Indigenous oral history novel takes Australia’s top literary award

A Piece of Red Cloth won the fiction category at Australia's 2026 Prime Minister's Literary Awards. The novel, created by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Yolngu knowledge holders Djawundil Maymuru and Djawa Burarrwanga, draws on Yolngu oral history and Western narrative forms. Set in 17th-century Arnhem Land, it examines encounters with Makassan traders and later Dutch colonial disruption.