August 29, 2008

Indie Award Shortlist Announced

The Readings Bookshop weblog has reported that the shortlisted works for the First Indie Awards have been announced. This award is presented by Australia's independent boksellers for the best book of the past 12 months. The winner will be announced on October 6th.

The shortlisted works are:

Debut Fiction: Addition by Toni Jordan

Non-Fiction: American Journeys by Don Watson

Fiction: Breath by Tim Winton

Children's Book: Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Posted by larrikin at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2008

The Age Book of the Year Awards

"The Age" Book of the Year Awards were announced on Friday night as part of the Melbourne Writers' Festival.

The Fiction prize was taken out by Breath by Tim Winton, the Non-Fiction award by American Journeys by Don Watson, and the Poetry winner was Not Finding Wittgenstein by J.S. Harry.

In addition the Book of the Year - the best of the best - was awarded to American Journeys by Don Watson.

Posted by larrikin at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2008

2008 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2008 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards have been announced.

The shortlisted works are:

Science Writer Award

"Applying the paradox of prevention: Eradicate HIV", Bill Bowtell (Griffith Review)
Hail Caesar, Professor Caroline de Costa (Boolarong Press)
Cool Scientist, Stephen Luntz (Control Publications)
The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia, Dr Patricia Vickers-Rich, Mikhal A. Fedonkin, James G. Gehling, Kathleen Grey and Guy M. Narbonne (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Why is Uranus Upside Down? And other questions about the Universe, Professor Fred Watson (Allen & Unwin)

Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate - The Harry Williams Award

People Like Us, Waleed Aly (Pan Macmillan Australia)
John Winston Howard, Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen (Melbourne University Publishing)
"No Jail for Rape of Girl, 10", Tony Koch (The Australian)
"Quarterly Essay Issue 27: Reaction Time", Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe (Quarterly Essay)
"In My Shoes", Quentin McDermott and Steve Taylor (Four Corners, The ABC)

Film Script - Pacific Film & Television Commission Award

"Elise", James Bogle (Film 2 Opportunity)
"Prime Mover", David Caesar (Porchlight Films)
"The Square", Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner (Film Depot)
"Punishment", Danny Matier (Glover Productions)

Drama Script (Stage) Award

"When the Rain Stops Falling", Andrew Bovell (Scott Theatre)
"Ruben Guthrie", Brendan Cowell (Company B)
"Toy Symphony", Michael Gow (Belvoir Street Theatre - B Sharp)
"The Serpent's Teeth", Daniel Keene (Sydney Theatre Company)
"The Seed", Kate Mulvany (Belvoir Street Theatre - B Sharp)

Television Script - QUT Creative Industries Award

"Bed of Roses", Jutta Goetze and Elizabeth Coleman (Ruby/Southern Star Ent. Pty. Ltd)
"Underbelly: Episode 7 - Wise Monkeys", Felicity Packard (Screentime)
"Stupid, Stupid Man, Episode 9 - The Black Dog", Timothy Pye (Jigsaw Entertainment)

History Book - Faculty of Arts, University of Queensland Award

Van Diemen's Land, James Boyce (Black Inc)
Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia, Professor John Fitzgerald (University of New South Wales Press Limited)
Vietnam The Australian War, Paul Ham (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
An Exacting Heart, Jacqueline Kent (Penguin Group)
Drawing the Global Colour Line Professor Marilyn Lake and Professor Henry Reynolds (Melbourne University Publishing)

Non Fiction Book Award

Arthur Boyd, Dr Darleen Bungey (Allen & Unwin)
An Exacting Heart, Jacqueline Kent (Penguin Group)
Muck, Craig Sherborne (Black Inc)
American Journeys, Don Watson (Random House (KNOPF))

Fiction Book Award

His Illegal Self, Peter Carey (Random House (KNOPF))
Diary of a Bad Year, J.M Coetzee (Text Publishing)
The Trout Opera, Matthew Condon (Random House (Vintage))
The Spare Room, Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
Breath, Tim Winton (Penguin Group Australia)

Poetry Collection - Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award

Event, Judith Bishop (Salt Publishing/Inbooks)
Bark, Anthony Lawrence (University of Queensland Press)
Typewriter Music, David Malouf (University of Queensland Press)
The Australian Popular Songbook, Alan Wearne (Giramondo Publishing)

Australian Short Story - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award

Someone Else, John Hughes (Giramondo Publishing)
Camera Obscura, Kathryn Lomer (University of Queensland Press)
Redfin, Anthony Lynch (ARCADIA)
The End of the World, Paddy O'Reilly (University of Queensland Press)

Emerging Queensland Author - Manuscript Award

None of the Other Flies Follow My Crooked Lines, Simon Groth
Side Close Side; Stories of Love, Krissy Kneen
Learning How to Breathe, Linda Neil
Omega Park, Amy Vought Barker

Unpublished Indigenous Writer - The David Unaipon Award

10 Hail Mary's, Kate Howarth
White Elephant, Jeanine Leane
Every Secret Thing, Marie Munkara

Children's Book - Mary Ryan's Award

Jessica's Box, Peter Carnavas (New Frontier Publishing)
The Peasant Prince, Li Cunxin and Anne Spudvilas (Penguin Group Australia)
Collecting Colour, Kylie Dunstan (Lothian Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia)
Crow and The Waterhole, Ambelin Kwaymullina (Fremantle Press)
The Worry Tree, Marianne Musgrove (Random House)

Young Adult Book Award

Requiem for a Beast, Matt Ottley (Lothian Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia)
Marty's Shadow, John Heffernan (Omnibus Books)
The Push, Julia Lawrinson (Penguin Group Australia)
Town, James Roy (University of Queensland Press)
At Seventeen, Celeste Walters (University of Queensland Press)

The winners will be announced on Tuesday 16th September.

Posted by larrikin at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

2008 CBCA Book of the Year Winners Announced

The winners of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards have been announced. We published the full list of the nominated titles back in April.

The winners were:

Book of the Year: Older Readers
The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett (Viking)

Honour books:
Black Water by David Metzenthen (Penguin)
Marty's Shadow by John Heffernan (Omnibus)

Book of the Year: Younger Readers
Dragon Moon by Carole Wilkinson (Black Dog Books)

Honour books:
Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp by Odo Hirsch (A&U)
Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) by Sherryl Clark, illus by Elissa Christian (Puffin)

Book of the Year: Early Childhood
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley by Aaron Blabey (Viking)

Honour books:
Cat by Mike Dumbleton, illus by Craig Smith (Working Title Press)
Lucy Goosey by Margaret Wild, illus by Ann James (Little Hare Books)

Picture Book of the Year
Requiem for a Beast by Matt Ottley, (Lothian)

Honour books:
Dust by Colin Thompson and 13 other illustrators (ABC Books)
The Peasant Prince by Anne Spudvilas, text by Li Cunxin (Viking)

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books by Frances Watts, illus by David Legge (ABC Books)

Honour books:
Girl Stuff: Your Full-on Guide to the Teen Years by Kaz Cooke (Viking)
Kokoda Track: 101 Days by Peter Macinnis (Black Dog Books)

Crichton Award for New Illustrators
Santa's Aussie Holiday by Anna Walker, text by Maria Farrer (Scholastic)

Posted by larrikin at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2008

2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Shortlists

The shortlisted works for the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards have been announced.

The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction

Diary Of A Bad Year, JM Coetzee (Text Publishing)
The Lost Dog, Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
The Spare Room, Helen Garner (Text Publishing)

The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction

Van Diemen's Land, James Boyce (Black Inc)
Napoleon, Philip Dwyer (Allen & Unwin)
Ferocious Summer, Meredith Hooper (Allen & Unwin)
Detainee 002, Leigh Sales (Melbourne University Publishing)
Muck, Craig Sherborne (Black Inc)

The Prize for Young Adult Fiction

Solo, Alyssa Brugman (Allen & Unwin)
Pool, Justin D'Ath (Ford Street Publishing)
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful, Brigid Lowry (Allen & Unwin)

The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer

Conditions of Return, Daniel Ducrou
Going Finish, Mandy Maroney
In Search of the Blue Tiger, Robert Power

The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry

Event, Judith Bishop (Salt Publishing)
Press Release, Lisa Gorton (Giramondo Publishing)
As We Draw Ourselves, Barry Hill (Five Islands Press)

The Louis Esson Prize for Drama

When the Rain Stops Falling, Andrew Bovell (Brink Productions)
The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table, Wesley Enoch
(Currency Press)
Toy Symphony, Michael Gow (Belvoir Street Theatre)

The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate

Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania's Forests, Richard Flanagan (The Monthly)
Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality Show, Marcia Langton (Griffith Review)
Love and Money, Anne Manne (Quarterly Essay)
The Exiled Child, Meera Atkinson (Griffith Review)

The Prize for a First Book of History

Van Diemen's Land, James Boyce (Black Inc)
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming, Robert Kenny (Scribe)
Pistols! Treason! Murder!, Jonathan Walker (Melbourne University Publishing)

The Prize for Indigenous Writing

Anonymous Premonitions, Yvette Holt (University of Queensland Press)
Me, Antman & Fleabag, Gayle Kennedy (University of Queensland Press)
Fight for Liberty and Freedom: The Origins of Australian Aboriginal Activism, John Maynard (Aboriginal Studies Press)

The John Curtin Prize for Journalism

The Search for Edna Lavilla, Eurydice Aroney and Sharon Davis (Radio Eye, ABC Radio National)
Shame Job: Circle of Abuse, Nick Farrow and Sarah Ferguson (Sunday Program, Nine Network Australia)
Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania's Forests, Richard Flanagan (The Monthly)

The Prize for Best Music Theatre Script

The Hanging of Jean Lee, Libretto by Jordie Albiston and Abe Pogos. Composed by Andrée Greenwell. Based upon the verse history by Jordie Albiston (Green Music with The Studio, Sydney Opera House)
The Wild Blue, Music, lyrics and book by Anthony Crowley (St Martins Theatre)
Crossing Live, Words by Matthew Saville. Music by Bryony Marks (Chambermade)

The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia

See Naples and Die, Penelope Green (Hachette Australia)
Head Over Heel, Chris Harrison (Murdoch Books)
Antonio's Seed, Merry Watson (Jeremiah's Circle Publishing)

The winners will be announced at a presentation dinner on Monday 1st September.

