Barbara Jefferis was the founding President of the Australian Society of Authors, and the Award is for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society”.
Last year Helen Garner won, so it's pretty nice company to be in.
You can view the shortlist and the other Highly Commended title here.
And here's what the judges said about PINK:
As a novel written for young adults, Pink deals in some refreshing and witty ways with the stock themes of confusion over sexuality, peer group pressure, and what not to wear. While Ava’s parents have no problems with her lesbianism or goth attire, she is not so sure. She dons a pink cashmere jumper and switches schools. But rather than just inverting a conventional coming-out plot to produce something more conservative, Pink complicates the simple trajectory of this kind of narrative. It depicts young women, gay and/or straight, positively, and offers a far from neat conclusion. Ava, having learnt several Emma-esque lessons about tolerance and judgment, still remains undecided.
16 comments:
Congratulations, Lili, that is fantastic news.
That's wonderful Lili, congratulations and well done! from the McWangs
Fantastic! Well done Lili.
A great read, too.
Yayratulations.
And also I want to read the book about the hula hoop.
.
Lili Wilkinson - Just a suggestion for your next novel: DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH! It could not have been more obvious that your first priority was to make 'Pink' as "quirky" and as "hip" as possible no matter what the inaccuracies.
I'm sorry but Chloe is a VEGAN yet owns a (see on page 168) CROCODILE-SKIN HANDBAG???? Do you even know what vegan is or did you hear it in passing and decided it sounded cool so you'd throw that in your book?
If your intention was to prove that Chloe is a poser and a fake that wasn't clear and instead you insulted a movement that already suffers from everyone's ignorant misconceptions about it. Thanks for adding another one to it.
Don't write about shit you know nothing about.
Vegan Girl
aiah_red@live.com.au
Hi "Vegan Girl",
Thanks for your comment. Chloe's handbag was crocodile skin texture. "Crocodile skin" is a frequently used term for a kind of embossed vinyl. I did quite a lot of research for PINK, including materials appropriate for handbags, veganism and many other things.
I had a few priorities when writing PINK: communicating the idea that people should be allowed to make up their own minds about who they are, and that nothing is black and white. I also wanted to show that being judgemental and leaping to conclusions about people is generally not a good idea.
Thanks for reading PINK.
Cheers,
lili
i have to agree with vegan girl cos i was a bit confused by the bag as well its not clear that its the type of texture and not the actual skin of a crocodile but then I dont know anything about embossed vinyl :) thought the book was really good!
That's great that you were actually referring to "embossed vinyl" but I'm wondering when there are REAL crocodile skin handbags available on the market (even black ones! See http://www.bikerringshop.com/servlet/the-Crocodile-Handbags/Categories) how your readers are meant to know that you were referring to the fake ones? "Crocodile skin" is also a frequently used term to describe products made from actual crocodile skin.A reader, like yourself who has done "quite a lot of research" into materials may, with the fact that Chloe is meant to be vegan, have gotten that you were referring to just the texture but another, like myself, may have viewed it as a slip up.
1. Black vintage crocodile-skin handbag.
2. Black vintage crocodile-skin handbag.
Here are two sentences. One of them descibes a black bag made from real crocodile skin and the other one from "embossed vinyl". Can you tell which one is which?
Vegan Girl
Being a Vegan myself, I was also confused by your decision to associate the Vegan character in your book with a crocodile skin handbag. It doesn’t really make sense to me. But what annoyed me more was the fact that you clearly placed a stereotype on Vegans by making your Vegan character so edgy and alternative. This kind of stereotyping really angers me because not all Vegans are like this. It may have been easier and less offensive if you hadn’t included the crocodile skin handbag at all. Just a thought!
Hi Lili I'm writing a review on Pink for school and just needed to know exactly how old Ava is meant to be? Its kinda due tomorrow :S so if you or anyone else could let me know asap that would be great!
Yikes.
As a vegan, I really enjoyed Pink, figured that the bag was VINYL crocodile-skin-STYLE (I buy leather-look stuff all the time...don't you?), and, anyway, it never entered my head to take offence at the fact that Chloe was vegan. It was an aspect of her character, that's all.
There's no need for anger, folks.
Oh, and far more importantly, it would have made for clunky reading if the bag was described as "vintage vinyl crocodile-skin-style handbag".
Now I want a black crocodile-skin handbag...
To Lucinda,
Like I said before some vegan readers will assume its vinyl but for others ESPECIALLY readers who don't know exactly what it means to be vegan, they will NOT assume it's fake and therefore it is very misleading!!!
And its only "clunky" if youre not a good writer. Simply get rid of one of the lesser important adjectives in place of the word "faux" i.e. ' black faux crocodile-skin handbag' or maybe
'vintage faux crocodile-skin handbag'.
P.S And no, I don't buy leather-look all the time, thank you.
You seem quite angry Vegan Girl. Are you ok?
Yeah just annoyed that the author couldnt get it right :)
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