Book of the Year Award 2022
Sponsored by BookPeople and Ingram.
The Small Press Network (SPN) is excited to announce the winner of the 2022 Small Press Network Book of the Year Award (BOTY): Gravidity and Parity by Eleanor Jackson, published by Vagabond Press.
The award was presented at the Wheeler Centre as part of its Next Big Thing series by incoming Meanjin editor Esther Anatolitis.
The judges said: ‘This was a strong year for poetry, with the works submitted demonstrating incredible breadth and diversity of voices and topics, though many collections touched thematically on the pandemic and experience of living in lockdown. Eleanor Jackson’s Gravidity and Parity stood out because of the way it spoke to miscarriage, birthing and motherhood, topics which are felt by so many, but so woefully underrepresented in text. Why is it that we see the domestic sphere and the creative one as so incompatible? Gravidity and Parity brings the two together, using poetry to shine a light into the isolation of pregnancy and birth.’
Gravidity and Parity is one of two Vagabond Press books shortlisted for the SPN BOTY, and we extend our congratulations to this publisher for their continued commitment to publishing poetry and their attention to detail in the production process.
Vagabond Press publisher Michael Brennan said: ‘Many thanks to the judges for awarding Eleanor Jackson’s Gravidity and Parity the SPN Book of the Year, as well as for shortlisting Bella Li’s Theory of Colours. We’re proud to have published both, as well as Jackson’s earlier and most excellent chapbook, A Leaving. We’re thrilled to see Eleanor Jackson’s work receive such well-deserved recognition and hope the award will bring new readers to her poetry, and inspire new work. Thanks are due also to the Small Press Network for all the excellent work they do to support independent and small press publishing in Australia.’
Eleanor Jackson said: ‘Having Gravidity and Parity recognised as SPN Book of the Year is an extraordinary honour. I’m in debt to so many friends, family, loved ones and my publisher, Vagabond, for the support they gave to not only this book, but also to the experience it documents: being pregnant during some of the hardest days of the pandemic lockdowns.’
Read an interview with Eleanor on the SPN website.
The sponsors of the award are BookPeople (formerly the Australian Booksellers Association) and Ingram Content Group. Thanks to their generosity, author Eleanor Jackson received a $1000 cash prize and publisher Vagabond Press a $1000 printing credit with Ingram.
The BOTY 2022 judges:
Penni Russon is an award-winning author and a senior lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney.
Bec Kavanagh is a writer, literary critic and academic; Youth Programming Manager at the Wheeler Centre; and sessional tutor at LaTrobe University.
Andrew Finegan is an advocate for the Australian arts and culture sector and a qualified librarian with more than 20 years of experience in education and government libraries.
BOTY is proudly supported by:
The Winner
Gravidity and Parity
Gravidity and Parity (Vagabond Press) is a poignant and intricate collection of poetry that guides the reader into the journey of motherhood, pulling no punches in how it addresses and details all that is often unsaid or unknown about pregnancy.
Judges' Report
Gravidity and Parity (Vagabond Press) is a poignant and intricate collection of poetry that guides the reader into the journey of motherhood, pulling no punches in how it addresses and details all that is often unsaid or unknown about pregnancy. The book is set during the COVID pandemic, and author Eleanor Jackson beautifully encapsulates this all-too-familiar moment in recent history, reflecting on themes of connectedness and isolation.
The Shortlist
No Document
No Document (Giramondo) is a grief-stricken book that tries to locate presence within the material layers of loss, finding hope in art, kinship and collective action.
Judges' Report
No Document (Giramondo) is a grief-stricken book that tries to locate presence within the material layers of loss, finding hope in art, kinship and collective action. Anwen Crawford balances the emotional charge of the book with thoughtful experiments in how to use the field of the page to express and contain the way grief can be both intimate and political, a catalyst for resistance.
Friends & Dark Shapes
Friends & Dark Shapes (Text Publishing) is a coming-of-age story where the age is 30.