Posted by larrikin at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

The shortlisted works for the 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards have been announced. These are the major literary awards (worth $100,000, tax free, in each of the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories) that were foreshadowed by the incoming Australian Government at the end of 2007. The major controversy about the awards being that the Prime Minister will supposedly make the final decision on the winners. Those winners will be announced in the coming months, but I can't seem to find an actual date on the website. Given this is the first year for these awards that's not such a bad thing. The administrators just have to pick a particular date that will be consistent in the years ahead.

The shortlisted works are:

Fiction

Burning In by Mireille Juchau
El Dorado by Dorothy Porter
Jamaica: A novel by Malcolm Knox
Sorry by Gail Jones
The Complete Stories by David Malouf
The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally
The Zookeeper's War by Steven Conte

Non-Fiction

A History of Queensland by Raymond Evans
Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time by Clive James
My Life as a Traitor by Zarah Ghahramani with Robert Hillman
Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer
Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers by Philip Jones
Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer
Vietnam: The Australian War by Paul Ham

Posted by larrikin at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2008

2008 The Age Book of the Year Shortlists

The shortlisted works for 2008 The Age Book of the Year have been announced. The shortlists are as follows:

Fiction
Diary of a Bad Year, J.M. Coetzee
Burning In, Mireille Juchau
The Orphan Gunner, Sara Knox
The Good Parents, Joan London
Breath, Tim Winton

Non-Fiction
I Am Melba, Ann Blainey
Van Dieman's Land, James Boyce
An Exacting Heart, Jacqueline Kent
A Family History of Smoking, Andrew Riemer
American Journeys, Don Watson

Poetry
Not Finding Wittgenstein, J.S. Harry
Shades of the Sublime, John Kinsella
Bark, Anthony Lawrence
Typewriter Music, David Malouf
Scar Revision, Tracy Ryan

The winners of the awards, as well as the Book of the Year (the best of the best), will be announced at the Melbourne Writers' Festival later in August.

Posted by larrikin at 04:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 31, 2008

2008 Ned Kelly Award Shortlists Announced

Damian, of the "Crime Downunder" weblog is reporting that the shortlists for the 2008 Ned Kelly Awards (for Best Australian crime fiction) have been released. The awards presentation is being held on Friday August 29th as a part of the Melbourne Writers' Festival.

Best Crime Fiction

Among the Dead by Robert Gott (Scribe)
Sucked In by Shane Maloney (Text)
El Dorado by Dorothy Porter (Pan Macmillan)
Shatter by Michael Robotham (Hachette Livre)

Best First Crime Novel

The Low Road by Chris Womersley (Scribe)
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (Penguin)
Golden Serpent by Mark Abernethy (Allen & Unwin)

Best Non Fiction

Underbelly: The Gangland War by John Silvester and Andrew Rule (Sly Ink)
Killing Jodie by Janet Fife-Yeomans (Penguin)
Red Centre, Dark Heart by Evan McHugh (Penguin)

That's two nominations in a row for Steve Tolz, after he made the longlist for the 2008 Man Booker prize yesterday.

Posted by larrikin at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 30, 2008

2008 Man Booker Prize Longlist Announced

The panel of judges for the 2008 Man Booker prize have announced their longlist of titles, 13 in all.

The list comprises:

Aravind Adiga The White Tiger
Gaynor Arnold Girl in a Blue Dress
Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture
John Berger From A to X
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Mohammed Hanif A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency
Joseph O'Neill Netherland
Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence
Tom Rob Smith Child 44
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole

Two Australians in de Kretser and Toltz.

The shortlist will be announced on 9th September, and the winner on 14th October.

Posted by larrikin at 09:46 AM | Comments (1)

July 29, 2008

2008 Australian Literature Society Awards

A couple of weeks back I noted that the 2008 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal had been presented to The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser (who I'm sure I saw driving through Richmond last Friday night).

Now comes the news that, as well as the Gold Medal, the ALS also presents a biennial Magarey Medal for Biography. And this year that award was won by Ida Leeson: A Life by Dr Sylvia Martin.

[I probably got confused with this medal.]

Posted by larrikin at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

2008 Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist

The longlist for the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize for young writers has been released. In case you've forgotten (and who wouldn't with all these awards around?) the Dylan Thomas prize "is open to young writers of any nationality, from anywhere in the world, writing in English. Writers must be under 30 years of age on 3rd April 2007. The following Genres are all eligible for entry: novels, collections of short stories, poetry, screenplays, radio and theatre plays."

Which is interesting as I wasn't aware that poetry was a "genre". Sorry "Genre".

Anyway, enough joking around. The longlisted works are:

Ishq & Mushq by Priya Basil
The Orientalist and the Ghost by Susan Barker
Trouble Came to the Turnip by Caroline Bird
The Secret by Zoe Brigley
Zoology by Ben Dolnick
Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey
Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher
Satsuma Sun Mover by Adam Green
Blackmoor by Edward Hogan
Sons and Other Flammable Objects by Porohistra Khakpour
The Boat by Nam Le
Children of the Revolution by Dinaw Mengestu
There is an Anger that Moves by Kei Miller
God's Own Country by Ross Raisin
St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

The only Australian in the group is Nam Le.

The short list will be announced in September and the winner in November this year.

Posted by larrikin at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2008

2008 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal

A couple of websites have posted that the winner of the 2008 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal has been announced as The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser.

Posted by larrikin at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2008

2008 Romantic Book of the Year Awards

The "Boomerang Books" blog has announced that the shortlists for the Romance Writers of Australia's 2008 Romantic Book of the Year awards have been released.

Long work
Claiming the Courtesan, Anna Campbell (Harper Collins Australia)
Duet, Kimberley Freeman (Hachette Livre Australia)
Tomorrows Promises, Anna Jacobs (Hodder)
Ashblane's Lady, Sophia James (Harlequin Quill)
Serendipity, Melanie La' Brooy (Penguin)
Lands Beyond the Sea, Tamara McKinley (Hodder & Staughton)

Short work
The Prince's Forbidden Virgin, Robyn Donald (Harlequin Mills & Boon)
Their Lost-and-Found Family, Marion Lennox (Harlequin Medical)
The Single Dad's Marriage Wish, Carol Marinelli (Harlequin Medical)
Island Heat, Sarah Mayberry (Harlequin Blaze)
One Night before Marriage, Anne Oliver (Harlequin Sexy Sensation)
Outback Man Seeks Wife, Margaret Way (Harlequin Sweet)

The winners will be announced in Melbourne on August 23rd, at the Romance Writers' annual conference.

Posted by larrikin at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2008

2008 Locus Awards

"Locus" Magazine is the main newsletter of the sf and fantasy fields and each year runs a readers' poll of the best works. Australia has 2 (well, okay 1.5) winners this year:

ANTHOLOGY
The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos)

ART BOOK
The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Lothian 2006; Scholastic)

Posted by larrikin at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2008

2008 Miles Franklin Award Winner

Steven Carroll was last night announced as the winner of the 2008 Miles Franklin Award for his novel The Time We Have Taken.

This is the third novel in an on-going series about a Melbourne surburb and follows the novels The Art of the Engine Driver and The Gift of Speed, both of which were previously shortlisted for this award. Carroll also won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel for the South-East Asia and South Pacific region for this book.

Posted by larrikin at 08:55 AM | Comments (4)

June 19, 2008

2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards

Shaun Tan has won an award in the 2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards, titled "Special Citation, for excellence in graphic storytelling", for his graphic novel The Arrival. These awards honour excellence in children's literature.

Posted by larrikin at 03:45 PM | Comments (2)

June 17, 2008

2008 Miles Franklin Award - Lead-In

With the 2008 Miles Franklin Award to be presented on Thursday June 19th, Jane Sullivan of "The Age" re-assesses the field.

In case you've forgotten, the shortlisted novels are:

The Fern Tattoo by David Brooks, UQP
The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll, Fourth Estate
Love without Hope by Rodney Hall, Picador
Sorry by Gail Jones, Vintage
Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller, A&U

Posted by larrikin at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

The winner of the 2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been announced as De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage.

The winner was chosen from the following shortlisted novels:

The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas
The Sweet & Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne
De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
Let it be Morning by Sayed Kashua
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
Winterwood by Patrick McCabe
The Woman Who Waited by Andrei Makine

Posted by larrikin at 08:46 AM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2008

2008 Australian Book Industry Awards

The 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards were announced in Melbourne on Sunday 15th June. The winners were:

Lloyd O'Neil Award for outstanding service to the Australian book industry - David Malouf.

