2012 in Australian literature
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This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2012.
- Clive James is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for "services to literature and the media" in the Queen Elizabeth II's New Year Honours List.[1]
- Five literary figures are named in the Australia Day Honours: Paul Brunton, Stuart Macintyre, Roy Masters, Ros Pesman and Carol Woodrow.[2]
- Peter Carey is the recipient of the Bodleian Libraries' 2012 Bodley Medal. The medal is awarded by the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford "to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds in which the Bodleian is active: literature, culture, science, and communication".[3]
- Incoming Premier Campbell Newman cancels the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.[4]
- In response, a week later, the new Queensland Literary Awards are announced.[5] The awards use a crowd-funding campaign to raise the prize-money for their initial set of awards.[6]
- Sophie Cunningham is appointed as the new head of the Australian Literature Board.[7]
- In the Queen's Birthday Honours, Peter Carey, Barbara Blackman, Rolf Harris, and Liz Jones were appointed Officers of the Order of Australia (AO), Grahame Bond and Peter Steele were appointed Members of the Order of Australia (AM), and Peter Singer was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).[8]
- Text Publishing launches its Text Classics line, reprinting Australian literary classics.[9]
- Melbourne City Council unveils "Literature Lane", a small laneway off Little LaTrobe Street near the State Library of Victoria, in recognition of Melbourne's status as a UNESCO City of Literature.[10]
- The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was discontinued.[11]
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Romy Ash – Floundering[12]
- Murray Bail – The Voyage[13]
- Peter Carey – The Chemistry of Tears
- Brian Castro – Street to Street[14]
- Courtney Collins – The Burial
- Michelle de Kretser – Questions of Travel
- Annah Faulkner – The Beloved
- Susan Johnson – My Hundred Lovers[15]
- Toni Jordan – Nine Days
- Tom Keneally – The Daughters of Mars
- Christopher Koch – Lost Voices[16]
- Drusilla Modjeska – The Mountain
- Stephanie Radok – An Opening: twelve love stories about art [17]
- Graeme Simsion – The Rosie Project
- M. L. Stedman – The Light Between Oceans
- Carrie Tiffany – Mateship with Birds
- Patrick White – The Hanging Garden
- Sue Woolfe – The Oldest Song in the World[18]
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Michael Gerard Bauer – Epic Fail[19]
- Mem Fox
- Jackie French – Pennies for Hitler[20]
- Morris Gleitzman – After[21]
- Sonya Hartnett – Children of the King[22]
- Steven Herrick – Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend[23]
- Doug MacLeod – The Shiny Guys[24]
- Emily Rodda – The Silver Door[25]
- Carole Wilkinson – Blood Brothers[26]
Science Fiction and Fantasy
- John Birmingham – Stalin's Hammer: Rome[27]
- Trudi Canavan – The Traitor Queen
- Greg Egan – The Eternal Flame
- Will Elliott – Nightfall[28]
- Jennifer Fallon – The Dark Divide[29]
- Ian Irvine – Rebellion[30]
- Margo Lanagan – Sea Hearts[31]
- Jaclyn Moriarty – A Corner of White[32]
- Garth Nix – A Confusion of Princes
Crime and Mystery
- Jessie Cole – Darkness on the Edge of Town[33]
- Peter Corris – Comeback[34]
- Kathryn Fox – Cold Grave[35]
- Kerry Greenwood – Unnatural Habits[36]
- Maggie Groff – Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute
- Katherine Howell – Silent Fear[37]
- L. A. Larkin – Thirst[38]
- Gabrielle Lord – Death by Beauty[39]
- Zane Lovitt – The Midnight Promise[40]
- Colleen McCullough – The Prodigal Son[41]
- Geoffrey McGeachin – Blackwattle Creek
- Adrian McKinty – The Cold, Cold Ground[42]
- Tara Moss – Assassin[43]
- Malla Nunn – Silent Valley[44]
- Michael Robotham – Say You're Sorry[45]
Poetry
- Rosemary Dobson – Collected[46]
- Brook Emery — Collusion[47]
- Kate Fagan – First Light[48]
- Robert Gray – Cumulus: Collected Poems[49]
- John Kinsella – Jam Tree Gully: Poems
- Kate Lilley – Ladylike[50]
- Rhyll McMaster – Late Night Shopping[51]
- Jennifer Maiden – Liquid Nitrogen
- Les Murray ed. – The Quadrant Book of Poetry 2001–2010[52]
- John Shaw Neilson – Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson[53]
- Peter Rose – Crimson Crop[54]
- Randolph Stow – The Land's Meaning: New Selected Poems (edited by John Kinsella)[55]
- John Tranter ed. – The Best Australian Poems 2012[56]
Biography
- John Bailey – Into the Unknown: The Tormented Life and Expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt[57]
- Daryl Dellora – Michael Kirby: Law, Love and Life[58]
- Gideon Haigh – On Warne[59]
- Jenny Hocking – Gough Whitlam: His Time: Volume 2[60]
- J. C. Kannemeyer – J. M. Coetzee: A Life in Writing[61]
- Malcolm Knox – Bradman's War: How the 1948 Invincibles Turned the Cricket Pitch into a Battlefield[62]
- Mungo MacCallum – The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia's Prime Ministers[63]
- David McKnight – Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power[64]
- Brenda Niall – True North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack[65]
Non-fiction
Drama
- Ian Meadows – Between Two Waves
- Tee O'Neill – Barassi
Awards and honours
Lifetime achievement
| Award | Author |
|---|---|
| Christopher Brennan Award[66] | Tim Thorne |
| Melbourne Prize for Literature[67] | Alex Miller |
| Patrick White Award[68] | Amanda Lohrey |
Literary
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year[69] | James Boyce | 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia | Black Inc |
| ALS Gold Medal[70] | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Allen & Unwin |
