Wiradjuri writer and filmmaker Edoardo Crismani recently receivd the David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer at the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards for his manuscript 'Finding Billy Brown'.

The novel is a time-slip story linking boxing history and contemporary identity.

It was praised by judges as fast-paced, humorous and original.

They note the work "offers an absorbing glimpse into the competitive and brutal history of Aboriginal boxers in Australia" while exploring masculinity, racial discrimination and sporting culture.

For Mr Crismani, this recognition marks the years of writing at night alongside his filmmaking and music projects.

"This is just awesome," he told National Indigenous Times.

"It's so important to me, this recognition and this understanding.

"Sometimes people can make you feel like a boxing story or a footy story isn't really valuable... but to be recognised like this means so much."

He said the award validated a slow but steady process.

"Over the past four or five years I've just been gradually doing a little bit, a sentence here and there, and sometimes momentum would come," he said.

"To receive that award was unbelievable. It felt like validation that what I'm doing is valuable."

The story of 'Finding Billy Brown' grew from Mr Crismani's research into his grandfather, a champion boxer known as "The Black Panther".

His earlier documentary 'The Panther Within' was broadcast nationally and inspired him to imagine a fictional return to the 1930s boxing tents.

"I thought imagine if I could go back in time," he said.

"What if there was a guy, his great-grandson, an AFL star, who gets thrown back into 1931? To return to the present he has to fight his own grandfather in the ring."

The novel places readers inside Billy Brown's head as he navigates both the dangers and absurdities of a different era.

"I wanted to put the reader in the driver's seat so you feel his emotions and thoughts," Mr Crismani said.

"There are enemies, there's danger, but it's not about killing. It's about boxing matches, survival, and trying to understand the world he's in."

Music and songwriting are also woven through the novel.

"My lyrics occur throughout the novel," he said.

"They give a direct link to what he's feeling, like a soundtrack in a film.

"I also used songs the way my grandpop did, to unite the crowd in moments of hostility."

For Mr Crismani, expanding on his grandfather's story into fiction means reclaiming fragments of family history that have been lost through colonisation.

He hopes the book resonates with readers, especially young Indigenous audiences.

"What I hope readers take from it is a sense of adventure and courage," he said.

"It's about agency, finding strength within, and being willing to go through situations where you don't know the answers.

"Those lessons are there underneath the boxing and the humour."

Alongside his writing, Mr Crismani continues to make community films and compose music.

His short film 'Black Time White Time', which he directed and scored, was selected for the St Kilda Film Festival earlier this year.

"This award did my heart so good," he said.

"It was validation that our stories matter and that they can reach people in powerful ways."