Sex Lives of Australians wins ACT Book of the Year
ANU historian Frank Bongiorno has taken out the top honour at this year’s ACT Book of the Year awards. 
Associate Professor Bongiorno from the School of History said that it was a “lovely surprise” for his book The Sex Lives of Australians: A History to be recognised among a distinguished shortlist.
“It takes a long time and a lot of effort to research and write a history book – this one certainly did – so this recognition is tremendously appreciated,” says Bongiorno.
The most rewarding part of publishing his book, he says, is making this part of Australia’s history accessible to a broad audience.
“I feel historians have a responsibility to try to make their work as accessible as they can, to as wide an audience as possible, and I’m pleased that lots of different kinds of readers have seen value in this book,” he says.
“This isn’t easy or perhaps even possible with every topic – including many that are incredibly important and which interest me very much – but the history of sex does provide such a chance.”
The annual ACT Book of the Year Award recognises quality contemporary published literary works by ACT writers and is valued at $10,000.
On announcing the award, ACT Minister for the Arts Joy Burch, said that Bongiorno’s book was unanimously chosen by the judging panel from a strong field.
While Bongiorno hopes people will continue to enjoy the book, he has a broader message about Australian history: “I’d like people to come away from the book with a sense that it deals with a topic that matters in its own right – sexuality – but also with a larger sense of the possibilities of Australian history.”
The Sex Lives of Australians: A History was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s History Award last year.
About the book
The Sex Lives of Australians: A History is an account of the sex lives of Australians since the earliest years of European settlement. The nine chapters follow a rough chronology from 1788, starting with an examination of moral and sexual attitudes, codes and practices formed in Britain when they were translated to a convict settlement on the other side of the globe. The final chapters pursue the story of sexual revolution and counter-revolution from 1960 to the present.