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| Gab Williams | |
Australian author Gabrielle Williams, who also worked at Readings bookstore in Melbourne as manager of the Readings Prizes, grants officer for the Readings Foundation and as a bookseller, died January 21. Readings tweeted that "we lost one of our own. Gab Williams was a brilliant author, fabulous bookseller, a fierce advocate for literacy and the arts, and dearly-loved friend. We'll miss her vibrant presence."
In a tribute to her friend and fellow writer, Simmone Howell wrote in the Conversation: "Gab's narrative voice is like a fabulous friend regaling you over a long boozy lunch: now pinning down details, now swooping out; leaving you dangling, then drawing you back. Gab was a great deployer of the interstitial narrative, of splicing in stories within stories, and playing around with normal genre conventions....
"Gab's books were for and about young adults, although 'old' adults could, and did, love them too. She showed a great respect for and understanding of teenagers. She didn't subscribe to the notion that adults should be written out of the story. The fullness of life for her characters is shown through their relationships with friends and family and community."
Anna McFarlane, Williams's publisher at Allen & Unwin, said, "She always wrote from her heart.... Gab loved the aesthetic of the eighties: the music, the fashion, but also, I think, the lack of parental supervision. She loved her characters to get messy."
Williams's books for young adults include Beatle Meets Destiny; The Reluctant Hallelujah; The Guy, the Girl, the Artist & his Ex; My Life as a Hashtag; and It's Not You, It's Me. Her books were shortlisted for some of Australia's most prestigious honors, including the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, the CBCA Awards and the Gold Inkys.
Author Danielle Binks tweeted: "When I tell you that Gabrielle Williams' Beatle Meets Destiny changed the way I saw my city, and felt about Aussie YA... I loved her voice, I adored her books. But she was something else; truly the kindest and funniest. Devastated to learn of her passing."