Alice Hart WINS General Fiction Book of the Year!
In Holly’s words:
Tonight, at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards held in Sydney, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart won General Fiction Book of the Year. There are thousands of words these pictures speak, and for any missing, there’s my acceptance speech included below, in which my abdominal muscles got the work out of their life holding me upright.
My gratitude for this acknowledgement and honour is unending. I dedicate this award to women who doubt the worth and power of their story.
He didn’t bat an eye when I came home in 2015 and took over his office with the second draft of Lost Flowers, filling his space with grevillea and gumnuts, butterflies and post its. Every night when he came through the door from work, he said, which chapter today, Holls? He gave the best hugs when I cried through the darkest points of writing and cheered when writing felt like flying. He had no experience that made having a writer for stepdaughter relatable to him yet he’s my champion. He cries at the departure gates. He cries at the arrivals gates. He goes red with pride when he talks about Alice Hart. My world feels lopsided without him.
After I found out I’d been shortlisted for the ABIAs, I rang her to say I was going to come home from the UK for the ceremony, irrespective of expectations or outcomes. I wanted to show up for the honour. I wanted to show up for my life. On my home soil.
Me: So, Mamaleen, I’m going to come home for the awards night in Sydney.
Mum, without missing a beat: Yes, I’ve called them.
Me:....pardon? Called who?
Mum: The ABIAs. I’ve called the ABIAs.
Me:.............The ABIAs have a phone!? You called them?
Mum: Yes. We’re buying our own tickets. We’ll be there. To honour you. To show up for you.
Me:.....................
Understatement: family can be hard and complex and so much can go so wrong. But at this point in life, on this incredible night, in skin with my parents, we lived Kurt Vonnegut‘s words: everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.