20/40 Publishing Prize
Winning Books of 2023

The 2023 winners of our new independent publishing prize for fiction and non-fiction.

Poems and Collages, Kathy Greene

‘Kathy’s poems are quite simply a window into her being. Reading them is like looking into the eyes of someone you deeply recognise, who shows you new, quirky and delightful ways of seeing the world.’ Meredith McKinney

See the unique book site to find out more about Kathy Greene and her poetry.

The Lion in Love, Kevin Brophy

We’ve made the first story of Kevin Brophy’s collection available to download as an extract.

‘This is what literature should be: rich, subtle, intelligent, full of the magic and mystery of the world and of the human heart. I will return to this collection again and again. Kevin Brophy is a master at the height of his powers.’ Emily Bitto

‘Brophy’s stories are like precise, meticulous fables, full of characters holding on to small, hard-won truths. The stories are Chekhovian in their quiet empathy, which frequently leaves the reader with an enigmatic final image that shifts the aperture, giving us a poignant glimpse of something ineffable. I loved reading The Lion in Love.’ Cate Kennedy

See the unique book site for more information, an interview with the author, and a discount code.

RRP $28.00
$24 with new publication discount
176pp Paperback with dust jacket

Leaving Owl Creek, Sandy Gordon 

“A wise and beautiful book about the quest for honour, truth and love.” David Marr

“A classic Australian story of great ambition and sweep.” John Clanchy

“Sandy Gordon’s novel is a snapshot of post-war Australia, with its country-town gentry and Catholic socialists, with its cities where young intellectuals were learning to drink, to protest the Vietnam war, take on big ideas, and take the most dangerous drugs. Sometimes with grim luck they’d find their way to love or something near it. How do we hold on to a youthful vision? How can we know how far we’ve compromised our best self before it’s too late?…’ Kevin Brophy

‘Gordon weaves a finely spun tapestry of social change in Australian life…’ SMH/Age

‘…a stylish combination of expertise and passion.’ Australian Financial Review

‘Like the best books that chart tectonic changes, Leaving Owl Creek shows without judgement what Australia used to be… Highly recommended!’  ANZ LitLovers

‘Gordon’s novel has the potential to become an Australian classic in its vivid portrayal of a time of change…’,  Read Plus

To see more about this book and the author, go to its unique site bellow.

RRP $32.00
368pp Paperback with dust jacket

In Whom We Trust, John Clanchy

Shortlisted for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year award.

“Masterful” writing with “well-developed characters”. The judges of the ACT Book of the Year Award

Although set a hundred years ago, John Clanchy’s new novel powerfully captures the devastating and persistent reality of a fundamental flaw in the role of our major institutions. Central to In Whom We Trust is James Pearse, an essentially good but circumstantially weak man, who is forced to examine his role at the St Barnabas Home for Children, an orphanage that has betrayed the individuals entrusted to its care. He must face the devastating wider consequences of a life of moral equivocation.

Clanchy has been writing fiction for forty years—In Whom We Trust is his twelfth book—and has won numerous local, state, national and international awards for his novels, novellas and short stories.

“One of Australia’s most stimulating contemporary writers.” Canberra Times

“That Clanchy can make such subject matter both engrossing and deeply moving is down to his writing and his understanding of humanity. In Whom We Trust is a powerful and wonderful read.” Whispering Gums

“There is a quiet discipline to this art that resists the potentially sensational nature of its subject.” Australian Book Review

“If the content in this deeply moral, and quietly devastating, period drama feels utterly topical, the atmosphere, dialogue and characters are all imagined with a flair for historical authenticity.” Pick of The Week, Sydney Morning Herald

RRP $28.00
246pp Paperback with dust jacket

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