The NSW Premier's Literary Awards honour both new and familiar writers, and the novels, poems, biographies, histories, plays and screenplays that have delighted readers of all ages since 1979. Vietnamese-born writer Nam Le has won both Book of the Year and an award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The prizes were awarded for his debut novel The Boat – a collection of short stories that travel through different times and places. Mr Rees praised The Boat for portraying borders between cultures as superficial. “The author acknowledges that nations and cultures differ, often in profound ways. Yet through the small brushwork strokes that set each of his worlds in motion, he draws out what is common to all cultures – a longing for dignity and acceptance, the love of family and the desire for a better life,” Mr Rees said. Steve Toltz's A Fraction Of The Whole was awarded the People's Choice Award for Fiction. Joan London's The Good Parents took out the top prize for fiction and Chloe Hooper's The Tall Man – about the death in custody of a Palm Island man – won the non-fiction category. The awards were presented by Premier Nathan Rees at the New South Wales Art Gallery in Sydney last night.
For the full list of 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards and Translation Prize winners go to
http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/ Congratulations to all.