I am so thrilled to make the shortlist for two categories in the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards. My unpublished memoir How to Knit a Human is shortlisted for the Emerging Queensland Writer – Manuscript Award. I am also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Young Writers and Publishers Award. Thank you to my family, friends and wonderful mentors for your support – it means so much. The winners will be announced at the Queensland Literary Awards Ceremony night on Wednesday October 4. For more details on the full shortlists, view the website here.

I am grateful to the judges for their lovely comments below:

Manuscript award comments

How to Knit a Human is a moving and beautifully crafted memoir of a young woman’s close encounter with mental illness and her attempts to piece together the lost months of her life. The prose is clear and immediate and supported by vivid imagery and unusual insight. Using the metaphor of knitting, which the author takes up as she is recovering, it weaves together Jewish culture, the writer’s creative journey and an exploration of mental illness. This is a remarkable and ultimately uplifting story that deftly combines a literary narrative structure with life writing.

Young Writer award comments

Anna Jacobson’s poetry has a quiet, elegance that greatly impressed the judging panel. Her meditative, introspective verse makes her one of Queensland poetry’s brightest new lights.

On Sunday 27th August at the 2017 Queensland Poetry Festival, I was on a panel about Poetry and Mental Health. Sharing my experience was so incredible— I felt honoured to be part of it. I will never forget the feeling in the room and seeing the audience connect with my words alongside panelists Paula Keogh (author of The Green Bell) and Justin Heazlewood (The Bedroom Philosopher). The session was chaired at the Judith Wright Centre by David Stavanger. Annie and David are magnificent, warm-hearted co-directors who made QPF 2017 Distant Voices one of my favourites yet. Each day was inspiring, thought provoking and exciting. Over the festival I met poets I admired, made new friends and caught up with wonderful old friends. Thank you Annie and David for bringing our distant voices to the fore.

Curated by Kieran Swann and commissioned by The Good Room, two of Anna’s artworks were printed on flags as part of an exhibition for Brave New Worlds (Jacob’s Ladder, King Edward Park). The flags were displayed from 19-22 July 2017. Her poem ‘The Day the Letterbox Ate the Painted Rose on My Mother’s Antique Watch‘ was also selected as part of a sound installation for These Frozen Moments (Metro Arts Laneway) on 28 July 2017.

I’m thrilled to have my poem ‘On Photographing Poets’ and some of my photographs (of poets) in Small Packages Issue 12. You can read the poem here.

I am very excited that I am a finalist for my flash fiction piece ‘Pear and Quince’, which will be published as part of The Westbury Faery, a hardcover illustrated book, forthcoming in 2017.

Anna is one of the Red Room Company’s commissioned ‘Poetry Object’ poets for 2017. You can read her poem ‘Nana’s Shower Cap Brooch’ and listen to the audio here.