Book of the Year - Geraldine Brooks for her novel People of the Book (HarperCollins Publishers Australia).

Literary Fiction Book of the Year - People of the Book.

Newcomer of the Year - Pauline Nguyen for her cookbook/memoir Secrets of the Red Lantern (published by Murdoch Books).

Illustrated Book of the Year - Maggie Beer for Maggie's Harvest (Penguin Group Australia).

Book of the Year for Younger Children - Li Cunxin's children's version of Mao's Last Dancer, The Peasant Prince (Penguin Group Australia), with illustrations by Anne Spudvilas.

Book of the Year for Older Children and the International Success Award - John Flanagan for his novel Rangers Apprentice 7: Erak's Ransom (Random House Australia).

General Non-Fiction Book of the Year - Kaz Cooke for Girl Stuff (Penguin Group Australia).

Biography of the Year Award - Darleen Bungey for Arthur Boyd: A Life (Allen & Unwin).

Australian General Fiction Book of the Year - Monica McInerney for Those Faraday Girls (Penguin Group Australia).

Publisher of the Year - Penguin Group (Australia).

Chain Bookseller of the Year - Dymocks Garden City (Booragoon) Perth.

Small Publisher of the Year - Scribe Publications.

Independent Bookseller of the Year - Gleebooks, Glebe.

Specialist Bookseller of the Year - Boffins Bookshop, Perth.

Distributor of the Year - Alliance Distribution Services.

Publisher Marketing Campaign of the Year 2008 - Allen & Unwin for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling.

Bookseller Marketing Event of the Year 2008 - Pages & Pages Booksellers for A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

The Pixie O'Harris Award for distinguished and dedicated service to the development and reputation of Australian children's books - Kate Colley.

Posted by larrikin at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

2008 Ned Kelly Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2008 Ned Kelly Awards have been released.

Best First Fiction
Golden Serpent, Mark Abernethy
Shadow Maker, Robert Sims
A Fraction Of The Whole, Steve Toltz
The Low Road, Chris Womersley
The Butcherbird, Geoffrey Cousins
Bye Bye Baby, Lauren Crow
Broken Swallow, JJ Burn
Green Velvet Shoes, Christina Ann Alexander
Frantic, Katherine Howell
Vodka Doesn't Freeze, Lea Giarratano
Iraqi Icicle, Bernie Dowling
Maelstrom, Michael MacConnell

Best Fiction
Trick or Treat, Kerry Greenwood
Cherry Pie, Leigh Redhead
Endangered List, Brian Westlake
Harem Scarum, Felicity Yound
Sensitive New Age Spy, Geoffrey McGeachin
Sucked In, Shane Maloney
Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Mandy Sayer
Orpheus Lost, Janette Turner Hospital
Amongst The Dead, Robert Gott
Appeal Denied, Peter Corris
Open File, Peter Corris
Gospel, Sydney Bauer
Broken, Ilsa Evans
Skin & Bone, Kathryn Fox
Fan Mail, PD Martin
el Dorado, Dorothy Porter
Shattered, Gabrielle Lord
The Calling, Jane Goodall
Shatter, Michael Rowbotham
Game As Ned, Tim Peglar
The Tattooed Man, Alex Palmer
Blood Sunset, Jarad Henry
Redback, Lindy Cameron

Best Non-Fiction
Bondi Badlands, Greg Callaghan
Mr Sin, Tony Reeves
Underbelly The Gangland War, John Silvester and Andrew Rule
Killing Jodie, Janet Fife-Yeomans
Red Centre, Dark Heart, Evan McHugh
Big Shots, Adam Shand
Lives of Crime, Tippet & Munro
Fatal Flaw, Roger Maynard
Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter, Carole Wilkinson
Wild Colonial Boys, Paula Hunt

[Thanks to the AustCrimeFiction weblog for the link.]

Posted by larrikin at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

2008 Kathleen Mitchell Award for Young Writers

This award for young writers was set up in 1996 under the terms of the will of late Kathleen Adele Mitchell. According to the website "Her aim was to encourage 'the advancement, improvement and betterment of Australian literature, to improve the educational style of the authors, and to provide them with additional amounts and thus enable them to improve their literary efforts'."

The 2008 award was won by Randa Abdel-Fattah for her novel Ten Things I Hate About Me .

Posted by larrikin at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

2008 NSW Premier's Literary Award Winners

The winners of the the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Award were announced last night in Sydney.

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog

Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
Tom Griffiths Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Kathryn Lomer Two Kinds of Silence

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
James Roy Town

Patricia Wrightson Prize
Li Cunxin & Anne Spudvilas (illus) The Peasant Prince

Community Relations Commission Award
Jacob G. Rosenberg Sunrise West

Gleebooks Prize
Kay Anderson Race and the Crisis of Humanism

UTS Award for New Writing
Rhyll McMaster Feather Man

Play Award
Debra Oswald Stories in the Dark

Script Writing Award
Anna Broinowski Forbidden Lie$

The NSW Premier's Literary Scholarship Prize
William Christie Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Literary Life

Book of the Year
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog

A Special Award was also presented to Tom Keneally for lifetime achievement.

Posted by larrikin at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize

The winners of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize have been announced.

Overall Best Book
Lawrence Hill of Canada The Book of Negroes

Overall Best First Book
Tahmima Anam of Bangladesh for A Golden Age

Posted by larrikin at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

2008 Australian Literary Society Gold Medal

The shortlisted works for the 2008 Australian Literary Society Gold Medal have been released.

The Lost Dog, Michelle de Kretser (A&U)
Not Finding Wittgenstein, J S Harry (Giramondo)
Feather Man, Rhyll McMaster (Brandl & Schlesinger)
Typewriter Music, David Malouf (UQP)
Landscape of Farewell, Alex Miller (A&U)

The winner will be announced during the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, over the weekend (+) of June 29 to July 2.

[Thanks to the "Boomerang Blog" for the link.]

Posted by larrikin at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

Best of the Bookers Shortlist Announced

As a way of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the start of the Man Booker prize, the organiser have decided to set up a method of selecting the Best of the Bookers, the best novel to have won the prize over those 40 years.

An advisory committee has selected a shortlist of six novels and the public is invited to vote for the winner.

The shortlisted works are:

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker, 1995
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, 1988
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, 1999
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell, 1973
The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer, 1974
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, 1981

The winner will be announced on July 10, 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2008

2008 Nita Kibble Award Winners

The winners of the Nita Kibble and Dobbie encouragement awards were announced last night.

The winner of the Nita Kibble Award was Nights in the Asylum by Carol Lefevre, and the winner of the Dobbie encourgaement award was The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee.

The shortlists for both awards were posted here at the end of April.

Posted by larrikin at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

May 06, 2008

2008 Booksellers Choice Award

The Australian Booksellers Association has announced the shortlisted titles for the Nielsen BookData 2008 Booksellers Choice Award.

This is an award which recognises the book that booksellers most enjoyed reading or hand-selling in 2007. The shortlisted works are:

Orpheus Lost (Janette Turner Hospital, Fourth Estate)
The Memory Room (Christopher Koch, Knopf)
4 Ingredients (Kim McCosker and Rachel Bermingham, 4 Ingredients)
The Peasant Prince (Li Cunxin, illus by Anne Spudvilas, Viking)
Maggie's Harvest (Maggie Beer, Lantern)
Girl Stuff: Your Full-on Guide to the Teenage Years (Kaz Cooke, Viking)

[Thanks to the Boomerang Books weblog for the note.]

Posted by larrikin at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2008

2008 Locus Award Finalists

"Locus Magazine" is the major news magazine of the science fiction and fantasy fields. Each year the magazine runs a poll of the best works in the genre, and the 2008 finalists have now been published.

Among the nominated works are:

Extras by Scott Westerfeld and Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier, in the Young Adult Book category;
"Dark Integers" by Greg Egan in the Novelette category;
The New Space Opera by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan in the Anthology category;
The Arrival by Shaun Tan in the Art Book category; and
Shaun Tan in the Artist category.

The winners will be announced in Seattle on June 21st.

Posted by larrikin at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2008

2008 Kibble Awards for Women Writers

The shortlisted novels for the 2008 Kibble Awards (best novel by an Australian woman writer) have been announced. The shortlisted novels are:

Sorry by Gail Jones
Burning In by Mireille Juchau
Nights in the Asylum by Carol Lefevre

In addition, the Dobbie Award shortlist (for a first novel by a woman) was announced:

The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee
Nine Parts Water by Emma Hardman
A Curious Intimacy by Jessica White

I'm not sure when the winners will be announced.

Posted by larrikin at 02:35 PM | Comments (5)

April 18, 2008

2008 Miles Franklin Award Shortlst

The shortlisted novels for the 2008 Miles Franklin Award were announced last night.

The shortlist:

The Fern Tattoo by David Brooks, UQP
The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll, Fourth Estate
Love without Hope by Rodney Hall, Picador
Sorry by Gail Jones, Vintage
Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller, A&U

You can read the full longlist here. Over the past couple of weeks all of these novels have appeared in the Combined Reviews section of Matilda.

Posted by larrikin at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

2008 NSW Premier's Literary Award Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2008 NSW Premier's Award have been announced.

