The Queensland literary awards (QLAs) announced the winner of the $30,000 Queensland premier’s award for a work of state significance, a debut novel by Lenora Thaker. The book, The Pearl of Tagai Town, was described as a ‘stunning’ and distinctly Queensland story.
Thaker’s novel draws on the history of Cairns‑Malay Town, an unmapped shantytown that existed from the late 1800s until the late 1950s. The settlement housed Indigenous Australians, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian and Sri Lankan residents who were segregated from the white population.
Judges praised the book as ‘accessible and deeply enjoyable’ and noted its vivid sense of place. They highlighted warm, richly drawn characters and the innovative integration of Ailan languages, calling the novel a rich, cohesive whole that brings fresh insight to a far north Queensland community.
Other winners included Claire Thomas, who took the $15,000 fiction prize for On Not Climbing Mountains; Micaela Sahhar, who won nonfiction for Find Me at the Jaffa Gate; Zeno Sworder, who claimed children’s for Once I Was a Giant; Julianne Negri, who won young adult for The Belly of a Wolf; Helena Pantsis, who took short story for Mother Salad; Eunice Andrada, who won poetry for Kontra; and Sita Walker, who won people’s choice for In a Common Hour.
The QLAs, founded in 1999, were briefly abolished in 2012 but revived by the literary community. After a 2025 controversy involving the State Library of Queensland and a fellowship award to First Nations author K A Ren Wyld, the awards are now managed by the Brisbane Writers Festival.
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