I love the NSW Art Gallery. It’s such a beautiful venue for this great celebration of Australian literature.
So many of my friends received short listings and awards from Ursula Dubosarsky, Tohby Riddle, Nette Hilton, Stephen Michael King and many more who were there partying and celebrating - writers, illustrators, authors, Arts community and our heroes - the readers.
I had the privilege of nominating and writing the ‘blurb’ that NSW Premier Nathan Rees read on the night for the recipient of the Special Award. There was a standing ovation for Special Award recipient Katherine Brisbane for her work as founder of Currency Press which is the oldest publisher of Australian plays.
BIG NEWS at the Awards is that the fabulous author and illustrator team and gorgeous couple Donnna Rawlings and Simon French are flying to China to collect their baby boy - Heavenly Writer - what a special name for this special family.