The novel explores the legacy of colonial violence, dispossession, intergenerational trauma and destruction of the natural world. The Chair of the judging panel, Richard Neville said ' In English "yield' signifies what one takes from the land. In Wiradjuri it is "the thing you give to the movement, the space between things: baayanha'. Tara June Winch also won Book of the Year at the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Award for The Yield.
I am normally terrible at predicting who will win these types of prizes, but this year I nailed it having guessed that Winch would win.
The announcement of the winner is available on YouTube.