Literary awards and news
We like to keep up to date with literary longlists, shortlists, and awards, and to keep track of news that might interest our readers.
Below you can find news about literary awards, and you can purchase some of the shortlisted and winning books once they are announced.
If you have news about a literary prize or event, you can let us know by emailing us, and we may put it up on this page.
2011 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards
Congratulations to Amanda Lohrey, winner of the Fiction Book Award for Reading Madame Bovary.
For more information on the award, and a full list of this year's winners, visit the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards website
The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2011
Congratulations to Kim Scott, winner of the 2011 Miles Franklin Award, for his novel That Deadman Dance.
For more information on the award and this year's winner, see the Miles Franklin website's announcement.
The 2011 Australian/Vogel Literary Award
Congratulations to this year's winner, Rohan Wilson, for his novel The Roving Party. The Australian/Vogel Award is awarded to a writer under 35 years of age for an original unpublished manuscript of fiction or Australian history or biography.
Wilson, from Launceston, joins previous Tasmanian winner Danielle Wood (for her novel The Alphabet of Light and Dark).
Buy the book from us here.
The Children's Book Council of Australia, 2011 Winners
Congratulations to all the winners in the 2011 Book of the Year categories:
Older Readers Book of the Year 2011
WINNER Sonya Hartnett, The Midnight Zoo (Viking Books, Penguin Group Australia)
HONOUR Cath Crowley, Graffiti Moon (Pan Macmillan Australia)
HONOUR Doug MacLeod, The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher (Penguin Books Australia)
Younger Readers Book of the Year 2011
WINNER Isobelle Carmody, The Red Wind (Viking Books, Penguin Group Australia)
HONOUR Michael Gerard Bauer, Just a Dog (Omnibus Books, Scholastic Australia)
HONOUR Anna Branford, Illus. Sarah Davis, Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot (Walker Books)
Early Childhood Book of the Year 2011
WINNER Jan Ormerod, Illus. Freya Blackwood, Maudie and Bear (Little Hare Books)
HONOUR Tom Niland Champion, and Kilmeny Niland, Illus. Deborah Niland, The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies (Allen & Unwin)
HONOUR Leonie Norrington, Illus. Dee Huxley, Look See, Look at Me (Allen & Unwin)
Picture Book of the Year 2011
JOINT WINNER Jeannie Baker, Mirror (Walker Books)
JOINT WINNER Nicki Greenberg, Hamlet (Allen & Unwin)
HONOUR Bronwyn Bancroft, Why I Love Australia (Little Hare Books)
HONOUR Tohby Riddle, My Uncle's Donkey (Viking Books, Penguin Group Australia)
Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2011
WINNER Ursula Dubosarsky, Illus. Tohby Riddle, The Return of the Word Spy (Viking Books, Penguin Group Australia)
HONOUR Ron Brooks, Drawn From the Heart: A Memoir (Allen & Unwin)
HONOUR One Arm Point Remote Community School, Our World: Bardi Jaawi: Life at Ardiyooloon (Magabala Books)
For more information, visit the CBC webpage.
Tasmanian Book Prize 2011
The Hobart Bookshop congratulates all the authors, books, and publishers in the 2011 Tasmanian Book Prize shortlist, and especially congratulates the winners, announced during the Tasmanian Writers' Centre's Ten Days on the Island literary program at The Hobart Town Hall on Sunday April 3rd:
TASMANIA BOOK PRIZE Best book with Tasmanian content:
Wanting by Richard Flanagan (Random House)
MARGARET SCOTT PRIZE Best book by a Tasmanian writer:
What Now, Tilda B? by Kathryn Lomer (UQP)
UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA PRIZE Best book by a Tasmanian publisher:
Postcards from the Asylum by Karen Knight (Pardalote Press)
Tasmanian Writers' Centre Broadsheet
The Tasmanian Writers' Centre have again published a broadsheet profiling works by Tasmanian authors. This edition includes more than fifty books released during 2010, from poetry chapbooks to biographies to children's books to novels. You can visit the TWC website to download a copy of the broadsheet.
