Scott, Heiss nominated for Australian of the Year Awards

Friday, 2 November 2012 Books+Publishing

Authors Kim Scott and Anita Heiss are among the state and territory finalists for the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards.

Scott is one of four finalists from Western Australia in the running for the overall Australian of the Year Award. Scott has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award twice—in 2000 for Benang (Fremantle Press) and in 2011 for That Deadman Dance (Picador)—and he received the inaugural Western Australian of the Year Award earlier this year.

Heiss is one of the finalists from New South Wales for the Australia’s Local Hero Award. Heiss has won the Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature four times, and her most recent book Am I Black Enough For You? (Random House) won this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing.

Among the other finalists who have written books are Ita Buttrose (NSW finalist for Australian of the Year), author of A Passionate Life (Penguin), and Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy (NSW finalist for Young Australian of the Year), author of A Little Recipe for Success (Xlibris). Sarah Garnett, founder of the Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library, which gives away 2500 books a month, is one the NSW finalists for the Australia’s Local Hero Award.

The state and territory winners will be announced at events held throughout November across the country, ahead of the presentation of the national awards in Canberra on 25 January 2013. For more information about each of the finalists, click here.

Category: Local news