Winner of Penguin Literary Prize 2022!

My novel On a Bright Hillside in Paradise has won the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize, and will be published by Penguin Random House in 2023.

From the PRH announcement:

“Representing both PRH and the Australian book industry at large, the judging panel included Justin Ractliffe and Meredith Curnow from PRH Australia; Kate Mayor, National Category Manager (Fiction & Travel) from Dymocks in Sydney; Alexander Okenyo, Owner of Black Swan Bookshop in New Norfolk Tasmania; and Genevieve Kruyssen, winner of the ABA Young Bookseller of the Year and Events Manager/Bookseller at Where the Wild Things Are bookshop.

‘There were six very strong shortlisted titles,’ says Ractliffe. ‘In the end, though, On a Bright Hillside in Paradise triumphed because of its distinctive voice, innovative structure, lucid prose and crystal-clear evocation of a time, place and lived experience so close to ours and yet so far away. It tackles big questions of faith and family but is always grounded in the dreams and strivings of its beautifully drawn characters. Higgs takes lives that history might have judged as small and imbues them with immense dignity and complex and compelling inner lives. It’s a brilliant winner and I congratulate Annette on her achievement and thank the judges for their insight and avid engagement with the process.’

Another judge, Okenyo, agrees: ‘Higgs draws her characters with clarity and truth, and pitches the narrative forward with a quiet but deep rhythm belonging to the time and landscape she describes. What we want for them is what we want for ourselves, to find a place in our family, our community and our time.’”