Nagi Maehashi won Book of the Year at the ABIAs on Thursday night.Credit:James Brickwood
Among the other winners of the night were Tim Winton,who claimed a Hall of Fame Award for his 40-year career in the industry;Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks,who won the award for literary fiction;The Age and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Niki Savva,who won the non-fiction book award;Jasper Jones author Craig Silvey,who won the prize for writing for children aged 7-12;retired tennis player Ash Barty,who took out best biography;and former Aussie Rules player Eddie Betts who won the award for a book that has made a social impact.
Released in October,RecipeTin Eats:Dinnerquickly became a bestseller and the highest-selling title by a debut Australian author in its first week of release.
It is made up of more than 150 recipes,including some reader favourites,each with its own QR code linking to an online video tutorial.
The website that Maehashi launched in 2014 receives more than 14 million visitors each week.
But speaking to this masthead in late 2022,Maehashi was humble about her success.
“I am just like everybody else,” she said. “I shop where everyone shops,I don’t go to gourmet stores ... The thing that really resonates,that people say to me,is that I’ve somehow managed to guess the recipes people want.”