Luke Stegemann is the winner of the $20,000 Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award for his book Amnesia Road: Landscape, violence and memory.
Amnesia Road is a compelling literary examination of historic violence in rural areas of Australia and Spain. It is also an unashamed celebration of the beautiful landscapes where this violence has been carried out. Travelling and writing across two locations – the seldom-visited mulga plains of south-west Queensland and the backroads of rural Andalusia – award-winning Australian Hispanist Luke Stegemann uncovers neglected history and its many neglected victims, and asks what place such forgotten people have in contemporary debates around history, nationality, guilt and identity.
I hope this award will mean Amnesia Road reaches a wider audience, as the book asks urgent questions about how we understand, and make political use of, our troubled past. My thanks to Waverley Council, to Mark & Evette Moran, the award judges and NewSouth Publishing. Finally, my warmest congratulations to all the shortlisted finalists this year.
The Nib is presented annually by Waverley Council and celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021.
Luke Stegemann is a cultural historian based rural south-east Queensland. He has held senior positions in media, publishing and higher education in Australia, Europe and Asia.
To find out more information about the award and watch the online announcement, visit the Waverley Council website.