The shortlisted works are:

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($20,000)

J.M. Coetzee Diary of a Bad Year
Matthew Condon The Trout Opera
Gregory Day Ron McCoy's Sea of Diamonds
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Tom Keneally The Widow and Her Hero
Alex Miller Landscape of Farewell

Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction ($20,000)

Tom Griffiths Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica
Philip Jones Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers
Guy Pearse High and Dry: John Howard, Climate Change the Selling of Australia's Future
Jacob G Rosenberg Sunrise West
Nicholas Rothwell Another Country
Maria Tumarkin Courage

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($15,000)

Joanne Burns an illustrated history of dairies
Brook Emery Uncommon Light
Peter Kirkpatrick Westering
Kathryn Lomer Two Kinds of Silence
David Malouf Typewriter Music
Phyllis Perlstone The Edge of Everything

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature ($15,000)

Lollie Barr The Mag Hags
David Metzenthen Black Water
Robert Newton The Black Dog Gang
James Roy Town
David Spillman & Lisa Wilyuka Us Mob Walawurru
Lizzie Wilcock GriEVE

Patricia Wrightson Prize ($15,000)

Aaron Blabey Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley
Martin Chatterton The Brain Finds a Leg
Li Cunxin & Anne Spudvilas (illus) The Peasant Prince
Liz Lofthouse & Robert Ingpen (illus) Ziba Came on a Boat
Emily Rodda The Key to Rondo
Carole Wilkinson Dragon Moon

Community Relations Commission Award ($15,000)

John Fitzgerald Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia
David Hill The Forgotten Children
Mark Kurzem The Mascot
Jacob G. Rosenberg Sunrise West
Peta Stephenson The Outsiders Within: Telling Australia's Indigenous-Asian Story

Gleebooks Prize ($10,000)

Kay Anderson Race and the Crisis of Humanism
Helen Gilbert & Jacqueline Lo Performance and Cosmopolitics: Coss-Cultural Transactions in Australia
Niall Lucy & Steve Mickler The War on Democracy: Conservative Opinion in the Australian Press
Glenn Nicholls Deport: A History of Forced Departures from Australia
Peta Stephenson The Outsiders Within: Telling Australia's Indigenous-Asian Story
Gillian Whitlock Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit

UTS Award for New Writing ($5,000)

No short list with this Award. Winner will be announced 19 May 2008

Play Award ($15,000)

Nicki Bloom Tender
Wesley Enoch The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table
Debra Oswald Stories in the Dark
Alana Valentine Parramatta Girls

Script Writing Award ($15,000)

Anna Broinowski Forbidden Lie$
Elissa Down & Jimmy Jack (a.k.a. Jimmy the Exploder) The Black Balloon
Kristen Dunphy East West 101: episode 1, The Enemy Within
Alison Nisselle Curtin
Cathy Randall Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger
Michale James Rowland & Helen Barnes Lucky Miles

The NSW Premier's Literary Scholarship Prize ($15,000)

Katherine Barnes The Higher Self in Christopher Brennan's Poems: Esotericism, Romanticism, Symbolism
William Christie Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Literary Life
Richard Freadman This Crazy Thing a Life: Australian Jewish Autobiography
Helen Gilbert & Janet Lo Performance and Cosmopolitics: Cross-Cultural Transactions in Australia
Anthony Uhlmann Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image
Ann Vickery Stressing the Modern: Cultural Politics in Australian Women's Poetry

The full list of the awards and associated judges' comments is available.

Posted by larrikin at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

2008 Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature

The Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature is not an award that I have come across before. Anyway, "The Australian" newspaper is reporting that the 2008 prize has been won by Caroline Overington for her work Kickback: Inside the Australian Wheat Board Scandal. You'll recall that the Australian Wheat Board got caught providing kickbacks to the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein prior to the Second Gulf War. The prize is worth $30,000 to the winner.

Posted by larrikin at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2008

2008 National Biography Award Winners Announced

Joint winners of the 2008 National Biography Award have been announced. The works are:

Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer
These Few Lines: A Convict Story - The Lost Lives Of Myra & William Sykes by Graham Seal

The awards were announced last night at the State Library of NSW. The winners will share prizemoney of $20,000.

Posted by larrikin at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2008

2008 ABC Fiction Award Winner

The winner of the 2008 ABC Fiction Award has been announced as God for the Killing by Kain Massin.

Two other manuscripts were Highly Commended: Red Queen by Honey Brown and Homing by Lyndal Caffrey.

Kain Massin will receive prize-money of $10,000 for the award, and will have his manuscript published by ABC Books later in 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2008

2008 National Biography Award

The shortlisted works for the 2008 National Biography Award have been released.

Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer
Lucy Osburn, A Lady Displaced by Judith Godden
A Thinking Reed by Barry Jones
The Mascot by Mark Kurzem
Jonestown: The Power And The Myth Of Alan Jones by Chris Masters
These Few Lines: A Convict Story - The Lost Lives Of Myra & William Sykes by Graham Seal

The winner will be announced at the State Library of NSW on April 10.

I don't think this narrow gap between the announcements of the shortlist and the winner is a good idea. There is no time for the public to be aware of the award before it's done with and forgotten. Heaven forbid anyone would want to actually, you know, read the books before knowing the title of the winner. The Miles Franklin Award seems to have its timing about right: a month between the annnnouncements of longlist and shortlist, and then two months more before the winner is named. There is no real expectation that people will rush out and read all books on the longlist, but there is a possibility they might do so for the shortlisted works. Not much chance of that with the National Biography Award it seems.

This is an important award, but is anyone going to remember it come Anzac Day? I somehow doubt it. And that's a pity.

Posted by larrikin at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2008

2008 IMAC Dublin Literary Award Shortlist Announced

The 2008 IMAC Dublin Literary Award shortlisted works have been announced as follows:

The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas
The Sweet & Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne
De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
Let it be Morning by Sayed Kashua
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
Winterwood by Patrick McCabe
The Woman Who Waited by Andrei Makine

The eight novels listed here were whittled down from the original list of 137. The winner will be announced in Dublin on 12th June 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2008

2008 Kiriyama Prize Winners Announced

The winners of the 2008 Kiriyama Prize have been announced. The winners were:

Fiction
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Non-Fiction
The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other adventures in the South Pacific by Julia Whitty

From the prize's website: "The Kiriyama Prize was established in 1996 to recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region. The Prize consists of a cash award of US $30,000, which is split equally between the fiction and nonfiction winners. Beginning in 2008, if a work in translation is chosen as a winner in either category, the translator will receive $5,000 and the winning author $10,000. "

Posted by larrikin at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2008

Prime Minister's Literary Awards

Rosemary Sorenson of "The Australian" finds that all is not sweetness and light with the Prime Minister's Literary Awards. It seems that Kevin Rudd has reserved the right to overrule the judging panels' recommendations. Just imagine the flak that will fly if that ever happened.

As well as that interesting piece of news, the article names the judging panels.

Fiction
Chair - Peter Pierce, former chair of Australian Literature at James Cook University
John Marsden, author
Margaret Throsby, ABC radio broadcaster

Non-Fiction
Chair - Hilary Charlesworth, law faculty at the Australian National University
John Doyle, performer and writer
Sally Morgan, author and director at the Centre for Indigenous History and the Arts at the University of Western Australia

Official press release.

Posted by larrikin at 11:21 AM | Comments (2)

April 01, 2008

2008 CBCA Book of the Year Shortlists

The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year shortlisted works were announced today.

Book of the Year: Older Readers

Black Water by David Metzenthen (Penguin)
The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett (Viking)
Leaving Barrumbi by Leonie Norrington (Omnibus)
Love Like Water by Meme McDonald (A&U)
Marty's Shadow by John Heffernan (Omnibus)
Pharaoh: The Boy Who Conquered the Nile by Jackie French (A&R)

Book of the Year: Younger Readers

Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp by Odo Hirsch (A&U)
Dragon Moon by Carole Wilkinson (Black Dog Books)
The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda (Omnibus)
The Shaggy Gully Times by Jackie French, illus by Bruce Whatley (A&R)
Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) by Sherryl Clark, illus by Elissa Christian (Puffin)
Winning the World Cup by David Metzenthen, illus by Stephen Axelsen (Puffin)

Book of the Year: Early Childhood

Cat by Mike Dumbleton, illus by Craig Smith (Working Title Press)
Lucy Goosey by Margaret Wild, illus by Ann James (Little Hare Books)
The Night Garden by Elise Hurst (ABC Books)
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley by Aaron Blabey (Viking)
Shhh! Little Mouse by Pamela Allen (Viking)
The Trouble with Dogs! by Bob Graham (Walker Books)

Picture Book of the Year

Dust by Colin Thompson and 13 other illustrators (ABC Books)
The Island by Armin Greder, A&U)
The Peasant Prince by Anne Spudvilas, text by Li Cunxin (Viking)
Requiem for a Beast by Matt Ottley, Lothian)
You and Me: Our Place by Dee Huxley, text by Leonie Norrington (Working Title Press)
Ziba Came on a Boat by Robert Ingpen, text by Liz Lofthouse (Viking)

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

The Antarctica Book: Living in the Freezer by Mark Norman (Black Dog Books)
Australia's Deadly and Dangerous Animals by Michael Cermak (Steve Parish Publishing)
Girl Stuff: Your Full-on Guide to the Teen Years by Kaz Cooke (Viking)
Kokoda Track: 101 Days by Peter Macinnis (Black Dog Books)
Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter by Carole Wilkinson, illus by Dean Jones (Black Dog Books)
Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books by Frances Watts, illus by David Legge (ABC Books)

Crichton Award for New Illustrators

The Crow and the Waterhole by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Fremantle Press)
The Empty City by Jonathon Oxlade, text by David Megarrity (Lothian)
Ock Von Fiend by Luke Edwards (Omnibus)
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley by Aaron Blabey (Viking)
Santa's Aussie Holiday by Anna Walker, text by Maria Farrer (Scholastic)
The World According to Warren by Sonia Martinez, text by Craig Silvey (Fremantle Press)

The winners of the awards will be announced on Friday August 15, at the start of Children's Book Week.

