NSW Premier's Literary Award Winners in Library

The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox

Bushfire smoke and past events, equally suffocating, come to hang over future art student George during the gap between high school and university. When George’s estranged father tries urgently to contact her, she retreats to the safety of long kayak paddles on the harbour. There is tension, anxiety, uncertainty and grief around her. Her best friend Tess is pregnant at 18, and her other best friend Laz is heavily engaged in climate activism. Into this situation comes Calliope and the pull of desire, the possibility of love and understanding.

Helena Fox has drawn an exquisitely realised world around her protagonist — the shifting net of close relationships that surround George, supportive and restrictive in turn, and the palpable setting of Sydney in the difficult summer of 2019–20. When the traumatic events of George’s past are revealed, they are handed delicately to the reader at precisely the right moment. Fox’s writing hits hard in the body, walking a skilful line of truthfulness and hope.

The Quiet and the Loud handles its vital subject matter with grace and skill; a truly remarkable literary achievement.

Grace Notes by Karen Comer

At the point when their worlds should be opening up to new futures and new possibilities, violinist Grace and aspiring street artist Crux are feeling the crush of constraint from all directions — the daily new Covid restrictions perfectly mirrored by overprotective and domineering parents. When Crux takes a chance and paints Grace’s portrait from a social media post in a laneway, their parallel paths start to intersect.

Karen Comer takes us vividly and viscerally, into the time of Melbourne’s first Covid lockdowns. But this novel for young adults is much more than a story about the unbearable tension of that first year of the pandemic. Grace Notes takes its pulse from the burning hearts of its two young protagonists — full of possibility and yearning to be seen by those who understand their creative drive — and in a spray of verse that perfectly suits the story, it draws music from their lives.

We Could Be Something by Will Kostakis

Harvey’s dads are breaking up and he’s starting over in a brand-new city, working at his grandma’s cafe and looking after his ailing great-grandmother. Sotiris is a literary sensation after publishing his first book at the age of 17. But achieving the big dream isn’t everything he thought it would be as he struggles to keep his newfound name and budding career from sinking. The striking narratives of these two very different boys are effortlessly woven to form a rich tapestry of a novel that explores queer identity, cultural intersection and the many different forms of love.

We Could Be Something is a literary triumph deftly executed and perfectly pitched to its young audience. Will Kostakis is a master of his craft and takes the reader on an emotional journey with lyrical turns of phrase and heart-rending scenes. The voices of the two young narrators are authentically drawn and come alive against the vibrant setting, while their respective families provide a chaotically familiar dynamic that allows for the boys’ stories of self-discovery to shine through.

We Didn't Think It Through by Gary Lonesborough

Removed from his parents as a young child, Jamie has grown up in small-town NSW with his aunt and uncle, resentful of his parents’ apparent abandonment, heartsick at the low expectations his town has of young Aboriginal men, and frustrated with his own inertia. When Jamie and his mates make a rash decision one night, it’s as though he’s fallen into the town’s self-fulfilling prophecy. Will the love of his family and the promise of reconnection be enough to help him out the other side? Will the stories that have started to spill out of him allow him for once to be the protagonist?

With direct prose, and poetry drawn directly from the main character’s soul, Gary Lonesborough draws the reader into the raw and heartfelt experience of a young man struggling against the multiple biases stacked against him. It is a privilege to be taken so intimately inside his story, and guided through the urgent and timely themes with the author’s sure hand and lightness of touch.

Selfie by Allayne Webster

Tully can’t believe her luck when Dene Walker, a real, Insta-famous celebrity, picks her as a best friend. She loves feeling specially chosen and will do almost anything to make sure the two of them stay best friends forever. This younger YA aimed at early teens, explores the contemporary challenges of navigating fame and attention in the age of social media as well as complicated female friendships and societal perception. Allayne L. Webster’s characters are wonderfully layered and complex, and readers will find Tully’s tumultuous emotions highly relatable; her teen anxieties are all laid bare on the page. Tully and Dene’s family situations add to the considered character dynamics and bring nuance and depth to this story.

This is a timely novel that speaks to the unique circumstances teens face today and provides much needed self-examination and reflection of our modern screen addictions. And at its heart, Selfie is a classic YA story about fitting-in and finding your tribe, making it a timeless tale that younger readers will be instantly drawn to.

Royals by Tegan Bennett Daylight

Shannon is trapped in a shopping mall with five strangers (and one unchaperoned baby), after an unspecified glitch in reality sees the disparate group cut off from the outside world. The six teenagers adapt fast to cope with the frightening scenario, construct a functional daily life and take care of ‘Juno’ the baby. Effortlessly making the impossible premise credible, and avoiding the well-trodden route into Lord of the Flies-style chaos, Tegan Bennett Daylight has created something more complex, nebulous and wonderful.

The cast reflects a broad diversity of youthful experience and identity, and makes the most of this by excavating difference with a clear gaze and light authorial hand. Without phones, social media or the internet, but with access to the staggering bounty of the mall, the teens are forced into the strange exercise of gorging on consumer goods while reflecting on their outside lives. As the events of the novel begin to swell and warp, the true depths of this subtle novel are revealed.