A BOOK about a local police officer, who led 50 people from Kinglake to safety on Black Saturday, has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
Judges described Kinglake-350, by St Andrews resident Adrian Hyland (pictured), as a “powerful work” that dealt with the “personal and poignant”.
The book told human stories “so powerfully you feel the heat of the advancing firestorm”, judges said. Mr Hyland said he followed the story of his neighbour, Sergeant Roger Wood, and CFA volunteers as a microcosm of the day, interweaving the science behind the firestorm.
He said it was “chilling” that Black Saturday-like conditions were predicted to increase in intensity and frequency over the next 50 years as a result of global warming.
The book was one of five chosen for the award’s non-fiction category, which attracted the highest number of entries this year. Mr Hyland wrote it as part of his candidacy in La Trobe’s creative writing program.
