2008 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2008.
Events
- "The Bulletin" magazine publishes its last issue, the first was in 1880[1]
- The Australia Council for the Arts announces Christopher Koch and Gerald Murnane as recipients of its 2008 emeritus writers awards[2]
- The Australian Federal Government announces funding for a new chair of Australian Literature based at the University of Western Australia[3]
- Clunes, Victoria, holds its second Booktown weekend[4]
- The first Crime and Justice Festival in held in Melbourne over the weekend of 19–20 July[5]
- Australia wins the right to host the 2010 World SF convention in Melbourne[6]
- A number of previously unknown Banjo Paterson poems are found in an old cash book dating back to the Boer War [7]
- UNESCO names Melbourne as its second City of Literature, after Edinburgh received the first such award in 2004[8]
- Caro Llewellyn, a former director of the Sydney Writers' Festival and PEN World Voices Festival in New York, is appointed as director of the new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (now called the Wheeler Centre) in Melbourne[9]
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Debra Adelaide – The Household Guide to Dying
- Murray Bail – The Pages
- Geraldine Brooks – People of the Book
- Peter Carey – His Illegal Self
- Luke Davies – God of Speed
- Robert Drewe – The Rip
- Richard Flanagan – Wanting
- Helen Garner – The Spare Room
- Peter Goldsworthy – Everything I Knew
- Kate Grenville – The Lieutenant
- Vicki Hastrich – The Great Arch
- Wendy James – The Steele Diaries
- Susan Johnson – Life in Seven Mistakes
- Toni Jordan – Addition
- Sofie Laguna – One Foot Wrong
- Nam Le – The Boat
- Joan London – The Good Parents
- Louis Nowra – Ice
- Kevin Rabelais – The Landscape of Desire
- Claire Thomas – fugitive blue
- Steve Toltz – A Fraction of the Whole
- Ian Townsend – The Devil's Eye
- Christos Tsiolkas – The Slap
- Tim Winton – Breath
- Arnold Zable – Sea of Many Returns
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Isobelle Carmody – The Stone Key
- Kate Constable – Always Mackenzie
- Alison Croggon —The Singing
- Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury – Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
- Jackie French – A Rose for the Anzac Boys
- Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac – Simpson and His Donkey
- Jack Heath – Money Run
- Simone Howell – Everything Beautiful
- Catherine Jinks – Genius Squad
- Maureen McCarthy – Somebody's Crying
- Melina Marchetta – Finnikin of the Rock
- Sophie Masson – The Case of the Diamond Shadow
- Garth Nix – Superior Saturday
- Penni Russon – The Indigo Girls
- Shaun Tan – Tales from Outer Suburbia
- Lili Wilkinson – The (Not Quite) Perfect Boyfriend
- Sean Williams – Dust Devils
Crime and Mystery
- Peter Corris – Open File
- Leah Giarratano – Voodoo Doll
- Kerry Greenwood – Murder on a Midsummer Night
- Marion Halligan – Murder on the Apricot Coast
- Jarad W. Henry – Blood Sunset
- Katherine Howell – The Darkest Hour
- Barry Maitland – Bright Air
- P.D. Martin – Fan Mail
- Camilla Nelson – Crooked
- Alex Palmer – The Tattooed Man
- Bronwyn Parry – As Darkness Falls
- Kel Robertson – Smoke and Mirrors
- Michael Robotham – Shatter
Romance
- Anne Gracie – The Stolen Princess
- Stephanie Laurens – The Edge of Desire
- Margaret Leigh – The Heart Divided
- Estelle Pinney – Burnt Sunshine
Science Fiction and Fantasy
- K. A. Bedford – Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait
- Honey Brown – Red Queen
- Nathan Burrage – Fivefold
- Sara Douglass – The Twisted Citadel
- Greg Egan – Incandescence
- Jennifer Fallon – The Chaos Crystal
- Pamela Freeman – Deep Water
- Alison Goodman – The Two Pearls of Wisdom
- Traci Harding – The Dragon Queens
- Simon Haynes – Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch
- Margo Lanagan – Tender Morsels
- Fiona McIntosh – Rogue Agent
- Juliet Marillier – Heir to Sevenwaters
- K.E. Mills – The Accidental Sorcerer
- Sean Williams – Earth Ascendent
Drama
- John Doyle – The Pig Iron People
- Tom Holloway – Beyond the Neck
- Joanna Murray-Smith – Ninety
Poetry
See also 2008 in poetry
- Robert Adamson – The Golden Bird: New and Selected Poems, winner of the C.J. Dennis Prize for Poetry in the 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, shortlisted for the 2009 Age Book of the Year Awards
- Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night
- David Brooks – The Balcony, finalist for the 2008 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry; University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3669-3
- Elizabeth Hodgson – Skin Painting, winner of the 2007 David Unaipon Award; University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3677-8
- Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria
- Clive James – Opal Sunset: Selected Poems, 1958–2008
- John Kinsella – Divine Comedy, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3666-2
- Anthony Lawrence – Bark, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3664-8
- David Malouf – Revolving Days, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3635-8
- Peter Rose editor – The Best Australian Poems 2008 Black Inc., ISBN 978-1-86395-303-0
Non-fiction
- Germaine Greer – On Rage
- Chloe Hooper – The Tall Man
Biographies
- Peter Costello – The Costello Memoirs
- Jacqueline Kent – An Exacting Heart: The Story of Hephzibah Menuhin
- Andrew Riemer – A Family History of Smoking
Awards and honours
Lifetime achievement
| Award | Author |
|---|---|
| Christopher Brennan Award | Robert Gray |
| Patrick White Award | John Romeril |
International
| Award | Region | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | SE Asia and South Pacific | Best Novel | Steven Carroll | The Time We Have Taken | Harper Collins |
