Author Emily Bitto has won the $20 000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award for her novel Wild Abandon.

The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award recognises the best original book published in Australia the previous calendar year that deals with ‘any aspect of Australian life’ across any genre.

Judging panel chair Alan Lawson said: ‘A lot of very good books just didn’t make the shortlist. But in the end Emily Bitto’s extremely well-crafted account of a young Australian man’s “escape” to New York and then into the US heartlands after the breakdown of his first serious relationship – a coming-of-age and into self-knowledge story set against a richly symbolic and allusive account of the decline of civilisations – won the prize,’

In response to winning, Bitto stated, ‘As a long-time student and lover of Australian literature, this award is particularly meaningful to me, and I’m truly honoured to have been selected by such a formidable panel of judges … This award will also allow me to devote the majority of 2023 to my writing, which is a gift indeed.’

READ THE REVIEW – 5 STAR READ

University student Will is dumped by his first true love Laura. Heartbroken and humiliated, he impulsively flees to America. Vowing to say ‘yes’ to everything that comes his way, he hopes to mend his heart and emerge a new man. But his hedonistic week of drugs, alcohol and sex in New York ends in trouble and he hits the road to drive Route 66.

Running short on money, he stops in Littleproud, Ohio, to visit Tamsyn, who grew up in the same country town as Will. Through Tamsyn, Will meets Wayne, a Vietnam War veteran who collects exotic animals that he houses on his property, ‘Wayne’s Wild Kingdom’. Wayne and Will form an unlikely bond and Will agrees to work for Wayne for one month and then continue on his road trip. But naïve Will has no idea how close to the edge Wayne is. The story slides towards a horrifying conclusion in which Will’s American journey will provide him with more life experience than he ever imagined.

In this beautifully written novel, Will’s personal story becomes panoramic: a meditation on our capitalist world and its problems – mental health, PTSD, toxic masculinity and our attitude towards animals and the environment – as we rush headlong towards, if not the end, then an end to current times. Don’t miss it.

Book reviewed by Melinda Woledge