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2010
This is the third year of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
Congratulations to the 2010 winners, who were recently announced:
Children's fiction winner:
Star Jumps by Lorraine Marwood
Fiction winner
Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
Non-fiction winner
The Colony: A History of Early Sydney by Grace Karsken
Young adult fiction winner
Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God by Bill Condon
The winners were selected from the shortlisted books for 2010, which were:
Children's fiction
* Cicada Summer by Kate Constable
* The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrator Andrew Joyner
* Just Macbeth by Andy Griffiths and illustrator Terry Denton
* Mr Chicken goes to Paris by Leigh Hobbs
* Running with the Horses by Alison Lester
* Star Jumps by Lorraine Marwood
* Mannie and the Long Brave Day by Martine Murray and illustrator Sally Rippin
* Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children by Jen Storer
* Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild and illustrator Freya Blackwood
Fiction
* Summertime by J. M. Coetzee
* The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster
* The Lakewoman by Alan Gould
* Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
* Ransom by David Malouf
* Lovesong by Alex Miller
* As the Earth turns Silver by Alison Wong
Non-fiction
* The Water Dreamers: The Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent by Michael Cathcart
* Strange Places: A Memoir of Mental Illness by Will Elliott
* The Colony: A History of Early Sydney by Grace Karskens
* The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane
* The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir by Mark Tredinnick
* The Ghost at the Wedding by Shirley Walker
Young adult fiction
* Stolen by Lucy Christopher
* The Winds of Heaven by Judith Clarke
* Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God by Bill Condon
* The Museum of Mary Child by Cassandra Golds
* Swerve by Phillip Gwynne
* Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen
* Beatle meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams
You can find out more about the Awards, including extracts from judges' comments on the winning books, here.
The Age Book of the Year, 2010
Alex Miller's Lovesong is the winner of not only the Age "Book of the Year (Fiction)," but also their overal Book of the Year award.
Congratulations to Alex Miller.
You can buy a copy of the book here.
You can read more about Miller and this year's award here.
Children's Book Council of Australia
Award-winners 2010
Older Readers
Book of the Year: Jarvis 24 (David Metzenthen) | Order the book.
Honour books: The Winds of Heaven (Judith Clarke) and A Small Free Kiss in the Dark (Glenda Millard)
Younger Readers
Book of the Year: Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool (Odo Hirsch) | Order the book.
Honour books: Running with the Horses (Alison Lester) and Pearl Verses the World (Sally Murphy, illustrations by Heather Potter)
Early Childhood
Book of the Year: Bear & Chook by the Sea (Lisa Shanahan, illustrations by Emma Quay)
Honour books: Kip (Christina Booth) and Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House (Libby Gleeson, illustrations by Freya Blackwood)
Picture Book
Book of the Year: The Hero of Little Street (Gregory Rogers)
Honour books: Isabella's Garden (Glenda Millard, illustrations by Rebecca Cool) and Fox and Fine Feathers (Narelle Oliver)
Eve Pownall
Book of the Year: Australian Backyard Explorer (Peter Macinnis)
Honour books: Polar Eyes: a Journey to Antarctica (Tanya Patrick, illustrations by Nichol Hutcheson) and Maralinga: The Anangu Story (Christobel Mattingley with Yalata & Oak Communities)
You can find out more about the awards at the CBCA website.
Man Booker Prize
The 2010 Man Booker Prize winner is Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question. You can buy it from us here.
Shortlist 2010
The 2010 Man Booker shortlist was announced on Tuesday 7th September, and the books are:
Parrot and Olivier in America (Peter Carey)
Room (Emma Donoghue)
In a Strange Room (Damon Galgut)
The Finkler Question (Howard Jacobson)
The Long Song (Andrea Levy)
C (Tom McCarthy)
The judges for this year's prize are Sir Andrew Motion, Rosie Blau, Deborah Bull, Tom Sutcliffe, and Frances Wilson. The winner was announced on Tuesday 12th October.
The longlist (announced in July) also included the following books:
The Betrayal (Helen Dunmore)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell)
February (Lisa Moore)
Skippy Dies (Paul Murray)
Trespass (Rose Tremain)
The Slap (Christos Tsiolkas)
The Stars in the Bright Sky (Alan Warner)
You can find out more about the Man Booker Prize at their website.