Melissa Lucashenko Wins $150K for her recent novel Edenglassie

Melissa Lucashenko's novel Edenglassie wins $150,000 in book prizes, praised for its powerful portrayal of Australia's history and Indigenous experiences.

on Oct 24, 2024

Melissa Lucashenko, a First Nations author, has recently achieved remarkable success with her sixth novel, Edenglassie, winning a total of $150,000 in book prizes in just 24 hours. This includes the prestigious $100,000 prize from the ARA Historical Novel Society Australasia, awarded on Wednesday, and the $50,000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award, which she received the day before. With these two latest accolades, Edenglassie has now won a total of seven awards.

Edenglassie was hailed as a "fiercely original exploration of Australia’s past and its enduring consequences." The novel intricately weaves together narratives from 19th-century colonialism and contemporary Indigenous experiences, challenging the "racist myth-making" that has historically misrepresented Aboriginal people. The judges praised Lucashenko's work for its wit, heart, and intelligence, calling it a timely addition to historical fiction.

Lucashenko, reflecting on her achievement, noted that she has earned more in the past two days than she has in the last thirty years combined. She described Edenglassie as her “passion project,” one she had long dreamed of writing, and expressed satisfaction with the finished product, stating she wouldn't change a single sentence.

Beginning the novel in 2019, Lucashenko wrote during a turbulent period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, devastating bushfires, and Queensland floods that nearly endangered her daughter's life. She emphasized that Edenglassie aims to provoke a reckoning about Australia’s history, asserting, “We didn’t land here in 2024 free of history.”

Additionally, Beverley McWilliams received the $30,000 award in the children and young adult category for her book Spies in the Sky, inspired by the true story of pigeons used in wartime.

This year, the ARA Group, the awards' patron, doubled the prize pool to $150,000, aiming to bring more recognition to the historical fiction genre and support the winning authors. Edward Federman, the company’s founder and executive chair, hopes this initiative will shine a spotlight on the significant contributions of historical fiction writers across Australia and New Zealand.