VPLA 2024
We Could Be Something

Title: We Could Be Something

Author: Will Kostakis

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Part coming-out story.

Part falling-in-love story.

Part falling-apart story.

Harvey’s dads are splitting up. It’s been on the cards for a while, but it’s still sudden. Woken-by-his-father-to-catch-a-red-eye sudden. Now he’s restartinghis life in a new city, living above a cafe with the extended Greek family he barely knows.

Sotiris is a rising star. At seventeen, he’s already achieved his dream of publishing a novel. When his career falters, a cute, wise-cracking bookseller named Jem upends his world.

Harvey and Sotiris’s stories converge on the same street in Darlinghurst, in this beautifully heartfelt novel about how our dreams shape us, and what they cost us.

Photography by Sarah Walker

Judges’ report

When Harvey’s dads split up, he finds himself on a red eye flight from Perth to Sydney, suddenly living above a café with his extended Greek family. Though Sotiris, also 17, is a published author sales are down and he’s just been fired from the family business. Then there’s the promise of burgeoning love to contend with. On the verge of adulthood, Sotiris and Harvey’s stories intersect as they try to figure out who they are, what they want and where their loyalties lie. Keenly observant, Kostakis has written a witty, fast-paced coming-of-age novel. With chapters narrated by alternate protagonists, their stylistic approach is highly engaging. Dialogue is employed to great effect, establishing two distinct and authentic character voices. Weaving pathos and humour together, Kostakis explores the subject matter of Greek culture, queerness and identity with heart and honest pragmatism.

Extract

About the author

Will Kostakis is an award-winning author for young adults. His first novel, Loathing Lola, was published when he was just nineteen. It sold a whopping ten copies including the seven he bought himself. After a brief break to dabble in celebrity journalism and reconstruct his shattered dream, he returned with The First Third, which sold more than ten copies (possibly fifteen). It won the 2014 Gold Inky Award and was shortlisted for the CBCA and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his US debut. It won the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Award.Will has also contributed to numerous anthologies, including the ABIA Award-winning Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology. He was awarded the 2020 Maurice Saxby Award by the School Library Association of New South Wales for service to children’s and young adult literature and is an ambassador for the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge.