Leonie Norrington and co-authors Djawundil Maymuru, Merrikiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, and Djawa Burarrwanga won the $80,000 fiction prize at the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for their novel A Piece of Red Cloth. The book is based on the oral history of Yolŋu people from north-east Arnhem Land and tells the story of a grandmother's quest to protect her granddaughter in the 1600s. The judges praised the novel as a "landmark achievement in fiction" that sets a high benchmark for collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers. Dr Norrington hopes the book will be a driving force for action, saying "Our history has been read by the Prime Minister of Australia and now things can change."
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
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same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Leonie Norrington and her co-authors Djawundil Maymuru, Merrikiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, and Djawa Burarrwanga have won the $80,000 fiction prize at the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for their novel "A Piece of Red Cloth". The book is a "landmark achievement in fiction" that tells the story of Yolŋu people from north-east Arnhem Land, specifically a grandmother's quest to protect her granddaughter from Macassan trepang fishermen during the 1600s. The novel is based on oral history and sets a high benchmark for collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers. This is not just a literary award, but also an acknowledgment of the importance of intercultural work and preserving Indigenous stories. The authors will be recognized at the Prime Minister's Literary Awards ceremony, although no date was specified in the article.
Written for “Australian Literary Award” on 2026-09-12,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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In short:
Leonie Norrington and co-authors Djawundil Maymuru, Merrikiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Djawa Burarrwanga have won the $80,000 fiction prize for their book A Piece of Red Cloth.
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Norrington → win → Cloth
The novel is based on the oral history of Yolŋu people from north-east Arnhem Land.
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novel → base → Land
A Piece of Red Cloth has been shortlisted for the NT Book Awards, with winners announced later this month.
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winners → shortlist → Awards
A novel based on the oral history of Yolŋu people from north-east Arnhem Land has been named as this year's fiction pick at the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
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novel → base → Awards
Darwin-born author Leonie Norrington and co-authors Djawundil Maymuru, Merrikiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Djawa Burarrwanga have won the $80,000 fiction prize for their book A Piece of Red Cloth.
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Norrington → bear → Cloth
Told from the perspective of Yolŋu people, the book tells the story of a grandmother's quest to protect her granddaughter from Macassan trepang fishermen during the 1600s, while they learn to interact with foreigners.
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they → tell → foreigners
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards judges labelled the novel as a "landmark achievement in fiction", writing it "is also an urgent example of intercultural work, setting a high benchmark for collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers".
"It is a profound work of remembrance and re-imagination, fusing oral history, novelistic technique and deep cultural knowledge,"the judges said.
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judges → label → history
Having grown up in the Barunga community, Dr Norrington said her Aboriginal mother Clare Bush inspired her to write A Piece of Red Cloth before she died.
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she → grow → Cloth
Dr Norrington said her Aboriginal mother wanted the Yolŋu people's story told to help people in other parts of the country to understand the country was "alive" and we are "one with the earth".
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we → say → earth
"If we only have what she called 'Captain Cook history', then we're always going to have a frontier mentality about our country," she said.
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she → have → country
"We can exploit the country because we're not from the country.
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we → exploit → country
We could belong to the country and then have more respect for the country and for the first peoples of the country, not just as the first people who lived here, but the people who emerged at the same time as the country."
Speaking to Radio National in 2025, local custodian Merrikiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs said the book explores cultural traditions that are still apparent in modern communities while re-telling the story of how Yolŋu people had been trading with countries overseas for centuries.
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people → belong → centuries
"All I can is that we still live like this, like what's happening in the book today," she told the program.
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she → live → program
"Even if we are modern people, we still go out bush, we till dig for that yams, for those roots get it up oysters, still live it, still eat it."
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roots → go → it
Dr Norrington said winning the award was a "recognition of history" and hoped her book could be a driving force for action.
"
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book → say → action
Our history has been read by the Prime Minister of Australia and now things can change," she said.
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she → read → Australia
"I think if I was going to have a message to the prime minister, I think it would be that Australia is a terribly, terribly dry and very fragile country and we need to look after it.
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we → think → it
"The future generations of Australia really rely on us making good decisions about what we do with this very fragile land."
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we → rely → land
A Piece of Red Cloth wasn't the only NT winner at the prestigious awards — Kate Wild's book The Red House, about the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu and the murder trial of police officer Zachary Rolfe, won the non-fiction category.
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book → win → category