Corowa writer, Luke Icarus Simon has won the most prestigious award for Indie authors for his memoir, The Art in My Palm.
Award-winning Australian author, Corowa’s Luke Icarus Simon, has been announced the winner of the Memoir category in the United Kingdom’s The Selfies Book Awards for his hybrid book, The Art in My Palm.
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The winners were announced by the judging committee at a ceremony in London last week.
Simon made history becoming the first Australian author to win the 2026 contest, the first time non-British citizens were allowed to enter.
“It is wonderful news, not the least being that my two most recent books have now each won significant international book awards,” Luke said.
“Both have amassed multiple nominations as finalist or shortlisted, but it is such a great feeling that both have a Winner moniker now.”
The Selfies were established by BookBrunch in 2018 and are the most prestigious award for Indie authors.
The 2026 competition saw double the entries of 2025.
The awards are heavily vetted by industry professionals who assess books on having “a fantastic story that entertains”, quality of writing, production values, an enticing cover and blurb that successfully addresses the target audience, and an effective and creative marketing campaign.
Judge Neill Denny, editor of BookBrunch said The Art in My Palm was well written and surprisingly moving with a strong narrative drive and compelling cast of characters.
Fellow judge, literary agent and founder of Redhammer Management, Peter Cox admired it from the start, saying he would buy the book just on the cover.
One judge described The Art in My Palm as well-written and surprisingly moving with a strong narrative drive and a compelling cast of characters.
“I’ve always suspected that there was a great and poignant story to be told about the Cypriot Australian population; one of alienation, longing and redemption. Maybe this is it,” he said.
In May, Simon’s hybrid-novel, was Longlisted for the renowned UK Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award. It was also a quarterfinalist in the BookLife Prize by Publishers Weekly and a finalist in two other international book awards.
His previous release, Swimming in Words, was an Eyelands Book Awards Winner in January.
The Art in My Palm was published by Stirling Publishing Australia and Luke Icarus Simon’s books are available in hardcover and paperback editions.
For more information contact Nik Anasta at stirlingpublishingaustralia@gmail.com or visit www.lukeicarussimon.com
