What a night! The Aurealis Awards for Australian Speculative Fiction were held in Brisbane last night, followed by a cocktail party to celebrate the tenth birthday of Pulp Fiction Bookstore.
Winners are here: http://www.fantasticqueensland.com/~aurealisawards/
The frocks were fantastic, the speeches funny, and the organisation and running were again faultless this year. Fantastic Queensland is doing an incredible job of running the Aurealis Award and full credit to major sponsors Pulp Fiction and the Brisbane City Council for getting behind the spec fic community with some practical $ support. I can't wait for the photos to come up on the internet and will put a link up on this thread when they do.
Kim Wilkins was glamorous and glowing with her lovely husband and 3 year old Luka in tow. Paul Brandon was his usual high-energy self, and Jason Nahrung in his black pirate pants and boots was quite the dashing figure. Sean Williams was there, John Birmingham, Marianne De pierres, Juliet Marillier, Justine Larbalestier, Garth Nix, Cat Sparks, Richard Harland, Trent Jamieson, Rosaleen Love, Lee Battersby, Gary Crew, Leone Tyle from University of Qld Press (who by the way is looking for young adult fiction at the mo, so if you've got a good story, send it her way and tell her in the query letter that I told you to!). It was a booked out event that really was worth the effort of travelling interstate (for those who had to - lucky me, I just drove in). The venue for the cocktail party was fab - Cafe San Marco overlooking the Brisbane River - and the weather (for once!) was gorgeous. I had the best night, and can thoroughly recommend the Aurealis Awards to anyone who wants to network with Australia's speculative fiction movers-and-shakers. They were nearly all there!
