Latest news with #BookoftheYear
The Age
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Winning words warm the night at The Age Book of the Year awards
In a buzzing Athenaeum Theatre on Collins Street last night it was my great privilege to present The Age's Book of the Year prize at the opening of the Melbourne Writers Festival. After seeing so many people gather to celebrate great stories and hearing the passionate yet humble winners speak so generously about their work, I left the theatre feeling warm in spite of the cool night air. Melburnians – and Age readers in particular – love a good book almost as much as they love a festival. The Age Book of the Year award has been handed out more than 40 times now, although there was a hiatus until a few years ago when it was revived. One of the country's coveted literature prizes, it includes both a fiction and non-fiction award, each worth $10,000. Thanks must go to the Copyright Agency's cultural fund for its ongoing financial support of these prizes, for which both The Age and the literary community are extremely grateful. The judges, too, deserve our gratitude for their time and dedication. Our publication, and particularly our arts and culture team, are proud of The Age's long history covering books and supporting writers across the country. Credit for this history must go to my predecessors who recognised the need to support writers and writing through festivals such as the Melbourne Writers Festival, prizes like The Age Book of the Year, and ongoing coverage of the sector. People such as Jason Steger, Kylie Northover, Melanie Kembrey, Kate Lahey and many other members of our newsroom continue to sustain our literature coverage. Loading I firmly believe publications like ours have a duty to support and enthusiastically encourage reading by people of all ages. Engaging with thought-provoking stories is an addiction we are happy to encourage as it improves individuals and enriches society. We welcome debate and discussion of complex and challenging ideas, whether they live in our pages or those of an unclosable novel. On the question of age range, I left last night's Writers Festival function with renewed hope that quality writing is not only the preserve of stereotypical chin-stroking beatniks. Of the two authors to win The Age Book of the Year prizes last night, one, Rodney Hall, is 89. The other, Lech Blaine, is in his early 30s and grew up in a pub in rural Queensland. Two very different authors united by their talent with the written word (and their home state).
Perth Now
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
RecipeTin Eats founder victorious following recipe feud
RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi has claimed victory over rival Brooke Bellamy at the Australian Book Industry Awards in the latest chapter of the celebrity cook showdown. The adored author from Sydney's Northern Beaches took home the prestigious prize for Illustrated Book of the Year on Wednesday night for her most recent book, RecipeTin Eats: Tonight. Brisbane baker and social media sensation Bellamy was nominated in the same category for her controversial cookbook Bake with Brooki, which Maehashi claims contains several plagiarised recipes. Other authors have also accused Bellamy of stealing recipes, including US-based baker Sally McKenny. Bellamy has denied all accusations and did not attend the award ceremony. Maehashi beat five finalists including Bellamy to take home the award, with the cookbook selling more than 78,000 copies in its first week on shelves. Nagi Maehashi won illustrated book of the year for RecipeTin Eats: Tonight. Credit: AAP The cookbook writer appeared unfazed by the feud that has captured global attention, as she took to social media this morning to celebrate her monumental win and thank her team. 'Thank you @abia_awards for the honour.' 'To my team - thank you for your support for all those months I disappeared into the book making black-hole (and all that Moroccan lamb and seafood pie you taste tested🤣),' she wrote on Instagram. Bellamy is yet to comment on the loss.
South China Morning Post
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Butter by Asako Yuzuki, novel about a serial killer, hailed as feminist outside Japan
Butter, a cult Japanese bestseller by Asako Yuzuki inspired by the real-life case of a serial killer convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers, is being hailed overseas for its exploration of misogyny, fatphobia and sexism in modern Japan. Advertisement The English translation of Yuzuki's book, based on the 'Konkatsu Killer' Kanae Kijima , has created a buzz in Britain, with sales reaching some 280,000 copies and major bookstore chain Waterstones naming it 'Book of the Year' for 2024. Yuzuki, 43, says she has been pleasantly surprised by the reception of her book overseas as a feminist novel , as opposed to the focus in Japan on how she had depicted Kijima's serial killings. The protagonist of Butter is Rika Machida, a Tokyo-based journalist in her thirties who investigates the case of a female food enthusiast-turned-serial killer. Manako Kajii, also known as Kajimana, has been convicted of the murders of three lonely businessmen she is said to have seduced with her home-cooked meals.
Saudi Gazette
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Real-life shipwreck story wins major book award
LONDON — The true story of a British couple who spent four months adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean, after their boat was sunk by a whale, has been named the best book of last year at a prestigious ceremony. Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards, on tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who sold their Derbyshire bungalow to build a boat and set sail for New Zealand, in 1972, but had to survive at sea for 118 days after it Bill Bryson, who chaired the judges, called it "an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit".The Baileys set off in search of adventure in 1972 but struck disaster the following year, en route to the Galapagos the whale cracked a hole in their boat's hull, they had time to deploy their 4ft (1.2m) life raft and rescue a small amount of crafted a fishing line, using a safety pin from a first-aid kit and a piece of string, and survived on raw fish, turtles and small also invented card and word games and made dominoes out of scraps of paper, to keep their minds a journalist, came across the Baileys on a website dedicated to castaway stories, and set about researching their journey using Maralyn's diary and books Maurice published after their book won the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction category in January and has now won the overall Gold Prize for Book of the Year said: "Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story."It is a story of a marriage as much as of an adventure at sea, one that subtly explores the dynamics of a relationship under the greatest imaginable stress."Elmhirst's writing was "understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources", he other judges were novelist Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis."We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a non-fiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence," Bryson Nero Book Awards are the successors to the Costa Book Awards and were founded in 2023. — BBC
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Two Ukrainians shortlisted for Andersen International Literary Prize
Two Ukrainian writers have been shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen International Prize 2026. Source: National Library of Ukraine for Children Details: This year's nominees from Ukraine are writer Sashko Dermanskyi and artist and writer Kateryna Shtanko. The Ukrainian section of the International Board on Children's and Youth Books (IBBY) nominated them. The full list of nominees is not yet available. It will be published on 31 March. Sashko Dermanskyi is a children's writer and a member of Ukraine's National Union of Writers. He won the BBC Book of the Year 2018 competition in the Children's Book category and has won the all-Ukrainian Book of the Year award many times. Kateryna Shtanko is an artist and writer. In 2014, her children's book Dragons, Go! won the BBC Book of the Year Award. Every two years, the Hans Christian Andersen Prize is awarded to writers and artists who have made remarkable contributions to children's literature. It takes place on 2 April, Andersen's birthday. The highest award is the Gold Medal with a profile of the storyteller. Background: In 2024, a scandal erupted around the Andersen Prize. Russian Anastasia Arkhipova was supposed to be one of the jury members. However, after several countries protested and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark refused to patronise the prize, she was removed. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
