Sex lives of Australians a winner

The Sex Lives of Australians: A History has been awarded the 2013 ACT Book of the Year.

Written by Associate Professor Frank Bongiorno from the ANU School of History, the book is an account of the sex lives of Australians since the earliest years of European settlement and is the first full length approach to the topic of Australian sexuality.

Having received quite a bit of attention in the spotlight already - the book was also shortlisted for the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Australian History Prize and the 2013 NSW Premier's History Awards, Australian History Prize - Bongiorno said he was honoured that his book received this award, and very grateful to artsACT.

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"Sex Lives was written by an academic working in a university, and I have a very supportive and stimulating group of colleagues in the School of History at ANU," he said.

"But as an author of a book like this, you also hope that your work will find an audience that includes, but isn't confined to, your peers and students. So I'm really gratified that different kinds of readers - as well as the judges for ACT Book of the Year - have seen value in Sex Lives.

"The topic of sexuality matters to a lot of people, and I very much hope that this book has given its readers a stronger sense of how and why it has mattered to people over more than two centuries of Australian history."

The annual ACT Book of the Year Award recognises quality contemporary published literary works by ACT writers and is valued at $10,000. The announcement was made on1 April by ACT Minister for Arts Joy Burch.

"I would like to congratulate Mr Bongiorno on his book, which was unanimously chosen by the judging panel as the Award winner out of a strong field," she said.

Read more about Frank Bongiorno and The Sex Lives of Australians.