death and finding the space to live.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marion Halligan AM is an Australian writer and novelist. She has written twenty-three books, including six works of non-fiction and five short story collections, and one play. She has also served as chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council and the Australian National Word Festival. She was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM), General Division, in 2006 for services to literature and for her work in promoting Australian writing.
 | Julianne Lamond |  |
SYNOPSIS
Amanda Lohrey is a fearless and idiosyncratic writer whose award-winning career spans four decades. Her work is experimental, political, intimate and compelling. Lohrey provides an illuminating series of readings of key preoccupations across Lohrey's body of work. From the relationship of the personal to the political, masculinity and free will, human and non-human worlds and how reading shapes us, Lohrey traces a remarkable career across the contemporary literary landscape, and provides readers with an understanding of Lohrey's bold and singular style.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julieanne Lamond is a literary critic and member of the English faculty at Australian National University. She has published essays on Australian literature, reading history, and the relationship between literature and politics. She is co-editor of the journal Australian Literary Studies and lives on Ngunnawal land in Canberra. Author image courtesy of Hilary Wardhaugh
Shortlisted
 | Katrina Marson |  |
SYNOPSIS
Legitimate Sexpectations exposes the limits of the criminal justice system and the fault lines in our society when it comes to sex, sexuality, and relationships. Through storytelling that moves between heartbreak and hope, Marson makes the case for a cultural shift towards valuing sexual wellbeing and preventing sexual violence in the first place. In doing so, she calls on us all to play our part to ensure that people can expect sexual experiences that are not just free from violence, but far from violent.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katrina Marson has been researching the protective power of sex-ed to prevent sexual violence and safeguard sexual wellbeing for a decade. She has been a criminal lawyer since 2013, primarily in the areas of family violence and sexual offences. On secondment for two years, Katrina led the implementation of the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission's criminal justice recommendations in the ACT before returning to the ACT DPP as a senior prosecutor in the Sexual Offences Unit. She undertook a Churchill Fellowship in 2019 researching the implementation of relationships and sexuality education overseas. She is the lead researcher of primary prevention at Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy and is the President of the Relationships and Sexuality Education Alliance in the ACT.
 | Robert Bowker |  |
SYNOPSIS
After 50 years as an Australian diplomat, UN official, intelligence analyst, academic and company director working in and on the Middle East, Bob Bowker enjoys unique insights into the challenges, professional and personal, of representing Australia in the Arab world. In this occasionally light-hearted professional memoir, revealing something of the person behind the diplomat, he sets out his views and reflections on major Middle East issues and into what makes diplomacy in the Arab world effective. He also captures the complexity, the drama, the ambiguity and sometimes the absurdity of certain situations he faced as an Australian ambassador in the Arab world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Bowker retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2008 after a 37-year career working mostly on the Middle East. He was posted to Saudi Arabia from 1974 to 1976, and Syria from 1979 to 1981. He was Australian ambassador to Jordan (1989-1992). He was Director of External Relations and Public Information, and later Senior Adviser, Policy Research of UNRWA in 1997-1998, based in Gaza and Jerusalem. He was the Australian ambassador to Egypt (2005-2008) and non-resident Australian ambassador to Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Sudan.
He was DFAT scholar in residence at the Australian National University in 1994, working on questions relating to Middle East regional security; Visiting Reader at the Australian National University in 2004, teaching graduate courses on the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Persian Gulf security; Adjunct Professor from 2008 to 2016, teaching a graduate course on the politics of change in Egypt and the Arab Middle East, and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies from 2017 to 2019. He is a frequent commentator in the media on the Middle East.
 | Niki Savva |  |
SYNOPSIS
Between 2013 and 2022, Tony Abbott begat Malcolm Turnbull, who begat Scott Morrison. For nine long years, Australia was governed by a succession of Coalition governments rocked by instability and bloodletting, and consumed with prosecuting climate and culture wars while neglecting policy. By the end, among his detractors -- and there were plenty -- Morrison was seen as the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. Worse even than Tony Abbott, who lasted a scant two years in the job, whose main legacy was that he destroyed Julia Gillard, then himself, and then Turnbull. Morrison failed to accept the mantle of national leadership, or to deal adequately with the challenges of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. He thought reform was a vanity project. He said he never wanted to leave a legacy. He got his wish. Niki Savva, Australia's renowned political commentator, author, and columnist, was there for all of it. In The Road to Ruin, she revealed the ruinous behaviour of former prime minister Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, that led to the ascension of Turnbull. In Plots and Prayers, she told the inside story of the coup that overthrew Turnbull and installed his conniving successor, Morrison. Now she lays out the final unravelling of the Coalition at the hands of a resurgent Labor and the so-called teal independents that culminated in the historic 2022 election. With her typical access to key players, and her riveting accounts of what went on behind the scenes, Bulldozed is the unique final volume of an unputdownable and impeccably sourced political trilogy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Niki Savva is one of the most senior correspondents in the Canberra Press Gallery. She was twice political correspondent for The Australian, and headed up the Canberra bureaus of both The Herald Sun and The Age. When family tragedy forced a career change, she became Peter Costello’s press secretary for six years and was then on John Howard’s staff for three. Her work has brought her into intimate contact with Australia’s major political players for more than 40 years. She is a regular columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and often appears on ABC TV’s Insiders.
Her first book, So Greek, a memoir, provided rare insights into the relationship between Howard and Costello, and the workings of their government. The Road to Ruin, the first volume in what became her trilogy about Australia’s Coalition governments that ruled from 2013 to 2022, was a major bestseller, and won the 2016 General Nonfiction Book of the Year Award at the Australian Book Industry Awards. The second volume, Plots and Prayers, which dealt with the government led by Malcolm Turnbull and the ascension of Scott Morrison, was also a bestseller. The third volume, Bulldozed, which dealt with the demise of the government led by Scott Morrison Turnbull and the ascension of Anthony Albanese, was also a major bestseller and won the 2023 General Nonfiction Book of the Year Award at the Australian Book Industry Awards.
In March 2017, the Melbourne Press Club presented Niki with a lifetime achievement award for ‘outstanding coverage of Australian politics as a reporter, columnist and author’.
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