Jimmy Barnes Wins Australian Book Industry Award & Announces Sequel Memoir

Venerated Aussie rock icon Jimmy Barnes can add another accomplishment to his already-sizable list of accolades — award-winning author — after taking out the prize for Biography Of The Year at last night's Australian Book Industry Awards.

Barnes emerged victorious for his lauded 2016 autobiography, Working Class Boy, which is to be followed by a second volume — fittingly enough titled Working Class Man — later this year. The Cold Chisel frontman capped off the win with a performance for the 500 writers, media, publishers and booksellers in attendance at the Art Gallery of NSW.

"In some ways my new book is probably more like the one people were expecting the first time around," said at the event. "There’ll be lot more rock’n’roll in it but there are still a few surprises in there too. I’ve lived a pretty big life so it’s taking me two volumes to tell the story."

Fellow musician Holly Throsby — who was nominated in the categories of Literary Fiction Book Of The Year (won by Dominic Smith for The Last Painting Of Sara De Vos) and New Writer Of The Year (won by Clementine Ford for Fight Like A Girl) — also performed at the event, providing her inimitable musical talents for a tribute in memoriam of book-industry alumni.

Other winners included the likes of Andy Griffiths, who won Audiobook Of The Year and Book Of The Year For Younger Children with illustrator Terry Denton for their international bestseller The 78-Storey Treehouse, Jane Harper (Gold ABIA for Book Of The Year and Fiction Book Of The Year, The Dry), Zana Fraillon (Book Of The Year For Older Children, The Bone Sparrow) and more.

Jimmy Barnes' Working Class Man will be published by HarperCollins on 23 October; before that, its predecessor will be going to paperback on 31 July, so if you're at a loss for what to get your dad for Father's Day on 3 September, that's pretty convenient.

"We are incredibly proud of the immense success of Working Class Boy, but we always knew it was only half the story," HarperCollins chief executive James Kellow said in a statement. "Working Class Man lifts the lid on one of the most extraordinary rock’n’roll careers in Australian music history. Brace yourselves."

See the full list of ABIA winners below.

2017 ABIA HALL OF FAME

Lloyd O’Neil Award for Service to the Australian Book Industry

• Di Morrissey

• Margaret Connolly

2017 ABIA BOOK AWARD WINNERS

Gold ABIA for Book of the Year: chosen from pool of ABIA category winners

• The Dry, Jane Harper, (Macmillan Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)

• Working Class Boy, Jimmy Barnes, (HarperCollins, HarperCollins Publishers)

• The 78-Storey Treehouse, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, Narrator Stig Wemyss (Bolinda Audio, Bolinda Publishing)

• The 78-Storey Treehouse, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, (Pan Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)

• The Bone Sparrow, Zana Fraillon, (Lothian, Hachette Australia)

• The Dry, Jane Harper, (Macmillan Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)

• The Road To Ruin: How Tony Abbott And Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government, Niki Savva, (Scribe Publications)

• Penguin Bloom, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive, (ABC Books, HarperCollins Publishers)

• Commonwealth, Ann Patchett, (Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury)

• The Last Painting Of Sara De Vos, Dominic Smith, (Allen & Unwin, Allen & Unwin)

• Fight Like A Girl, Clementine Ford, (Allen & Unwin, Allen & Unwin)

• The Australian Native Bee Book, Tim Heard (Sugarbag Bees)

• My Sister Is A Superhero, Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas, (University of Queensland Press)

2017 ABIA BUSINESS AWARD WINNERS

Publisher of the Year
Pan Macmillan Australia

Small Publisher of the Year
NewSouth Publishing

National Retailer
Booktopia

Independent Retailer of the Year
Readings and Potts Points Bookshop