It’s been quite a week for Australian literary award shortlists (and a pair of longlists). We share them with you here - along with a reminder about the inaugural Stella Prize, with the winner announced next week.
If you’re looking for something to read next, here’s a selection that might whet your literary appetite,
Commonwealth Book Prize
The Commonwealth Book Prize shortlists were announced yesterday, with five Australian writers shortlisted.
The prize goes to the best first novel published in 2012, with one overall winner and a winner from each of five regions (Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific).
The Australian shortlisted authors are:
Floundering by Romy Ash (Text)
Mazin Grace by Dylan Coleman (UQP)
A Tiger in Eden by Chris Flynn (Text)
The Last Thread by Michael Sala (Affirm)
Beneath the Darkening Sky by Majok Tulba (Penguin)
CBCA Awards
The shortlists for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards were announced this week, too. Here are a few of the shortlists. Visit their website for full details.
Award for Older Readers
The Ink Bridge by Neil Grant (Allen & Unwin)
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
The Shiny Guys by Doug MacLeod (Penguin)
Creepy & Maud by Dianne Touchell (Fremantle Press)
Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield (Text)
The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail (Black Dog Books)
Award for Younger Readers
Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French (Angus & Robertson)
Other Brother by Simon French (Walker Books)
After by Morris Gleitzman (Viking)
Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett (Viking)
Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend by Steven Herrick (UQP)
The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk by Glenda Millard (Stephen Michael King)
Award for Picture Books
The Coat by Ron Brooks, illus by Julie Hunt (Allen & Unwin)
Tanglewood by Vivienne Goodman, illus by Margaret Wild (Omnibus)
Herman and Rosie (Gus Gordon (Viking)
Sophie Scott Goes South (Alison Lester (Viking)
Lightning Jack by Patricia Mullins, illus by Glenda Millard (Scholastic)
A Day to Remember by Mark Wilson, illus by Jackie French (Angus & Robertson)
New South Wales Literary Awards
The shortlists for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards were announced today. Here are some of those shortlists.
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and nominees for the People’s Choice Award
The Voyage by Murray Bail (Text)
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (Vintage)
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin)
Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse (Vintage)
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador)
Animal People by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)
Douglas Stewart Prize for Nonfiction
Exile: The Lives and Hopes of Werner Pelz by Roger Averill (Transit Lounge)
Ben Jonson: A Life by Ian Donaldson (Oxford University Press)
Dark Night: Walking with McCahon by Martin Emond (AUP)
The Biggest Estate on Earth by Bill Gammage (Allen & Unwin)
Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White (Allen & Unwin)
The Office: A Hard Working History by Gideon Haigh (Melbourne University Press)
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Ruby Moonlight by Ali Cobby-Eckermann (Magabala Books)
First Light by Kate Fagan (Giramondo)
Open Sesame by Michael Farrell (Giramondo)
The Welfare of My Enemy by Anthony Lawrence (Puncher & Wattman)
Ladylike by Kate Lilly (UWA Publishing)
Here, There and Elsewhere by Vivian Smith (Giramondo)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature
Three Summers by Judith Clarke (Allen & Unwin)
The Ink Bridge by Neil Grant (Allen & Unwin)
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan)
Into that Forest by Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin)
Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle (Allen & Unwin)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature
The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon by Aaron Blabey (Viking)
Brotherband 1: The Outcasts by John Flanagan (Random House)
Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend by Steven Herrick (UQP)
A Bear and a Tree by Stephen Michael King (Viking)
The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk: Kingdom of Silk Series 6 by Glenda Millard, illus by Stephen Michael King (HarperCollins)
Dragonkeeper Book 4: Blood Brothers by Carole Wilkinson (Walker Books)
Kibble and Dobbie Longlists
The Kibble and Dobbie Awards announced their long lists for the first time today.
The Kibble Literary Award recognises the work of an established Australian woman writer.
The Dobbie Literary Award recognises a first published work from an Australian woman writer.
Kibble Literary Award
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
The Beloved by Annah Faulkner (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Engagement by Chloe Hooper (Penguin Group Australia)
My Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson (Allen & Unwin)
Like A House On Fire by Cate Kennedy (Scribe)
The Mind of a Thief by Patti Miller (University of Queensland Press)
An Opening: Twelve love stories about art by Stephanie Radok (Wakefield Press)
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador)
Dobbie Literary Award
Floundering by Romy Ash (Text)
Darkness on the Edge of Town by Jessie Cole (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Burial by Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin)
Toyo: A Memoir by Lily Chan (Black Inc.)
Finding Jasper by Lynne Leonhardt (Margaret River Press)
Red Dirt Talking by Jacqueline Wright (Fremantle Press)
The Stella Prize
The Stella Prize winner will be announced next week, on Tuesday 16 April.
The shortlist is:
The Burial by Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin)
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (Five Islands Press)
Like a House on Fire by Cate Kennedy (Scribe)
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador)
We’ll be hosting a post-prize-announcement panel event on Thursday 18 April, at the Wheeler Centre. (With chair Aviva Tuffield, chair of judges Kerryn Goldsworthy, founding patron Ellen Koshland and the first-ever winner. Chaired by Sian Prior.)