‘Runt’ wins 2023 Indie Book of the Year

Runt by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin) has been named Book of the Year at the 2023 Indie Book Awards.

The winning titles in each category are:

Fiction

• Horse (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette)

Nonfiction 

• The Book Of Roads And Kingdoms (Richard Fidler, ABC Books)

Debut fiction

• All That’s Left Unsaid (Tracey Lien, HQ Fiction)

Illustrated nonfiction

• First Nations Food Companion (Damien Coulthard & Rebecca Sullivan, Murdoch Books)

Children’s

• Runt (Craig Silvey, A&U)

Young adult

• The Brink (Holden Sheppard, Text).

The winning titles were chosen by independent booksellers around the country, from shortlists announced in January. Each category winner receives $1000, while the book of the year winner receives an additional $1500.

This is the second time Silvey has won Indie Book of the Year after taking home the title for his novel Jasper Jones (A&U) in 2009. ‘It bears reiterating that I owe my career to the support of Australia’s independent bookstores,’ Silvey said.

The author added: ‘In the midst of our pandemic isolation, as we contended with uncertainty and adversity and anxiety, it was no surprise that we collectively sought out literature for comfort and guidance and, perhaps above all, a means to feel less confined and alone.

‘Thank goodness for our independent booksellers, who found inventive ways to keep us connected to stories, who confirmed our industry to be truly essential, who invited us to convene through virtual events, who delivered books via bicycle in the rain, who continued to passionately advocate for Australian stories, who kept us all together.’

Judge Jessie Hilton, a bookseller at Open Book in Mosman Park, WA, said: ‘Runt is a modern classic that reminded me of the work of E B White with a touch of Roald Dahl. Charming and full of heart, the characters that Craig Silvey has created are as memorable as those from his adult fiction. Annie Shearer and Runt gift the audience a story of friendship and courage that left me with tears in my eyes by the end of the book.’

Presented by Leading Edge Books, the Indie Book Awards ‘recognise and celebrate indie booksellers as the number-one supporters of Australian authors’.

The winner of last year’s Indie Book of the Year was Love Stories by Trent Dalton (Fourth Estate).

Category: Awards Local news