Zeno Sworder’s beautifully illustrated picture book Once I Was a Giant, which tells the tale of a tree transformed into a pencil who writes its own story, has won book of the year at the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards.
It’s the Melbourne writer and illustrator’s third children’s book, following My Strange Shrinking Parents (2023) – winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary prize; and This Small Blue Dot (2021), which took home best new illustrator at the Children’s Book Council of Australia awards.
