No doubt dining on quince and swan, Australia's
glitterati -
litterarti gathered in Sydney to honour the best and brightest local authors, publishers, booksellers and distributors and and - well you get the picture. Put it this way, 18 categories were awarded in Australia's equivalent of The Galaxy British Book Awards. It must have been an epic event.
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) is the peak industry body for Australian book, journal and electronic publishers. Established in 1948, the association is an advocate for all Australian publishers: large or small; commercial or non-profit; academic or popular; locally or overseas owned. They coordinate the Australian Book Industry Awards (
or ABIAs)
The shortlisted and winning entries comprising the 18 awards on offer are chosen by an academy of 150 booksellers and publishers who voted online in April/May 2009.
Given the kerfuffle with Book Price Wars in Australia, recession and the printed book as an endangered species, it was possibly an intense affair as rival booksellers chucked bits of garlic bread at each other and pouted strategically. Well, what else do you do on a Tuesday.
Tragic hopes that everyone took a moment off worrying to celebrate as some fabulous books, were recognised. At the end of the day we, the great unwashed and industry outsiders, are really interested in the books don't you know.
Book of the Year 2009

Commonwealth Prize Winner, The Slap, by Chris Tsiolkas won Book of the Year - no doubt the ever-gracious Tim Winton doesn't mind sharing the largess around, after all Breath might have missed out here but has already won the Miles Franklin, Age Book of the Year, Australian Indies etc.
Shaun Tan and Melina Marchetta were both honoured; Tan for Tales from Suburbia (loved it) in Illustrated Book category and Marchetta in the Older Readers for Boston Horn Globe winner Finnikin of the Rock. (Shaun Tan won a Globe last year for the marvellous The Arrival).
Nam le will never have to practise law again. His multi-award winner, The Boat, won the Newcomer of the Year Award -strange as he seems to have been around for ages now. The book has previously won the NSW Premier's Book of the Year, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the USA's Ainsfield-Wolf - and probably a few Tragic has forgotten.
Strangely enough, despite having five of the six nominations in the Chain Bookseller of the Year Award, Dymocks franchisees, who are leading the charge to deregulate the Australian industry, lost out to Melbourne's Hill of Content. Book Politics Down-Under? Nah..... Such things aside, if ever you are in Melbourne, check-out Hill of Content, it is a truly delicious bookshop -over 80 years old, which, by Aussie standards is quality vintage.
One of the things that Tragic likes about the awards is that beleaguered small publishers and book shops are recognised. One of his favourite champions, Black Books Inc, won Small Publisher of the Year 2009, (sponsored by Midland Typesetters- good on ya).
Aussie legend, Mem Fox, was in the winners circle with her charming book, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, winning the Younger Children's category. Tragic's children have always adored her books.
Other winners as detailed below. Book links to Fishpond books in Australia for more information. Tragic maintains a summary page at Literary Awards Australia - grab a coffee and a bagel, it could take a while to get through.
2009 Australian Book Industry Award Winners
Pixie O' Harris Award for distinguished service to Australian Children's Books - Helen Chamberlin
Lloyd O' Neil Award for outstanding service to the book industry - David Gaunt
Book of the Year 2009 and Literary Fiction Winner
Winner: The Slap, written by Christos Tsiolkas, published by Allen & Unwin
Also Winner: Commonwealth Writers' Award Book of the Year
At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of
people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event. In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye on to that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century. The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires. What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse.
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General Fiction Book of the Year 200
A Beautiful Place to Die, written by Malla Nunn, published by Macmillan Publishers Australia
When an Afrikaans police captain is murdered in a small South African country town, Detective Emmanuel Cooper must navigate his way through the labyrinthine racial and social divisions that split the community. And as the National Party introduces the laws to support the system of apartheid, Emmanuel struggles - much like Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko - to remain a good man in the face of astonishing p
ower. In a considered but very commercial novel, Malla Nunn combines a compelling plot with a thoughtful and complex portrayal of a fascinating period of history, illustrating the human desires that drive us all, regardless of race, colour or creed. "A Beautiful Place To Die" is the first of a planned series of novels featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper. More
Winner Newcomer of the Year (debut writer)
Also won: Dylan Thomas Prize - Ainsfield Wolf Book Award (USA) -NSW Premier's Book of the Year
The Boat, written by Nam Le, published by Penguin Australia - 
The Boat is a stunningly inventive, deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take the readers from the slums of Colombia tothe streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea, in a masterful display of literary virtuosity and feeling. In the opening story, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice," a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father's experiences in Vietnam — and what seems at first a satire on turning one's life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son.
