Tiwi in Paris wins 2026 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award

Tiwi in Paris, by debut author Glen Farmer Illortaminni has won this year’s $50,000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award.

The judges described the book as “ideal” for its genre with a “beautiful combination of all its elements”.

“Tiwi in Paris is charming and evocative, fun but serious, a combination of joy and fragility,” said Chair of the judging panel Dr Leigh Dale.

“We were moved by the way in which it brings together Tiwi culture and a multicultural Paris, in depicting an adventure that, while it shows hardship, brings out the best in the people encountered along the way.”

Written and illustrated by renowned artist Glen Farmer Illortaminni, Tiwi in Paris tells the story of a man from Milikapiti in Ratuwati Yinjara (the Tiwi Islands), population around 500, who gets lost in Paris, a city of more than two million people.

Dr Dale said the book reflects the single vision of a writer/artist who can perfectly combine words and pictures.

“There is an evocative use of colours and shadows, nightscapes and dreamscapes,” she said.

“Each of the pictures stands alone, yet when threaded together, they tell of profound emotions: hope, fear, the need for comfort. It is a story in which there are tiny glimmers of human need being met by hospitality and welcome: ‘I was hungry and he was kind.’

“The moments of connection are juxtaposed with the longer story of an ordeal based on dislocation and disconnection: ‘I spoke English. They spoke French. Nobody spoke Tiwi.’”

The judges also highlighted the book as a story of travel that combines the journey with the pull of home.

“Tiwi in Paris becomes part of a rich artistic and literary tradition,” said Dr Dale.

“Books like Paris Nocturne by Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano, which explores dream, memory and vulnerability in the city; the figure of the flaneur, the strolling observer, whose relationship to the streets of Paris might be immersion (Charles Baudelaire) or alienation (Walter Benjamin).”

The Roderick Award recognises the best original book, published in Australia in the previous calendar year, that deals with some aspect of Australian life. It is the second year in a row it has been won by a debut author.

The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award is presented by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies (FALS), based at James Cook University, and is one of the oldest literary prizes in Australia. In 2026 it was judged by Dr Lachlan Brown, Professor Emerita Susan Martin, Professor Emeritus Paul Salzman (FAHA), Mary Vernon and Dr Leigh Dale (chair).

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A selection of images can be downloaded from this link and used for media stories.  Credit images to Publishers Thames and Hudson (Australia).