Greek Australian author Will Kostakis has won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for young adult literature with his sixth novel We Could be Something.
The winners of the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were announced at a special event at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on Thursday, September 12.
Offering the most substantial literary prize in the nation, with a tax-free prize pool of $600,000, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise the outstanding literary talents of established and emerging Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians.
This year’s winning titles span genre and form, illuminating the complexities of our nation’s past, present and paving the way for future Australian stories.
35-year old Kostakis’ novel We Could be Something (Allen & Unwin) is about a boy whose fathers have broken up, leaving him to start his adult life in a flat above a cafe that is owned by an extended Greek family that he hardly knows.
“It’s my love letter to my Greek family, and to my teachers and publishers,” Kostakis told The Australian after the award announcement. “They’ve kept me going.”
In congratulating the winners of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in six categories, Anthony Albanese said the books “showcase the diversity of Australian voices and sharing our unique stories with the world.”
The winner in each category receives $80,000, tax-free.
The full list of winners is:
- Fiction: Anam, by Andre Dao (Penguin Random House).
- Non-fiction: Close to the Subject: Selected Works by Daniel Browning (Magabala Books).
- Young Adult Literature: We Could be Something by Will Kostakis (Allen & Unwin)
- Children’s Literature: Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country by Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Leah Leaman, Cecelia Edwards, Cassandra Algy, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr and Gregory Crocetti (Hardie Grant Explore).
- Poetry: The Cyprian by Amy Crutchfield (Giramondo Press).
- Australian History: Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country by Ryan Cropp (La Trobe University Press).