| Colin Roderick Award[71] | Thomas Keneally | The Daughters of Mars | Random House |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[72] | Anna Funder | All That I Am | Penguin Books |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award[73] | Gail Jones | Five Bells | Vintage Books |
| Victorian Prize for Literature[74] | Bill Gammage | The Biggest Estate on Earth | Allen & Unwin |
Fiction
International
| Award | Region | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Book Prize[75] | Pacific | Cory Taylor | Me and Mr Booker | Text Publishing |
National
Children and Young Adult
National
Crime and Mystery
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davitt Award[85] | Novel | Sulari Gentill | A Decline in Prophets | Pantera Press |
| Young adult novel | Meg McKinlay | Surface Tension | Walker Books | |
| True crime | Liz Porter | Cold Case Files: Past Crimes Solved by New Forensic Science | Pan Macmillan | |
| Debut novel | Jaye Ford | Beyond Fear | Bantam Books | |
| Readers' choice | YA Erskine | The Brotherhood | Bantam Books | |
| Jaye Ford | Beyond Fear | Bantam Books | ||
| Ned Kelly Award[86] | Novel | J. C. Burke | Pig Boy | Random House Australia |
| First novel | Peter Twohig | The Cartographer | Fourth Estate | |
| True crime | Eamonn Duff | Sins of the Father: The Untold Story Behind Schapelle Corby's Ill-Fated Drug Run | Allen & Unwin | |
| Life achievement | Gabrielle Lord | |||
Science fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurealis Award | SF Novel | Daniel O'Malley | The Rook | HarperCollins |
| SF Short Story | Margo Lanagan | "Significant Dust" | Twelfth Planet Press (Cracklescape) | |
| Fantasy Novel | Margo Lanagan | Sea Hearts | Allen & Unwin | |
| Fantasy Short Story | Margo Lanagan | "Bajazzle" | Twelfth Planet Press (Cracklescape) | |
| Horror Novel | Kirstyn McDermott | Perfections | Xuom | |
| Horror Short Story | Kaaron Warren | "Sky" | Twelfth Planet Press (Through Splintered Walls) | |
| Anthology | Jonathan Strahan | The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year Volume 6 | Night Shade Books | |
| Collection | K. J. Bishop | That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote | K. J. Bishop | |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Novel | Kirstyn McDermott | Perfections | Xoum |
| Long Fiction | Kaaron Warren | "Sky" | Through Splintered Walls: A Twelve Planets Collection edited by Alisa Krasnostein | |
| Short Fiction | Martin J. Livings | "Birthday Suit" | Living with the Dead by Martin J. Livings | |
| Edited Publication | Craig Bezant, editor | Surviving The End | Dark Prints Press | |
| Collected Works | Kaaron Warren | Through Splintered Walls: A Twelve Planets Collection | Twelfth Planet Press | |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Kim Westwood | The Courier's New Bicycle | HarperVoyager |
| Novella/Novelette | Paul Haines | "The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt" | The Last Days of Kali Yuga | |
| Short Story | Tansy Rayner Roberts | "The Patrician" | Love and Romanpunk | |
| Collected Work | Paul Haines | The Last Days of Kali Yuga | Brimstone | |
Poetry
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[81] | Play | Joanna Murray-Smith | The Gift | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| Vanessa Bates | Porn.Cake | Beckett Theatre, Melbourne | ||
| Script | Peter Duncan | Rake (Episode 1): "R v Murray" | ABC Television | |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award[90] | Award | Anna Barnes | Minus One Sister | Griffin Theatre Company |
| Fellowship | Hilary Bell |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature[76] | Non-fiction | Mark McKenna | An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark | Miegunyah Press |
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-fiction | James Boyce | 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia | Black Inc. |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch | One Small Island: The Story of Macquarie Island | Penguin Group |
| Davitt Award | True crime | Liz Porter | Cold Case Files: Past crimes solved by new forensic science | Pan Macmillan |
| National Biography Award[91] | Biography | Martin Thomas | The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist | Allen & Unwin |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[72] | Non-Fiction | William McInnes & Sarah Watt | Worse Things Happen at Sea | Hachette |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Mark McKenna | An Eye for Eternity: The Live of Manning Clark | Melbourne University Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[81] | Non-fiction | Mark McKenna | An Eye for Eternity: The Live of Manning Clark | Melbourne University Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Russell McGregor | Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation | Aboriginal Studies Press |
| Community and Regional History | Deborah Beck | Set in Stone: A History of the Cell Block Theatre | UNSW Press | |
| General History | Tim Bonyhady | Good Living Street: The Fortunes of My Viennese Family | Allen & Unwin | |
| Young People's | Stephanie Owen Reeder | Amazing Grace: An Adventure at Sea | National Library of Australia | |
| Queensland Literary Awards[82] | Non-fiction | Robin De Crespigny | The People Smuggler | Penguin Group |
| History | Bill Gammage | The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia | Allen & Unwin | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award[74] | Non-fiction | Bill Gammage | The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Non-fiction | Roger Averill | Exile: The Lives and Hopes of Werner Pelz | Transit Lounge |
| Western Australian history | edited by Anne Scrimgeour; transcribed and translated by Barbara Hale, Mark Clendon | Kurlumarniny: We come from the Desert | Aboriginal Studies Press | |
