Brisbane Author Steve MinOn Secures Top Literary Award
Image: Steve MinOn Instagram
Recently the Queensland Literary Awards announced their winners for 2023. Among them was Brisbane Queer author Steven MinOn who was announced as the winner of the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer.
Queensland’s Best-Unpublished Talent
The prestigious award, which recognises some of Queensland’s best-unpublished talent, includes a publishing contract with the University of Queensland Press (UQP).
Following the announcement, Steve is now preparing for the publication of his first novel in 2024, First Name, Second Name.
“It’s about four generations of two migrant families navigating turbulent times,” he told Star Observer. “The story culminates with a gay son who dies and whose corpse begins a 1000km nocturnal pilgrimage back to the town of his birth to be at peace with his racial and familial identity.”
2023 has been an exciting year for Steve. On top of winning this award, he was also long-listed for another sought-after award. Each year the Best Australian Yarn Short Story Competition seeks to find the most exciting short stories from around the country. With thousands of entries received each year, it’s arguably one of the toughest writing competitions around.
‘The Earthquake Fish’
However, this year Steve was advised his short story “The Earthquake Fish” had been long-listed in the top 50 stories in this years competition, something that was no easy task. While he didn’t take out the top award at this weekends awards ceremony it was just the icing on the cake for an already successful year for this Brisbane writer.
“I’m very excited to be recognised for my fiction. I’ve always been a storyteller, even in my advertising work, always keen to humanise people at the margins. To tell their stories.”
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Behind The RipnRoll Campaign
This isn’t Steve’s first foray into the limelight. He has previously been behind some of Queensland’s most well-known marketing campaigns for LGBTQI communities. In 2011, he was the advertising creative director behind the RipnRoll campaign, which gained national attention after a backlash from the Australian Christian Lobby.
Again, in 2013, he created the “You’re having a lesbian” ad campaign for Marriage Equality with Shelley Argent which attracted plenty of media attention in the fight for marriage equality.
You can find more of Steve’s stories on his website steveminon.com
