Kate Wild's book on Kumanjayi Walker wins non-fiction prize at PMLA

Kate Wild’s The Red House secured the non-fiction prize at the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, accompanied by an $80,000 award. The book recounts the November 2019 killing of 19-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu after he stabbed constable Zachary Rolfe with medical scissors during an arrest attempt. Rolfe fired three shots, and Walker died an hour later, prompting protests and a high-profile trial that ended with Rolfe’s acquittal in March 2022.

A 2025 NT coroner’s inquest later described Rolfe as racist and contributed to his dismissal from the NT Police Force. Wild frames the incident within a wider discussion of Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations, using the Indigenous concept of “Everywhen” to move beyond linear chronology. Judges highlighted the book’s depth, compassion and its urgent contribution to the national conversation on race and state violence.