| Best First Novel | Karen Foxlee | The Anatomy of Wings | University of Queensland Press | ||
National
National
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davitt Award | Novel | Katherine Howell | Frantic | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Michael Robotham | Shatter | Sphere Books |
| First novel | Chris Womersley | The Low Road | Scribe Publishing | |
Science Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurealis Award | SF Novel | K. A. Bedford | Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait | Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing |
| SF Short Story | Simon Brown | "The Empire" | Dreaming Again, Voyager | |
| Fantasy Novel | Alison Goodman | The Two Pearls of Wisdom | HarperCollins | |
| Fantasy Short Story | Cat Sparks | "Sammarynda Deep" | Paper Cities, Senses 5 Press | |
| Horror Novel | John Harwood | The Seance | Random House | |
| Horror Short Story | Kirstyn McDermott | "Painlessness" | Greatest Uncommon Denominator #2 | |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Sean Williams | Saturn Returns | Orbit Books |
| Novella/Novelette | Cat Sparks | "Lady of Adestan" | Orb #7 | |
| Short Story | Rick Kennett | "The Dark and What It Said" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #28 | |
| Collected Work | Jonathan Strahan ed. | The New Space Opera | HarperCollins | |
| Russell B. Farr ed. | Fantastic Wonder Stories | Ticonderoga Publications | ||
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-fiction | Don Watson | American Journeys | Random House |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Frances Watts, illus David Legge | Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books | ABC Books |
| Davitt Award | True crime | Janet Fife-Yeomans | Killing Jodie | Penguin Books |
| National Biography Award | Philip Dwyer | Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769–1799 | Bloomsbury Publishing | |
| Graham Seal | These Few Lines: A Convict Story – The Lost Lives of Myra & William Sykes | ABC Books | ||
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Philip Jones | Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers | Wakefield Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Tom Griffiths | Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica | University of New South Wales Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Paul Ham | Vietnam: The Australian War | Harper Collins |
| Community and Regional History | Dianne Johnson, in collaboration with the residents of the Gully and their descendants | Sacred Waters: the story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners | Halstead Press | |
| General History | Michael A. McDonnell | The Politics of War: Race, Class and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia | University of North Carolina Press | |
| Young People's | Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry | Australians in the Vietnam War | Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd | |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Craig Sherborne | Muck | Black Inc |
| History | Professor Marilyn Lake and Professor Henry Reynolds | Drawing the Global Colour Line | Melbourne University Press | |
| South Australian Premier's Awards | Non-fiction | Jacob G. Rosenberg | Sunrise West | Brandl and Schlesinger |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Meredith Hooper | The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's
Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica |
Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Non-fiction | Antonio Buti | Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience | University of Western Australia Press |
| Western Australian history | Ruth Marchant James | Cottesloe: A Town of Distinction | Town of Cottesloe | |
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year | J. S. Harry | Not Finding Wittgenstein | Giramondo Publishing |
| Mary Gilmore Prize | Nathan Shepherdson | Sweeping the Light Back into the Mirror | University of Queensland Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Kathryn Lomer | Two Kinds of Silence | University of Queensland Press |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | David Malouf | Typewriter Music | University of Queensland Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Lisa Gorton | Press Release | Giramondo Publishing |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Hal Colebatch | The Light River | Connorcourt Publishing |
Drama
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Nicki Bloom | Bloodwood | |
Deaths
- 11 January – Nancy Phelan, author (born 1913)
- 27 March – Alan Collins, short story writer (born 1928)
- 8 April – John Button, politician and author (born 1933)
- 26 April – Pamela Bone, journalist and author (born 1940)
- 29 April – John Hooker, author (born 1932)
- 21 June – Justina Williams, poet (born 1916)
- 24 August – Patricia Rolfe, short story writer and critic (born 1920)
- 30 September – Eleanor Spence, writer for children (born 1928)
- 30 October – Jacob G. Rosenberg, poet and memoirist (born 1922)
- 15 November – Ivan Southall, writer for children (born 1921)
- 10 December – Dorothy Porter, poet (born 1954)
See also
References
- The Bulletin shuts down after 128 years
- "Critically acclaimed writers honoured with top literary prize". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
- "Government funds new Chair in Australian Literature". Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
- The book of regenesis
- Crime and Justice Festival
- Aussiecon 4
- Poet's works discovered in war diary
- Write at the centre
- Centre for writing and books gains services of a mind much travelled
Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.
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