[Thanks to Boomerang Books for the information.]

Posted by larrikin at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)

March 31, 2008

2008 Barbara Jefferis Award Winner Announced

The winner of the 2008 Barbara Jefferis Award has been announced as Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster.

The award is offered annually for "the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women or girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society."

The shortlisted works were:

Karen Foxlee: The Anatomy of Wings (University of Queensland Press)
Rhyll McMaster: Feather Man (Brandl & Schlesinger)
Geraldine Wooller: The Seamstress (University of Western Australia Press)
Michelle de Kretser: The Lost Dog (Allen & Unwin)

Posted by larrikin at 08:55 AM | Comments (1)

March 25, 2008

2008 Ditmar Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2008 Ditmar Awards have been announced.

Best Novel

Saturn Returns by Sean Williams (Published by Orbit)

Best Novella/Novelette

"Lady of Adestan" by Cat Sparks (Published by in "Orb" #7 edited by Sarah Endacott)

Best Short Story

"The Dark and What It Said" by Rick Kennett (Published in "Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine" #28 edited by Zara Baxter)

Best Collected Work (tie)

The New Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan (Published by HarperCollins Australia)
Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr (Published by Ticonderoga Publications)

Best Art Work

Nick Stathopolous for the Rhinemonn cover

Best Fan Writer

Rob Hood for film reviews on his website

Best Fan Art

'Exterminate!' Dalek Postcards - Katherine Linge

Best Fan Production

2007 Snap Shot Project - interviews with influential members of the Australian speculative fiction scene conducted by Alisa Krasnostein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kathering Linge, Kaaron Warren and Rosie Clark

Best Fanzine

"Not If You Were the Last Short Story on Earth" edited by Alisa Krasnstein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts

Best Professional Achievement

Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Operative Ltd for five issues in 2007, including three electronic Best Of anthologies

Best Fan Achievement

Alisa Krasnostein for "ASiF! Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus"

Best New Talent

Tehani Wessely

William Atheling Jr Award

Grant Watson for "The Bad Film Diaries" (Published in "Borderlands" #9.)

Posted by larrikin at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

2008 Hugo Award Nominations

The shortlisted works for the 2008 Hugo Awards have been announced. These awards are decided by reader ballot and deal with categories within the science fiction and fantasy fields. To be eligible to vote you need to be a member of this year's World Science Fiction Convention, which will be held in Denver in early August.

Amongst the nominees this year are:

Best Novellette
"Dark Integers" by Greg Egan
"Glory" by Greg Egan

Best Professional Editor, Short Form
Jonathan Strahan (The New Space Opera (HarperCollins/Eos), The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 1 (Night Shade), Eclipse One (NightShade))

Best Related Work
The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Best Professional Artist
Shaun Tan

Posted by larrikin at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2008

2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction

The longlist for the 2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction was announced yesterday. On the list is Australia's Gail Jones with her novel Sorry. The author's previous novel, Dreams of Speaking, was also longlisted for the award in 2006.

Controversy looms. Or maybe not.

Posted by larrikin at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

2008 Kiriyama Prize Shortlists Announced

The fiction and non-fiction shortlists for the 2008 Kiriyama Prize have been announced.

The Kiriyama Prize was established in 1996 to recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region. The Prize consists of a cash award of US $30,000, which is split equally between the fiction and nonfiction winners. Beginning in 2008, if a work in translation is chosen as a winner in either category, the translator will receive $5,000 and the winning author $10,000.

The shortlisted works are:

Fiction

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
The Complete Stories by David Malouf
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
Mosquito by Roma Tearne
I Love Dollars by Zhu Wen translated by Julia Lovell

Non-Fiction

The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam by Tom Bissell
East Wind Melts the Ice by Liza Dalby
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
The Talented Women of the Zhang Family by Susan Mann
The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific by Julia Whitty

The winners in both categories will be announced on April 1, 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Regional Winners

Jason Steger of "The Age" has announced that the winners of the South-East Asia and South Pacific region of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize are:

Best Novel
The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll

Best First Novel
The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee

Full details of all winners should be available sometime later today on the Commonwealth Writers' Prize website.

The overall winners, across all regions, will be announced in South Africa on May 18.

Posted by larrikin at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2008

2008 Miles Franklin Award Longlist

The longlisted novels for the 2008 Miles Franklin Award were announced today. Fifty-nine novels were submitted for the award with nine chosen for the longlist.

The longlist:

Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller, A&U
Love without Hope by Rodney Hall, Picador
Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital, Fourth Estate
Secrets of the Sea by Nicholas Shakespeare, Harvill Secker
Sorry by Gail Jones, Vintage
The Fern Tattoo by David Brooks, UQP
The Memory Room by Christopher Koch, Knopf
The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll, Fourth Estate
The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally, Vintage

As usual there are a few surprises: why only nine books in the longlist when, presumably, the judges are going to name 5 or 6 for the shortlist?; no sign of The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon or The Children by Charlotte Wood; and only two women on the list. And it's interesting that no publisher has more than one entry on the longlist.

The shortlist will be announced on 17th April, and the winner on 19th June.

Posted by larrikin at 10:13 PM | Comments (1)

2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

And the awards just keep coming on this 13th day of March.

Sonya Hartnett has been announced as the winner of the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

As posted back in October 2007, Hartnett was one of only two Australians (the other was John Marsden) nominated for the award, amongst a total of 155 nominees from 61 countries.

According to the relevant Wikipedia page: "The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) may be awarded to authors, illustrators, narrators and/or promoters of reading whose work reflects the spirit of Astrid Lindgren. The object of the award is to increase interest in children's and young people's literature, and to promote children's rights to culture on a global level. The award is administered by The Swedish Arts Council."

[Thanks to Read Alert for the news.]

Posted by larrikin at 01:23 PM | Comments (2)

Prime Minister's Literary Awards

The Australian Prime Minister's new literary awards - one fiction, one non-fiction each worth a cool $100,000 - have now opened. Closing date/time for entries is 2pm, Friday March 28th 2008, so you'd better get your skates on.

A condition of entry is that five (5) copies of each book be sent along with the completed entry form. Hope they've got a big warehouse. 'Cos, let's face it, they're going to get swamped, and there's probably only 50 books in each category in with a chance.

A few other notes are of interest:

• the Fiction Book Award carries a secondary clause: "Entries in this category may be books written for an adult or young adult (12-16 years) audience." Thereby defining books written for an audience younger than 12 as... well, I don't know really. But they're not eligible. Wonder where The Arrival by Shaun Tan sits in relation to this?


• in the Non-Fiction category histories are eligible but not if they've won the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History. Which I reckon is now looking very vulnerable. Anyway, it was Howard's award so it will probably be out soon.


• self-published works are not eligible. No point commenting on this really.


• left-overs after the awards ceremony will be distributed to public institutions and local libraries, which sounds fair.


• the Australian Government is preparing legislaton to ensure that all prize monies are exempt from income tax. Just these awards you understand. You win any others and you'll be clobbered.

There seems to be no word on whether or not a shortlist for each award will be published, nor when the final announcement of the winners will take place. A timeline would be good.

Posted by larrikin at 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

Big Awards Day

It's a big day today for Australian authors on the awards' front.

The longlisted works for the Miles Franklin Award will be announced - which I should be able to list later tonight (I put together a list of possible novels a fortnight ago).

And the regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize will also be announced - nominees here. Given all novels in both categories (Best Novel and Best First Novel) are Australian, someone we know will be happy. I'm not sure where the winners will be announced, but as this is a Commonwealth award I think it safe to assume London will be the venue. That will probably mean the "tyranny of time-zones" will come into effect and I won't have the winners till tomorrow.

Posted by larrikin at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

2008 Barbara Jefferis Award Shortlist Announced

The shortlisted works for the 2008 Barbara Jefferis Award have been announced. This award is offered annually for "the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women or girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society."

The shortlisted works are:

Karen Foxlee: The Anatomy of Wings (University of Queensland Press)
Rhyll McMaster: Feather Man (Brandl & Schlesinger)
Geraldine Wooller: The Seamstress (University of Western Australia Press)
Michelle de Kretser: The Lost Dog (Allen & Unwin)

The judges for the award are journalist Deborah Hope, academic Leigh Dale and author Rosie Scott.

The winner will be announced at a function held on Friday, 28 March 2008.

Note: I can't find any recently updated webpage information regarding this award. The information printed here is extracted from "The Overlow" column of "The Australian" newspaper book pages.

Posted by larrikin at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2008

2008 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Possibles

Each year about this time I produce a webpage which lists those novels which I figure might have a chance of being under consideration for the Man Booker Prize. I've just finished the 2008 version, which you can now access.

It only has 13 novels listed so far, though this will grow over the next few months as we head towards a September release of the 12 or so longlisted works.

