1981 in Australian literature

• Peter Carey won the 1981 Miles Franklin Award for Bliss

• Peter Carey — Bliss
• Blanche d'Alpuget — Turtle Beach
• Sumner Locke Elliott — Signs of Life
• David Foster — Moonlite^[1]
• Miles Franklin — On Dearborn Street^[2]
• David Ireland — City of Women^[3]
• Elizabeth Jolley — The Newspaper of Claremont Street^[4]
• Colleen McCullough — An Indecent Obsession
• Morris West — The Clowns of God

• Marshall Browne — Dragon Strike^[5]
• Peter Corris — White Meat

• John Brosnan — Skyship^[6]
• David Lake — The Man Who Loved Morlocks^[7]
• Keith Taylor — Bard^[8]
• George Turner — Vaneglory^[9]

• Jan Ormerod — Sunshine^[10]
• Ruth Park — The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad
• Eleanor Spence – The Seventh Pebble^[11]
• Colin Thiele — The Valley Between^[12]

• Alan Gould — Astral Sea
• Gwen Harwood — The Lion's Bride^[13]
• Geoffrey Lehmann — Nero's Poems: Translations of the Public and Private Poems of the Emperor Nero^[14]

• Louis Nowra
  • Inside The Island^[15]
  • The Precious Woman^[16]

• Albert Facey — A Fortunate Life
• Henry Reynolds — The Other Side of the Frontier
• Eric Charles Rolls — A Million Wild Acres
• Gavin Souter — A Company of Heralds^[17]
• Patrick White — Flaws in the Glass

• A. D. Hope^[18]

• Dymphna Cusack^[18]
• Beatrice Deloitte Davis^[18]
• David Ireland^[19]
• Jack Lindsay^[18]
• Alan Marshall^[18]
• Stephen Murray-Smith^[19]
• Leslie Rees^[19]
• Ivan Southall^[18]
• Joan Woodberry^[19]

• Walter W. Stone^[19]

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award[20]	Not awarded
Patrick White Award[21]	Dal Stivens

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award[22]	Eric Charles Rolls	A Million Wild Acres	Nelson
ALS Gold Medal[23]	Not awarded
Colin Roderick Award[24]	Gavin Souter	A Company of Heralds	Melbourne University Press

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award[22]	Blanche d'Alpuget	Turtle Beach	Penguin
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award[25]	Chris Matthews	Al Jazzar	Allen & Unwin
	Tim Winton	An Open Swimmer	Allen & Unwin
Miles Franklin Award[26]	Peter Carey	Bliss	Faber and Faber
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[27]	Jessica Anderson	The Impersonators	Macmillan

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award[28]	Older Readers	Ruth Park	Playing Beatie Bow	Nelson Books
Picture Book	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's Book Award[27]	Ruth Park and Deborah Niland	When the Wind Changed	William Collins
Special Children's Book Award[27]	Eleanor Spence	The Seventh Pebble	Oxford University Press

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Australian SF Achievement Award[29]	Best Australian Science Fiction	Damien Broderick	The Dreaming Dragons	Norstrilia Press

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Anne Elder Award[30]	Gig Ryan	The Division of Anger	Transit Press
	Jenny Boult	The Hotel Anonymous	Bent Enterprises
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry[31]	Geoffrey Lehmann	Nero's Poems: Translations of the Public and Private Poems of the Emperor Nero	Angus & Robertson
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[27]	Alan Gould	Astral Sea	Angus & Robertson

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award[22]	Eric Charles Rolls	A Million Wild Acres	Nelson
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[27]	A. B. Facey	A Fortunate Life	Manuscript version

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1981 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 7 April — Lili Wilkinson, author of young adult fiction^[32]

Unknown date

• Zana Fraillon, novelist for children and young adults^[33]
• Alice Pung, novelist and memoir writer, editor and lawyer^[34]