The Age Book of the Year 2021 – The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott has been announced as winner of the Age Book of the Year 2021.

The Age Book of the Year was awarded on 3 September 2021 in partnership with the Melbourne Writers Festival and recognises outstanding works of local fiction; winner Robbie Arnott will receive a prize of $10,000 thanks to the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.

 

Books Editor from SMH Jason Steger and Gay Alcorn, Editor of The Age are joined by Robbie Arnott to discuss what it means to win the Age Book of the Year award, for his novel The Rain Heron.…It is the 40th time the award has been presented and marks its return after a hiatus of nine years.

Arnott’s novel was chosen from a shortlist of seven works of fiction – four were by Tasmanian writers – that also included The Tolstoy Estate, Steven Conte; The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Richard Flanagan; A Room Made of Leaves, Kate Grenville; The Labyrinth, Amanda Lohrey; Song of the Crocodile, Nardi Simpson, and Born into This, Adam Thompson.

…By day, he creates copy for an advertising agency; but early morning, night and weekend he writes his novels. “The best thing is that even when it’s going badly, it’s still more fun than anything else. No matter what happens, whether a book gets published, whether it gets bought, whatever happens to it – the biggest joy is the writing itself.”