I usually pick about half the longlist, mainly missing out on those novels pre-released to the judging panel, first novels that no-one knows how to take, and novels from countries other than the UK and Australia: the ones that don't get much coverage in the newspapers and magazines I frequent. I'm not sure that this list does anyone any good. Still, it keeps me amused.

Posted by larrikin at 08:53 AM | Comments (1)

March 05, 2008

2008 Australian Shadows Award Finalists

"Horrorscope", the Australian Dark Fiction weblog, alerts us to the announcement of the finalists in the 2008 Australian Shadows Award. "The Australian Shadows Award is an annual jury-judged literary award issued by the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) that honours the best works of Australian dark fiction published in the preceding year."

The finalists are:

Matthew Chrulew - "Between the Memories" (Aurealis #38/39)
David Conyers - "Subtle Invasion" (The Black Book of Horror, Mortbury Press)
Terry Dowling - "Toother" (Eclipse 1, Night Shade Books)
Rick Kennett - "The Dark and What It Said" (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #28)
Martin Livings - "There Was Darkness" (Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications)
Jason Nahrung - The Darkness Within (Hachette Livre)

Honorable mentions are given to:

David Conyers & John Sunseri - The Spiraling Worm (Chaosium)
Kaaron Warren - "Cooling the Crows" (In Bad Dreams, Eneit Press)
Marty Young - "The Wildflowers" (Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications)

The winner, which will be determined by guest judge Richard Harland, will be announced in April 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2008

Winners of the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [Update]

The winners of the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature have been announced.

$15,000 Award for Children's Literature
Don't Call Me Ishmael (Michael Gerard Bauer, Omnibus)

$15,000 Award for Fiction
The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Roger McDonald, Vintage)

$10,000 Award for Innovation
Someone Else: Fictional Essays (John Hughes, Giramondo)

$15,000 Award for Nonfiction
Sunrise West (Jacob G Rosenberg, Brandl & Schlesinger)

$15,000 John Bray Poetry Award
Urban Myths: 210 Poems (John Tranter, UQP)

$10,000 Jill Blewett Playwright's Award for the Creative
Merger - art, life and the other thing (Duncan Graham)

$10,000 Award for an Unpublished Manuscript by a SA Emerging Writer
The Second Fouling Mark (Stephen Orr)

In addition, John Tranter won the South Australian Premier's Award for his poetry collection, Urban Myths: 210 Poems.

[Update: I've added the winners of the last two categories above.]

Posted by larrikin at 09:32 AM | Comments (2)

February 28, 2008

2008 Miles Frankin Award Possibles

On 13th March 2008 the trustees of the Miles Franklin Award will release their longlisted titles for the 2008 award - yes, it's that time of year again. As I have done in the past, here are my suggestions for their consideration:

Aphelion by Emily Ballou
The Time We Have Taken by Stephen Carroll
The River Baptists by Belinda Castles
Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee
The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon
Ron McCoy's Sea of Diamonds by Gregory Day
Love and the Platypus by Nicholas Drayson
Love Without Hope by Rodney Hall
Sorry by Gail Jones
The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally
Jamaica by Malcolm Knox
The Memory Room by Christopher Koch
Nights in the Asylum by Carol Lefevre
Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller
El Dorado by Dorothy Porter
The Low Road by Chris Womersley
The Children by Charlotte Wood

Any other suggestions?

Posted by larrikin at 09:10 AM | Comments (1)

February 18, 2008

Australian Emeritus Writers Awards

The Australia Council for the Arts have announced Christopher Koch and Gerald Murnane as recipients of its 2008 emeritus writers awards.

Dr Imre Salusinszky, chair of the Australia Council's literature board, said that the two awards recognised the calibre of the works created by the authors.

'There can be few more fitting recipients of these writers emeritus awards. Both have a level of public recognition that does not match their high literary stature,' he said.

'Christopher and Gerald have changed the face of Australian writing through the breadth of their respective imaginations. Each of their works are characterised by a uniquely Australian perspective on the world.'

Posted by larrikin at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

2008 Ditmar Award Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2008 Ditmar Awards have been announced. These awards have been presented annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention, to recognise professonal achievement in Australian science fiction (including fantasy and horror) and science fiction fandom. Nominations are accepted from "natural persons" within the Australian sf community, and the awards are determined by ballot of the members of the awarding convention.

Best Novel

The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski, (Published by PanMacmillan)
Extras by Scott Westerfeld (Published by Simon & Schuster)
Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres (Published by Orbit)
Saturn Returns by Sean Williams (Published by Orbit)
Magic's Child by Justine Larbelestier (Published by Penguin)
The Darkness Within by Jason Nahrung (Published by Hachette Livre)

Best Novella/Novelette

"Yamabushi Kaidan and the Smoke Dragon" by Shane Jiraiya-Cummings
(Published by Ticonderoga Publications in Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr)
"Where is Brisbane and How Many Times Do I Get There?" by Paul Haines (Published by Izvori in Fantastical Journeys to Brisbane edited by Geoffrey Maloney, Trent Jamieson and Zoran Zivkovic)
"The Bluebell Vengence" by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Published "Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine" #28 edited by Zara Baxter)
"Lady of Adestan" by Cat Sparks (Published by in "Orb" #7 edited by Sarah Endacott)
"Cenotaxis" by Sean Williams (Published by MonkeyBrain Books)
"Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go To War Again" by Garth Nix (Published by Jim Baen's Universe)

Best Short Story

"The Dark and What It Said" by Rick Kennett (Published in "Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine" #28 edited by Zara Baxter)
"Domine" by Rjurik Davidson (Published in "Aurealis" #37 edited by Stephen Higgins and Stuart Mayne)
"A Scar for Leida" by Deb Biancotti (Published in Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr)
"Bad Luck, Trouble, Death and Vampire Sex" by Garth Nix (Published in Eclipse One edited by Jonathan Strahan)
"The Sun People" by Sue Isle (Published by in "Shiny" #2 edited by Alisa Krasnstein, Ben Payne and Tansy Rayner Roberts)
"His Lipstick Minx" by Kaaron Warren (Published in The Workers' Paradise edited by Russell B. Farr and Nick Evans)

Best Collected Work

"Orb" #7 edited by Sarah Endacott (Published by Orb Publications)
The Workers' Paradise edited by Russell B. Farr and Nick Evans (Published by Ticonderoga Publications)
New Ceres edited by Alisa Krasnstein (Published by Twelth Planet Press)
The New Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan (Published by HarperCollins Australia)
Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr (Published by Ticonderoga Publications)

Best Art Work

Daryl Lindquist for the "ASIM" #28 cover
Nick Stathopolous for the "Daikaju" #3 cover
Eleanor Clark for "ASIM" #31 internal art
Amanda Rainey for The Workers' Paradise cover
Nick Stathopolous for the Rhinemonn cover
Eleanor Clark for "ASIM" #30 internal art

Best Fan Writer

Alexandra Pierce for "Last Short Story on Earth" and for ASiF! reviews
Shane Jiraiya-Cummings for "Horrorscope"
Grant Watson for the 'angriest' Livejournal
Rob Hood for film reviews on his website

Best Fan Art

'Exterminate!' Dalek Postcards - Katherine Linge
'Nights Edge' Convention Poster Art - John Parker

Best Fan Production

2007 Snap Shot Project - interviews with influential members of the Australian speculative fiction scene conducted by Alisa Krasnstein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kathering Linge, Kaaron Warren and Rosie Clark
Inkspillers Website - maintained by Tony Plank
'The Liminal' short film - directed by Clair McKenna
Daikaju Limerick Competition - by Robert Hood on his website
Talking Squid Website - by Chris Lawson

Best Fanzine

"The Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet" edited by Ted Scribner and Edwina Harvey
"Not If You Were the Last Short Story on Earth" edited by Alisa Krasnstein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts
"Steam Engine Time" edited by Bruce Gillespie
"Horrorscope" edited by Shane Jiraiya-Cummings

Best Professional Achievement

Gary Kemble for his continued coverage of speculative fiction on Articulate and ABC news online
Russell B. Farr for Ticonderoga Publications; in 2007, Russell produced an issue of "Ticonderoga Online", The Workers' Paradise and Fantastic Wonder Stories, which produced five Aurealis Award nominees
Jonathan Strahan for a prolific body of work editing The Jack Vance Treasury, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Best Short Novels of 2007, The New Space Opera, Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling and Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy
Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Operative Ltd for five issues in 2007, including three electronic Best Of anthologies
Jonathan Strahan, Garth Nix, Deb Biancotti and Trevor Stafford for compiling and promoting the new Australian Fantasy and SF catalogue in the United States to increase awareness and appreciation of forthcoming Australian SF and to expand creative and professional opportunities for writers

Best Fan Achievement

Alisa Krasnstein for "ASiF! Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus"
Marty Young for his work as President of the Australian Horror Writers Association
John Parker, Sarah Parker and Sarah Xu for Night's Edge Convention
Sarah Xu for the CyPEC Cyber-feminist Conference held as part of Night's Edge convention

Best New Talent

Angela Slatter
Jason Nahrung
Nathan Burrage
Tehani Wessely

William Atheling Jr Award

Ian Nichols for "Seriatem, Seriatum, omnia Seriatem" (Published by "Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine" #30, edited by Robbie Matthews)
Tansy Rayner Roberts and Alexandra Pierce for review of Elizabeth Bear's New Amsterdam (Published as Podcast #2 on ASiF!)
Jonathan Strahan for editorial for The New Space Opera (Published in The New Space Opera by HarperCollins Australia)
Grant Watson for "The Bad Film Diaries" (Published in "Borderlands" #9.)
Ben Peek for the Aurealis Awards Shortlist Feature Article (Published on ASiF!)
Shane Jiraiya-Cummings for review of David Conyers' The Spiraling Worm (Published on Horrorscope)
Ian Nichols for "The Shadow Thief" (Published by "The West Australian" Weekend Magazine on 22/09/2007)

Winners of these awards will be announced during Swancon 2008, the 47th Australian National SF Convention, which will be held over the Easter weekend, March 20-24, 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2008

2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Regional Shortlists

The shortlists for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for 2008 have been announced.

