New Zealand author Craig Cliff has won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book for his collection of short stories A Man Melting.
The awards were made in Sydney on Saturday.
Cliff says being given the prize was an amazing opportunity to get recognition in Australia, and hopefully other markets.
Aminatta Forna from Sierra Leone won the best book award for her novel The Memory of Love, which deals with the lives of people haunted by war.
The Commonwealth Writers Prize is open to writers from 54 countries.
Former winners include Louis De Bernieres, Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith.
