He also won the ACT Book of the Year in 2011 for his non-fiction book, The River. He was very proud of it , but it sold “nothing”. The award gave him something perhaps more valuable – validation. Back then, he also applied and won a grant from the ACT government – about the equivalent of “six weeks at minimum wage”. That gave him the time and space to write his first novel, Scrublands, which was a success. And, as he said, he was off.