In the South East Asia and South Pacific region the nominated works are:

Best Book Award
Steven Carroll (Australia) The Time We Have Taken HarperCollins
Sonya Hartnett (Australia) The Ghost's Child Penguin Australia
Sarah Hopkins (Australia) The Crimes of Billy Fish ABC Books
Mireille Juchau (Australia) Burning In Australia Giramondo
Michelle De Kretser (Australia) The Lost Dog Australia Allen & Unwin
Alex Miller (Australia) Landscape of Farewell Allen & Unwin

Best First Book Award
Steven Conte (Australia) The Zookeepers War Australia Harper Collins
Karen Foxlee (Australia) The Anatomy of Wings Australia UQP
Sara Knox (Australia) The Orphan Gunner Giramondo
Carol Lefevre (Australia) Nights in the Asylum Picador
Marcella Polain (Australia) The Edge of the World Fremantle Press

The winners of the regional awards will be announced on 13th March 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)

February 07, 2008

Shortlists for the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

The shortlists for the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature have been announced (PDF file). Works are chosen from the previous two years (hence the appearance of two Miles Franklin award winning novels on the fiction list) and the winners will be announced at the Adelaide Writers' Week in the East Tent on Sunday 2 March 2008 at 4:30pm.

$15,000 Award for Children's Literature (212 entries)

Home (Narelle Oliver, Omnibus)
Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo Book 1 (D M Cornish, Omnibus)
Don't Call Me Ishmael (Michael Gerard Bauer, Omnibus)
Macbeth and Son (Jackie French, Angus & Robertson)
Danny Allen Was Here (Phil Cummings, Pan Macmillan)
The Worry Tree (Marianne Musgrove, Random House)

$15,000 Award for Fiction (147 entries)
Sorry (Gail Jones, Vintage)
Diary of a Bad Year (J M Coetzee, Text)
El Dorado (Dorothy Porter, Picador)
Carpentaria (Alexis Wright, Giramondo)
The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Roger McDonald, Vintage)
Orpheus Lost (Janette Turner Hospital, Fourth Estate)

$10,000 Award for Innovation (38 entries)
Diary of a Bad Year (J M Coetzee, Text)
Montale, a Biographical Anthology (John Watson, Puncher and Wattmann)
Cube Root of Book (Paul Magee, John Leonard Press)
Someone Else: Fictional Essays (John Hughes, Giramondo)

$15,000 Award for Nonfiction (125 entries)
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming (Robert Kenny, Scribe)
Sunrise West (Jacob G Rosenberg, Brandl & Schlesinger)
Packer's Lunch (Neil Chenoweth, Allen & Unwin)
The Content Makers (Margaret Simons, Penguin)
The Vietnam Years: From the Jungle to the Australian Suburbs (Michael Caulfield, Hachette)
Not Part of the Public: Non-Indigenous Policies and Practices and the Health of Indigenous South Australians, 1836-1973 (Judith Raftery, Wakefield Press)

$15,000 John Bray Poetry Award (90 entries)
At the Flash and at the Baci (Ken Bolton, Wakefield Press)
Esperance: New and Selected Poems (Caroline Caddy, Fremantle Press)
Urban Myths: 210 Poems (News and Selected) (John Tranter, UQP)
A Bud (Claire Gaskin, John Leonard Press)
Not Finding Wittgenstein (J S Harry, Giramondo)
Seriatim (Geoff Page, Salt)

$10,000 Jill Blewett Playwright's Award for the Creative Development of a play script by a SA writer (12 entries)

Umbrellas by Shiela Duncan
Merger - Art, Life and the Other Thing by Duncan Graham
Wives and Boats by Thomas Brittain

$10,000 Award for an Unpublished Manuscript by a SA Emerging Writer (32 entries)

The Second Fouling by Stephen Orr
As the Sun Shines by Lesley Beasley
The Minaret Path by Julia Archer

[Thanks to Andrew Kelly for the heads up.]

Posted by larrikin at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2008

Award for Shaun Tan

The "ABC News" website is reporting that Shaun Tan has been awarded "Album of the Year at Angouleme, one of the world's biggest comic book festivals."

The website also states that "Angouleme, held in western France annually, attracts tens of thousands of visitors and is the biggest comic book festival in the world, outside Japan." One report I've seen is that 220,000 people attend each year.

Posted by larrikin at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

2007 Aurealis Award Winners

The winners of the 2007 Aurealis Awards were announced at a ceremony in Brisbane on Saturday 26th January. These awards honour the best Australian fiction in a number of sf and fantasy categories, and are decided by a committee of judges appointed in each category.

Best Science Fiction Novel

David Kowalski, The Company of the Dead, Pan Macmillan

Best Science Fiction Short Story

Cat Sparks, "Hollywood Roadkill", On Spec, #69

Best Fantasy Novel

Lian Hearn, Heaven's Net is Wide, Tales of the Otori The First Book, Hachette Livre

Best Fantasy Short Story

Garth Nix, "Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz go to War Again", Jim Baen's Universe, April 2007

Best Horror Novel

Susan Parisi, Blood of Dreams, Penguin Group (Australia)

Best Horror Short Story

Anna Tambour, "The Jeweller of Second-Hand Roe", Subterranean, #7

Best Young Adult Novel

Anthony Eaton, Skyfall, UQP

Best Young Adult Short Story

Deborah Biancotti, "A Scar for Leida", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications

Best Children's (8-12 years) Long Fiction

Kate Forsyth, The Silver Horse, The Chain of Charms 2, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Herb of Grace, The Chain of Charms 3, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Cat's Eye Shell, The Chain of Charms 4, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Lightning Bolt, The Chain of Charms 5, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Butterfly in Amber, The Chain of Charms 6, Pan Macmillan
[The judges considered this series as one work.]

Best Children's (8-12 years) Short Fiction (tie)

Marc McBride, World of Monsters, Scholastic Australia
and
Briony Stewart, Kumiko and the Dragon, UQP

Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence

Terry Dowling, Rynemonn, Coeur de Lion Publications

Golden Aurealis

Novel: David Kowalski, The Company of the Dead, Pan Macmillan
Short Story: Cat Sparks, "Hollywood Roadkill", On Spec, #69

Posted by larrikin at 01:44 PM | Comments (1)

January 16, 2008

2008 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

The winner and honorees of the 2008 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature have been announced. Among those honorees is One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke. This book was previously winner of Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Young Adult Book, 2007; and shortlisted for both Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Older Readers, 2007, and New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize, 2007.

Posted by larrikin at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Philip K. Dick Award Nominees

According to its website: "The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society."

This year Sean Williams from Adelaide has been nominated for his novel Saturn Returns. (Full list of nominees.) The winner of the award will be announced at Norweson 31, which will be held in Seattle over the weekend of March 20-23, 2008.

[Thanks to Jonathan Strahan for the link.]

Posted by larrikin at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2007

2007 Aurealis Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2007 Aurealis Awards have now been announced. These awards honour the best Australian fiction in a number of sf and fantasy categories.

Best Science Fiction Novel

Marianne De Pierres, Dark Space, Orbit
Jack Heath, Remote Control, Pan Macmillan
David Kowalski, The Company of the Dead, Pan Macmillan
Sean Williams, Saturn Returns, Orbit

Best Science Fiction Short Story

Simon Brown, "Lonely as Life", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications
Penelope Love, "Whitey", Shadow Plays, Elise Bunter
Chris McMahon, "The Eyes of Erebus", Daikaiju! 2 – Revenge of the Giant Monsters, Agog! Press
Cat Sparks, "Arctica", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications
Cat Sparks, "Hollywood Roadkill", On Spec, #69

Best Fantasy Novel

Jennifer Fallon, The Gods of Amyrantha, The Tide Lords Book Two, Harper Collins/Voyager
Lian Hearn, Heaven's Net is Wide, Tales of the Otori The First Book, Hachette Livre
Sylvia Kelso, The Moving Water, Book 2 of the Rihannar Chronicles, Thomson Gale
Glenda Larke, Song of the Shiver Barrens, The Mirage Makers Book Three, Harper Collins/Voyager
Michael Pryor, Heart of Gold, Second Volume of The Laws of Magic, Random House

Best Fantasy Short Story

R J Astruc, "The Perfume Eater", Strange Horizons, #16
Adam Browne, "An Account of an Experiment by Adam Browne", Orb Speculative Fiction, #7
Garth Nix, "Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz go to War Again", Jim Baen's Universe, April 2007
Angela Slatter, "The Angel Wood", Shimmer, November 2006
Cat Sparks, "A Lady of Adestan", Orb Speculative Fiction, #7

Best Horror Novel

The panel of judges for this division declined to select a short list from the nominated works. However, the winning novel will be announced at the ceremony.

