Cobby Eckermann wins Deadly Award for ‘Ruby Moonlight’

Wednesday, 26 September 2012 Books+Publishing

Ali Cobby Eckermann has won the 2012 Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature for her verse novel Ruby Moonlight (Magabala).

This year’s Deadly Awards were announced at a special event at the Sydney Opera House on 25 September. The awards are presented to Indigenous Australians for excellence in the areas of music, sport, entertainment and community.

Cobby Eckermann was one of five authors shortlisted for this year’s literature category. Dub Leffler (Once There Was a Boy, Magabala), Chaise Eade (Second Life, Xlibris), Sue McPherson (Grace Beside Me, Magabala) and John Maynard (The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe: A History of Aboriginal Involvement with the World Game, Magabala) were also on the shortlist.

As previously reported by Bookseller+Publisher, Ruby Moonlight was published by Magabala earlier this year after Cobby Eckermann was awarded one of the inaugural kuril dhagun Indigneous writing fellowships offered through the State Library of Queensland’s black&write! project in 2011. Shortlisted author Sue McPherson was the other recipient of the inaugural fellowships, and her young adult novel Grace Beside Me was also published by Magabala this year.

In 2011, the Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature was awarded to Anita Heiss for her novel Paris Dreaming (Bantam). Heiss has won the award four times.

For more information about the Deadly Awards, click here.

Category: Local news