2012 in Australian literature
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| Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Philosophy . Science +... |
The year 2012 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.
For an overview of world literature see 2012 in literature.
See also: 2011 in Australian literature, 2012 in Australia, 2013 in Australian literature.
Events
- 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 become Officers in the Order of Australia (AO), Grahame Bond and Peter Steele become Members of the Order of Australia (AM), and Peter Singer becomes a Companion in 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]
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Murray Bail — The Voyage
- Peter Carey — The Chemistry of Tears
- Michelle de Kretser — Questions of Travel
- Susan Johnson — My Hundred Lovers
- Toni Jordan — Nine Days
- Tom Keneally — The Daughters of Mars
- Christopher Koch — Lost Voices
- 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
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Michael Gerard Bauer — Epic Fail
- Jackie French — Pennies for Hitler
- Morris Gleitzman — After
- Sonya Hartnett — Children of the King
- Steven Herrick — Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend
- Emily Rodda — The Silver Door
- Carole Wilkinson — Blood Brother
Science Fiction and Fantasy
- John Birmingham — Stalin's Hammer: Rome
- Trudi Canavan — The Traitor Queen
- Greg Egan — The Eternal Flame
- Will Elliott — Nightfall
- Jennifer Fallon — The Dark Divide
- Ian Irvine — Rebellion
- Margo Lanagan — Sea Hearts
- Jaclyn Moriaty — A Corner of White
- Garth Nix — A Confusion of Princes
Crime and Mystery
- Jessie Cole — Darkness on the Edge of Town
- Peter Corris — Comeback
- Kathryn Fox — Cold Grave
- Kerry Greenwood — Unnatural Habits
- Katherine Howell — Silent Fear
- L. A. Larkin — Thirst
- Gabrielle Lord — Death by Beauty
- Zane Lovitt — The Midnight Promise
- Colleen McCullough — The Prodigal Son
- Geoffrey McGeachin — Blackwattle Creek
- Adrian McKinty — The Cold, Cold Ground
- Tara Moss — Assassin
- Malla Nunn — Silent Valley
- Michael Robotham — Say You're Sorry
Poetry
- Rosemary Dobson — Rosemary Dobson: Collected
- Kate Fagan — First Light
- Robert Gray — Cumulus: Collected Poems
- John Kinsella — Jam Tree Gully: Poems
- Kate Lilley — Ladylike
- Rhyll McMaster — Late Night Shopping
- Jennifer Maiden — Liquid Nitrogen
- Les Murray ed. — The Quadrant Book of Poetry 2001-2010
- John Shaw Neilson — Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson
- Peter Rose — Crimson Crop
- Randolph Stow — The Land's Meaning: New Selected Poems (edited by John Kinsella)
- John Tranter ed. — The Best Australian Poems 2012
Biography
- John Bailey — Into the Unknown: The Tormented Life and Expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt
- Daryl Dellora — Michael Kirby: Law, Love and Life
- Gideon Haigh — On Warne
- Jenny Hocking — Gough Whitlam: His Time: Volume 2
- J. C. Kannemeyer — J. M. Coetzee: A Life in Writing
- Malcolm Knox — Bradman's War: How the 1948 Invincibles Turned the Cricket Pitch into a Battlefield
- Mungo MacCallum — The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia's Prime Ministers
- David McKnight — Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power
- Brenda Niall — True North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack
Awards and honours
Lifetime achievement
| Award | Author |
|---|---|
| Christopher Brennan Award | Tim Thorne |
| Melbourne Prize for Literature | Alex Miller |
| Patrick White Award | Amanda Lohrey |
Fiction
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year | Fiction | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Allen & Unwin |
| ALS Gold Medal | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Allen & Unwin | |
| Barbara Jefferis Award | Anna Funder | All That I Am | Penguin Books | |
| Colin Roderick Award | Thomas Keneally | The Daughters of Mars | Random House | |
| Miles Franklin Award | Anna Funder | All That I Am | Penguin Books | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Fiction | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Fiction | Kim Scott | That Deadman Dance | Picador |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Fiction | Frank Moorhouse | Cold Light | Vintage Australia |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Fiction | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Fiction | Michelle de Kretser | Questions of Travel | Allen & Unwin |
Children and Young Adult
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Scott Gardner | The Dead I Know | Allen & Unwin |
| Younger Readers | Kate Constable | Crow Country | Allen & Unwin | |
| Picture Book | Bob Graham | A Bus Called Heaven | Walker Books | |
| Early Childhood | Nick Bland, illus. Freya Blackwood | Maudie Bear | Scholastic Press | |
| Davitt Award | Young Adult Novel | Meg McKinley | Surface Tension | Walker Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Kate Constable | Crow Country | Allen & Unwin |
| Young People's | Penni Russon | Only Ever Always | Allen & Unwin | |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Children's | Briony Stewart | Kumiko and the Shadow Catchers | University of Queensland Press |
| Young Adult | Neil Grant | The Ink Bridge | Allen & Unwin | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | John Larkin | The Shadow Girl | Random House |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Stephen Herrick | Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend | University of Queensland Press |
| Peter Macinnis | Australian Backyard Naturalist | National Library of Australia | ||
| Writing for Young Adults | Margo Lanagan | Sea Hearts | Allen and Unwin | |
Crime and Mystery
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davitt Award | Novel | Sulari Gentill | A Decline in Prophets | Pantera Press |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | J. C. Burke | Pig Boy | Random House Australia |
| First novel | Peter Twohig | The Cartographer | Fourth Estate | |
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 | |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Martin Thomas | The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist | Allen & Unwin | |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | |
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year | Mal McKimmie | The Brokenness Sonnets I-III And Other Poems | Five Islands Press |
| Mary Gilmore Prize | Fiona Wright | Knuckled | Giramondo Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Gig Ryan | New and Selected Poems | Giramondo Publishing |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Peter Rose | Crimson Crop | UWA Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | John Kinsella | Armour | Picador |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Robert Gray | Cumulus | John Leonard Press |
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | 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 | Award | Anna Barnes | Minus One Sister | Griffin Theatre Company |
| Fellowship | Hilary Bell |
Deaths
- 27 June — Rosemary Dobson, poet (born 1920)
- 27 June — Peter Steele, poet (born 1939)
- 6 August — Robert Hughes, writer and critic (born 1928)
- 14 October — Max Fatchen, writer for children (born 1920)
- 22 November — Bryce Courtenay, novelist (born 1939)
See also
- Literature
- List of years in Australian literature
- List of Australian literary awards
- 2012 in Australia
- 2012 in literature
- 2012 in poetry
References
- ↑ British Honour for Clive James
- ↑ Australia Day Honours
- ↑ Carey Wins Oxford's Bodley Medal
- ↑ Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Cancelled
- ↑ Queensland Literary Awards to Proceed Under New Management
- ↑ Queensland Literary Awards Funding
- ↑ Literature Board's New Head
- ↑ Queen's Birthday Honours 2012
- ↑ Australian Writers Back in Print
- ↑ Literature Lane