Judges' Report
Friends & Dark Shapes (Text Publishing) is a coming-of-age story where the age is 30; Bedford captures the almost unendurably protracted end of things, the end of a life, the end of a relationship, the end of a sharehouse, the end of a way of being in, and with, the world.
Hometown Haunts
Hometown Haunts (Wakefield Press) showcases some of the best voices Australian YA fiction has to offer in this sometimes strange, sometimes terrifying collection of short horror.
Judges' Report
Hometown Haunts (Wakefield Press) showcases some of the best voices Australian YA fiction has to offer in this sometimes strange, sometimes terrifying collection of short horror. This anthology acts as a reminder of how it feels to explore the unknown: unknown genre, unknown worlds, unknown lives. Editor Poppy Nwosu has compiled an anthology that celebrates and reflects the grassroots beginnings of Australian YA—raw, playful, and packing a hell of a punch
Permafrost
Permafrost (UQP) is a collection of stories that delve into uncomfortable spaces that lie beneath familiar experiences of travel, love and loss.
Judges' Report
Permafrost (UQP) is a collection of stories that delve into uncomfortable spaces that lie beneath familiar experiences of travel, love and loss. SJ Norman’s work presents an exciting, unsettling and engaging new voice that explores the human diasporic experience, bringing a queer and unique take on the gothic romantic tradition.
Gravidity and Parity
Gravidity and Parity (Vagabond Press) is a poignant and intricate collection of poetry that guides the reader into the journey of motherhood, pulling no punches in how it addresses and details all that is often unsaid or unknown about pregnancy.
Judges' Report
Gravidity and Parity (Vagabond Press) is a poignant and intricate collection of poetry that guides the reader into the journey of motherhood, pulling no punches in how it addresses and details all that is often unsaid or unknown about pregnancy. The book is set during the COVID pandemic, and author Eleanor Jackson beautifully encapsulates this all-too-familiar moment in recent history, reflecting on themes of connectedness and isolation.
Theory of Colours
Theory of Colours (Vagabond Press) is an impressive production, speaking to what Foucault called the necessity of conjuncture, two intensities coming together, a book that is constructed as much as it is written.
Judges' Report
Theory of Colours (Vagabond Press) is an impressive production, speaking to what Foucault called the necessity of conjuncture, two intensities coming together, a book that is constructed as much as it is written. Bella Li brings the visual and the verbal into contact to challenge the boundaries of poetry and visual design.
Sexy Tales of Paleontology
Sexy Tales of Paleontology (Subbed In) is an anthology that is full of surprises: stories that demonstrate a wicked sense of humour and a keen eye towards contemporary celebrity culture, and the performances that play out in our daily lives.
Judges' Report
Sexy Tales of Paleontology (Subbed In) is a laugh-out-loud delight. This anthology is full of surprises: stories that demonstrate a wicked sense of humour and a keen eye towards contemporary celebrity culture, and the performances that play out in our daily lives. Patrick Lenton uses the short story to experiment with the absurd realities of modernity.
Judges
Penni Russon
Penni Russon is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of a number of books for children and teenagers, including Only Ever Always (Delacorte Press), The Endsister (Allen & Unwin) and the Undine trilogy (Greenwillow Books). She’s a senior lecturer in writing at Monash University.
Bec Kavanagh
Bec Kavanagh is a writer, literary critic and academic. She has had fiction and non-fiction published in a variety of publications including Meanjin, Overland, The Big Issue and The Guardian. Bec is the Youth Programming Manager at the Wheeler Centre and a sessional tutor at LaTrobe University.
Andrew Finegan
Andrew Finegan is an advocate for the Australian arts and culture sector and a qualified librarian with more than 20 years of experience in education and government libraries. He has been a judge for the Aurealis Awards for the past four years, most recently convening the Young Adult Fiction category. He currently lives in Canberra.