We respectfully caution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers that this website contains images of people who have passed away.
CloseMagabala Books, in partnership with the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, are proud to announce Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler as the winners of the 2021 Daisy Utemorrah Award for their powerful work of junior fiction, ‘Dirran’.
Presented at the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of Western Australia in Perth on Wednesday 25 August, Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler received $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.
Carl and Hakea’s first book Black Cockatoo was an Honour Book in the 2019 Children’s Book Council of Australia Children’s Book of the Year Awards, a finalist in the Readings Children’s Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards and the ABIA Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year.
Their winning manuscript ‘Dirran’ continues the story of Mia, the protagonist from Black Cockatoo, as she learns to live in both worlds, away from her Country at boarding school in the city. A poignant coming-of-age tale that beautifully conveys the struggles, connections, and new experiences of a First Nations student far from home.
Carl Merrison is a respected Jaru/Kija man from Halls Creek in the Kimberley. He has worked for over ten years alongside Aboriginal youth as a mentor and coach - in education, AFL and community. Hakea Hustler is an experienced teacher who has taught around Australia, including Halls Creek. Together, Carl and Hakea are inspired to write about their shared experiences of the Kimberley, and their belief in the power of stories for learning and change.
On winning the award Carl and Hakea said:
‘Winning the Daisy Utemorrah Award through the State Library of Western Australia is a really proud moment.
‘The reason we write is for the mob back home, and for our kids to learn to read.
‘It is a huge boost for our writing career and allows us to spend more time creating. It is great to have a Kimberley story told, and winning an award named after an inspirational Kimberley woman. This just shows everyone has a story - no matter how remote you are or where you began your personal story.
‘Thank you to my Elders back home, Shel Sweeney from A Worded Life, State Library of Western Australia and Create Agency, and obviously to Rachel and the Magabala team. We appreciate all you do to support and encourage us – you’re based in Broome, you’re in my Country the Kimberley, if you wouldn’t have got behind us we probably wouldn’t be here today, so we’d like to thank Magabala Books, endlessly.’
‘We’re thrilled to be able to work with Carl and Hakea on their sequel to Black Cockatoo. These two are exceptional writers and together they capture the complexity and beauty of remote life. We cannot wait to continue the story of Mia and her family,’ said Magabala Publisher, Rachel Bin Salleh.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished work of Indigenous junior or YA writing and is named in honour of the late Daisy Utemorrah: an Elder of the Wunambal people, award-winning poet, author, community leader, educator and one of the founders of Magabala Books. The Daisy Utemorrah Award is generously supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and the Western Australian State Government.
Magabala Books will publish Carl and Hakea’s winning manuscript in 2023.