Dank’s ‘We Come with This Place’ wins ALS Gold Medal
The winner of the Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal is Debra Dank for We Come with This Place (Echo).
The judges called the book ‘a generous, moving gift to all Australians, showing ways of being in relationship with one another that build on foundations of truth telling, story and hope.’
Dank’s book was chosen from a shortlist of six announced in May. In the same month, it also won a record four awards at the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards. At that time, Dank told the ABC the awards ‘felt like a vindication of the validity, and the value, and the importance and the critical nature of stories from remote parts of Australia’. ‘There is a referendum coming along as to whether or not Aboriginal people have a Voice to Parliament; to have that level of representation,’ said Dank. ‘And I think there’s a particular kind of irony in that, because Aboriginal communities around the Beetaloo have been really struggling to have their voices heard around how fracking is impacting our livelihoods in these places, and we’re absolutely being silenced, and ignored and marginalised.’
‘It is a genuine thrill to see Debra’s beautiful work being recognised in this prestigious award,’ said Echo Publishing managing director Juliet Rogers of Dank’s ALS Gold Medal win. ‘We Come with This Place is a very special book, by a very special writer, and it is a rare privilege to publish a book that will be read by generations of Australians, now and into the future.’
Established in 1929, the ALS Gold Medal is Australia’s longest-running literary award and recognises the best contribution to literature in Australia in the preceding calendar year. Last year’s winner was Andy Jackson for his book of poetry Human Looking (Giramondo).
Also announced by the ALS were several other awards.
Mary Gilmore Award for the best first book of poetry
- Leave Me Alone (Harry Reid, Cordite Books)
- Highly commended: Ask No Questions (Eva Collins, Puncher & Wattmann) and When a Punk Becomes a Spunk (Gareth Morgan, Rabbit Poetry)
Walter McRae Russell Award for the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject (biennial) (joint winners)
- Lohrey (Julieanne Lamond, The Miegunyah Press) and
- The Life of Such Is Life (Roger Osborne, SUP)
Category: Awards Local news