More Winner Illustrated Book of the Year 2009
Tales From Outer Suburbia, written by Shaun Tan, published by Allen & Unwin 
Do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street? Or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass? Do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night? Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight. Fifteen intriguing illustrated stories about the mysteries that lurk below the surface of suburban life. More
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Winner Biography of the Year 2009
The Lucy Family Alphabet, written by Judith Lucy, published by Penguin Australia
Judith Lucy has been cracking jokes about her parents for years. But when a birth relative's casual comment implied that she despised them, Judith was shocked. Sure, she had been talking about Ann and Tony Lucy like they were one-dimensional Irish nutbags who'd ruined her life for years, but there was always more to them and her own feelings than that. So Judith decided it was time to write the full story of her parents and her childhood. And here it is, a reference book on all things Lucy from: A is for Adoption (she is) to C is for Cleaning (they didn't) and for Counselling (you'll find out why she had a lot of it) to D is for Diets (she was put on one at eight) .. More
Winner General Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009
The Tall Man, written by Chloe Hooper, published by Penguin Australia
In 2004 Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old resident of Palm Island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer. Within 45 minutes he was dead. The main suspect was well respected Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley. This is the story of what happened, the trial, and the Aboriginal myths around the case. More
Book of the Year for Younger Children (age range 0 to 8 years) 2009
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, written by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, published by Penguin 
As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes ...From two of the most gifted picture book creators of our time, here is a celebration of babies and the joy they bring to everyone, everywhere, all over the world! 'This is a perfect read-aloud picture book ...full of warmth and appeal. It was a joy to read and a pleasure to hold.' Margaret Hamilton, Bookseller and Publisher More
Winner Book of the Year for Older Children (age range 8 to14 years) 2009
Finnikin of the Rock, written by Melina Marchetta, published by Penguin Australia
At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere. He stands on the rock of three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe: but then the unspeakable! More
Publisher Categories in Full- Goodness knows they keep the whole show on the road- bless em'
Small Publisher of the Year 2009, sponsored by Midland Typesetters
- Black Dog Books Black Inc - Winner
- Giramondo Publishing Company
- University of Queensland Press
- Wakefield Press
Publisher of the Year 2009
Penguin Australia - Winner
Others: Allen & Unwin Hachette Australia Random House Australia The Text Publishing Company
Distributor of the Year 2009, sponsored by VISTA Computer Systems
Winner: United Book Distributors
Other finalists
Alliance Distribution Services Harper Entertainment Distribution Services Hinkler Books Random House Australia
Marketing Campaign of the Year 2009, in memory of John Cody, sponsored by Random House Australia
Winner: Penguin Australia, for Popular Penguins, written by various authors
Allen & Unwin, for Change of Heart, written by Jodi Picoult Allen & Unwin, for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, written by Mary Ann Shaffer Penguin Australia, for Breath, written by Tim Winton Random House Australia, for Occy, written by Mark Occhilupo & Tim Baker
International Success of the Year 2009, sponsored by Activair
- Penguin Australia, for various Sonya Hartnett titles -Winner
Other finalists - HarperCollins Publishers, for Hammer of God, written by Karen Miller
- Random House Australia, for The Floods, by Colin Thompson
Chain Bookseller of the Year 2009, sponsored by PacStream (Thorpe-Bowker & ECN Group)
- Vic Hill of Content- Winner
- Others: NSW/ACT Dymocks Sydney Qld Dymocks Indooroopilly SA/NT Dymocks Adelaide Tas Dymocks Hobart WA Dymocks Garden City (Booragoon)
Independent Bookseller of the Year 2009 *, sponsored by Thorpe-Bowker
- Vic Readings Books Music Film Carlton - Winner
- NSW/ACT Gleebooks
- Qld Riverbend Books & Teahouse SA/NT
- Imprints Booksellers Tas
- Fullers Bookshop Hobart
- WA Bookcaffe