MOUNT Isa author Ann B Harrison has been nominated for one of Australia's most prestigious book awards.
Two of her books have been nominated for the Australian Romance Readers Awards to be held in Brisbane in March.
"It is the Golden Globes for authors and I'm incredibly excited to have two books in the list," Mrs Harrison said.
"I got an email saying I was a finalist and had two books nominated so that was a bit of a shock and it was really, really exciting."
Having started writing professionally four years ago, Mrs Harrison has already had four books published.
In the reader's choice awards, Mrs Harrison's first novel Taming the Outback has been nominated for the Favourite Contemporary Romance award and her first erotic novel Red Hot has been nominated for the Favourite Erotic Romance award.
"I didn't think I was in with a chance at all, I met a lot of the Australian writers when I went to Western Australia in August last year they are all so fantastic that I never ever expected to get anywhere," Mrs Harrison said.
Mrs Harrison said the recent nominations gave her a sense of validation for her work, and she was delighted to know that the readers thought highly of her writing.
"It makes me feel really good that people think I can write, and they like what I write, its not just me thinking that I might be ok, or my friends telling me I'm good - its actually the public saying they like what I am doing," she said.
Both books are special to Mrs Harrison, but her first book Taming the Outback has been sitting high in rankings since it was released, so she is particularly proud of the novel and pleased to see it being nominated.
"They are both special for different reasons, I love writing rural romance (Taming the Outback), and rural romance is huge at the moment," she said.
"In the United States, if there is anything written about outback romance, they just love it, so I was really pleased to get it nominated."
Mrs Harrison will travel to Brisbane on March 1 to take part in conferences and author meeting and attend the Australian Romance Readers Awards and to be honoured through her nominations for her contribution to Australian fiction.
