We are thrilled to announce that An Unconventional Wife by Mary Hoban has won the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award and the University of Southern Queensland History Book Award at the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards.
Here is Mary’s speech upon accepting the History award,
I am so delighted and surprised to win this history award tonight.
Delighted because it means that the story of my subject has been successful in casting light on women’s lives in a period that is still dominated by male stories; and surprised because so often history, like biography, is about achievement and power yet this is the story of an ordinary woman who did not make her mark in conventional history, yet through her determination to be an unconventional wife, became a part of the drama that has been, and still is, women’s drive for equality. Although seeing the shortlisted books were all written by women it looks like we might be getting closer to that goal. I would like to congratulate all these women and to say how honoured I am to be in their company.
I would like to thank the Queensland Government, Arts Queensland and the State Library for hosting this wonderful event and, more particularly, the University of Southern Queensland for sponsoring this prize and the judges for their hard work and commitment to this award. And I would also like to thank those who have assisted me beginning with the Hazel Rowley Fellowship, my intrepid literary agent John Timlin, my courageous publisher Scribe, my intelligent and sensitive editor Anna Thwaites and my wonderful husband Robert for his encouragement and support throughout.
You can read the judges’ comments here and here.
Congratulations to Mary and all the winning authors.
