All That I Am
The $50,000 prize was presented at Queensland’s State Library last night. Recently the book won Book of the Year and Literary Fiction Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards as well as the 2012 Barbara Jefferis Award, having already picked up the Independent Bookseller’s Award for Best Debut Fiction and the Indie Book of the Year.
The novel tells the story of an elderly Sydney woman’s role in the opposition to Hitler and the Nazi Party in the years leading up to World War II.
It was inspired by the experiences of one of Funder’s friends who spent years in solitary confinement for trying to smuggle anti-Nazi leaflets into Germany.
The judges praised the book for reminding readers of Australias long history of experiences with exile, dislocation and removal. Did you pick it as the winner?