Best Horror Short Story

Terry Dowling, "Toother", Eclipse, #1
Richard Harland, "Special Perceptions", At Ease with the Dead, Ash-Tree Press
Rick Kennett, "The Dark and What It Said", Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, #28
Ben Peek, "Black Betty", Lone Star Stories, #23
Anna Tambour, "The Jeweller of Second-Hand Roe", Subterranean, #7

Best Young Adult Novel

Kate Constable, Taste of Lightning, Allen & Unwin
Anthony Eaton, Skyfall, UQP
Juliet Marillier, Cybele's Secret, Pan Macmillan
Michael Pryor, Heart of Gold, Second Volume of The Laws of Magic, Random House
Scott Westerfeld, Extras, Simon Pulse

Best Young Adult Short Story

Deborah Biancotti, "A Scar for Leida", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications
Shane Jiraiya Cummings, "Yamabushi Kaidan and the Smoke Dragon", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications
Garth Nix, "Bad Luck, Trouble, Death and Vampire Sex", Eclipse, #1
Garth Nix, "Holly and Iron", Dark Alchemy, Allen & Unwin
Tracey Rolfe, "Cast Off", Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications

Best Children's (8-12 years) Long Fiction

Isobelle Carmody, A Mystery of Wolves, Penguin Books
Kate Forsyth, The Silver Horse, The Chain of Charms 2, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Herb of Grace, The Chain of Charms 3, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Cat's Eye Shell, The Chain of Charms 4, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Lightning Bolt, The Chain of Charms 5, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Butterfly in Amber, The Chain of Charms 6, Pan Macmillan
Emily Rodda, The Key to Rondo, Omnibus Books
Carole Wilkinson, Dragon Moon, Black Dog Books

Best Children's (8-12 years) Short Fiction

Luke Edwards, Ock Von Fiend, Omnibus Books
Anna Fienberg & Barbara Fienberg, Tashi and The Mixed Up Monster, Allen & Unwin
Marc McBride, World of Monsters, Scholastic Australia
Briony Stewart, Kumiko and the Dragon, UQP

The winners of these awards will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Brisbane on January 26, 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2007

Prime Minister's Literary Prize

"The Australian" is reporting that a new literary award will be announced shortly. Called the Prime Minister's Literary Prize it will chose single winners in fiction and non-fiction categories only. Each prize will be worth $100,000, with another $100,000 being spent to publicise the prize. At this time no firm eligibility criteria have been set, but it does appear that judges in each category will be appointed (single-year or ongoing?), and these judges will make recommendations to the PM.

Not sure what ramifications this award will have on the Miles Franklin Award as yet. We'll have to see the final conditions of the award.

Posted by larrikin at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

2008 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award [Updated]

A couple of weeks back I posted about the Australian novels that had bene included on the longlist of works for the 2008 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. At that time I identified 6 novels - out of the 137 nominated - as Australian. Over the weekend, the Undercover blog, associated with "The Sydney Morning Herald", corrected that entry, and increased the number to 9. Here is the final Australian list of novels:

Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
Tuvalu by Andrew O'Connor *
The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan
The Sweet and Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne *
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
The Travel Writer by Simone Lazaroo *
Underground by Andrew McGahan
Careless by Deborah Robertson
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

The ones I missed previously are marked with a *.

[Further update: as has been pointed out in the comments on this posting, the original notification of this update came from Susan Wyndham's Undercover blog, rather than the more general "Entertainment" blog.]

Posted by larrikin at 10:57 AM | Comments (3)

November 13, 2007

2007 International Horror Guild Award Winners

The winners of the 2007 International Horror Guild Awards were announced on November 1 during the World Fantasy Convention. Will Elliott was nominated for The Pilo Family Circus in the Best Novel Category, but lost out to The Unblemished by Conrad Williams. Terry Dowling was nominated for his short story "Cheat Light", and, while that story didn't win, Terry did tie for the award in the Best Collection (Single Author) Category for his collection Basic Black.

Posted by larrikin at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

The Inkys

On the "Read Alert" weblog, the winners of the Inky Awards have been announced.

Golden Inky
Notes from the Teenage Underground, Simmone Howell (Pan Macmillan)

Silver Inky
Looking for Alaska, John Green (HarperCollins)

The Inky awards are readers' choice awards, organised by the State Library of Victoria, where voters must be under the age of 25. The Golden Inky is awarded to an Australian book, and the Silver to a book from an international writer. Indications are that this will now become an annual event.

Posted by larrikin at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)

2007 Davitt Awards

The winners of the 2007 Davitt Awards have been announced. These awards are presented by the Australian chapter of Sisters in Crime and honour works in the crime genre, written by Australian women.

This year's winners were:

Best True Crime and Readers' Choice
Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage by Karen Kissane

Best Adult Crime
Undertow by Sydney Bauer

Best Young Adult Crime
The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty

Readers' Choice
Karen Kissane, and Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood

Angela Savage was at the awards' presentation night and gives an account of what she saw there on her blog.

Posted by larrikin at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

2007 Patrick White Award

David Rowbotham has been announced as the winner of the 2007 Patrick White Award.

The award was established in 1974 by Patrick White in order to honour those writers who had not received their "due recognition". Previous winners of the award can be found on the relevant Wikipedia page.

Posted by larrikin at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)

2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

The extremely long longlist of novels nominated for the 2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been announced. The Australian nominees that I've noticed are as follows:

Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
Underground by Andrew McGahan
Careless by Deborah Robertson
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

There are 137 novels nominated so it is possible that I missed some. Dublin City Council will announce the shortlist on 2nd April 2008 and the winning novel will be announced by the Lord Mayor on 12th June 2008. The prize is worth 100,000 Euros.

Posted by larrikin at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

2007 World Fantasy Award Winners

The winners of the 2007 World Fantasy Awards have been announced, and Shaun Tan won the award for Best Artist.

In related matters, there are very lively discussions underway in sf circles at present regarding whether Tan's The Arrival can be considered a work of fiction - and if so which category - or non-fiction for next year's Hugo Awards. I'd suggest it is very likely he will appear on the ballot somewhere.

Posted by larrikin at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

Award for Michelle de Kretser

At the recent 2007 Frankfurt International Book Fair it was announced that "Australian writer Michelle de Kretser, born in Colombo. Sri Lanka, was awarded the LiBeratur-award for the German edition of her book The Hamilton Case, previously published in English with Little, Brown and Company, New York. The LiBeratur-award for an outstanding publication of a woman from Africa, Asia and Latin America in German language in the previous year, was awarded for the 20th time."

Posted by larrikin at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

2007 Man Booker Prize Winner Announced

Anne Enright has been announced as the winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize for her novel The Gathering.

Howard Davies, chair of the panel, described it as "an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language".

Enright won from a shortlist that also included:

Darkmans - Nicola Barker
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Animal's People - Indra Sinha

Posted by larrikin at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards

Hardly seems like the 2007 instalment is barely over before the 2008 version opens up. Nominations are now being called for the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Closing date is November 9th.

Posted by larrikin at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

2007 Nobel Prize for Literature

Doris Lessing has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming, I believe, the second science fiction writer to do so.

Posted by larrikin at 10:19 AM | Comments (8)

October 10, 2007

2007 NSW Premier's History Awards Winners

The winners of the 2007 NSW Premier's History Awards were announced last night in Sydney.

Australian History Prize
How a Continent Created a Nation by Libby Robin

Community and Regional History Prize
Mixed Relations: Asian-Aboriginal Contact in North Australia by Regina Ganter

General History Prize
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark

Young People's History Prize
Songlines and Stone Axes: Transport, Trade and Travel in Australia by John Nicholson

John and Patricia Ward History Prize
In the Interest of National Security: Civilian Internment in Australia During World War II by Klaus Neumann

The Audio/Visual History Prize
The Archive Project: the Realist Film Unit in Cold War Australia by John Hughes

Posted by larrikin at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

The nominations for the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world's richest children's and youth literature award, have been released.

Nominations from Australia: Sonya Hartnett and John Marsden

Previous winners of the award have included Philip Pullman and Maurice Sendak. The winner of the 2008 award will be announced in mid-March 2008.

Posted by larrikin at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2007

2007 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature

Les Murray may be on the second row of betting of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature but we can say that Australia has won one major Nobel prize this year: the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature.

For those not aware of this award, it's aim is to reward research that should never be repeated. In previous years Australians have won for research into belly-button lint, and for a paper about the physics of dragging sheep across shearing-shed floors. In other words, it's a light-hearted look at the world of research and is always every popular.

This year Glenda Browne of Blaxland, Blue Mountains, Australia, won the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature for her study of the word "the" -- and of the many ways it causes problems for anyone who tries to put things into alphabetical order.

REFERENCE: "The Definite Article: Acknowledging 'The' in Index Entries," Glenda Browne, The Indexer, vol. 22, no. 3 April 2001, pp. 119-22.

The article is available for viewing on the web. [PDF file.]

Posted by larrikin at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2007

Markus Zusak Wins in South Africa

Markus Zusak has won the 2007 Exclusive Books Boeke Prize for his novel, The Book Thief. The winner of the award was "chosen by a panel of 38 judges representing book critics from the South African media who were called upon to decide which of the eight shortlisted titles they considered to be impossible to put down, a compelling story that is highly accessible to all book lovers."

Posted by larrikin at