Adelaide author wins literary prize for debut novel

Adelaide Hills author Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words has won the 2021 MUD Literary Prize for best debut literary novel by an Australian writer.

Adelaide author’s debut novel a ‘lockdown sensation’

Adelaide Hills author Pip Williams’ debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words has sold 58,000 copies in just five months, with publisher Affirm Press announcing it will also publish her second novel set in the same world.

Pip Williams: 'It was a bit dreamlike.' Photo: Andre Goosen

Words, women and the Adelaide book that sparked a global frenzy

Adelaide Hills author Pip Williams has had to cancel the launch event and national tour planned for her first novel, but The Dictionary of Lost Words – about the magic of growing up in a world of words – has already garnered huge international interest.

Book extract: One Italian Summer

Many people may dream about quitting their jobs and travelling to Italy in search of the good life; Adelaide Hills writer Pip Williams and her family actually did it.