The winners of "The Age" Book of the Year Awards were announced at the Melbourne Writers' Festival opening event on Friday 21st August.
The winners were:
Fiction
Things We Didn't See Coming - Steven Amsterdam (Sleepers)
Non-Fiction
Down to the Crossroads: On the Trail of the 2008 US Election - Guy Rundle (Penguin)
Poetry
Better than God - Peter Porter (Picador)
Steven Amsterdam also won Book of the Year, which is basically the best of the best. Last weekend I heard that the publishers of Things We Didn't See Coming were rather over-the-moon about the novel's shortlisting. They may not draw a sober breath for a week after this win. And good luck to them. For a small press to pick up a major award such as this with their first published novel says a lot about their publishing nous.
