Australian author Helen Garner has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for her collected diaries, How to End a Story.
It is the first time a collection of diaries has won the prestigious award.
In a speech live-streamed from her home in Melbourne, Garner said she was "staggered" to have won the prize, worth $AU100,000.
"I never dreamt my book would win a prize of any kind because it seemed to fall between the cracks of the types of books people consider prizeworthy," she said.
Chair of judges, Robbie Millen, described How to End a Story as "a remarkable, addictive book", revealing it was the judges' unanimous choice.
"Garner takes the diary form, mixing the intimate, the intellectual and the everyday, to new heights," he said.
"Garner is a brilliant observer and listener — every page has a surprising, sharp or amusing thought. Her collected diaries will surely be mentioned alongside The Diary of Virginia Woolf."
Fellow judg
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