This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2024.
Events Both the chief executive and deputy chairman quit over promotional material released for the 2024 Melbourne Writers Festival Major Australian online bookseller Booktopia enters voluntary administration as it explores options for "sale and/or recapitalisation."
Major publications
Literary fiction
Jumaana Abdu – Translations Robbie Arnott – Dusk Amy Brown – My Brilliant Sister Brian Castro – Chinese Postman Shankari Chandran – Safe Haven Melanie Cheng – The Burrow Charmian Clift – The End of the Morning Michelle de Kretser – Theory & Practice Winnie Dunn – Dirt Poor Islanders David Dyer – This Kingdom of Dust Nikki Gemmell – Wing Rodney Hall – Vortex Dylin Hardcastle – A Language of Limbs Anita Heiss – Dirrayawadha Kirsty Iltners – Depth of Field Julie Janson – Compassion Gail Jones – One Another Lauren Keegan – All the Bees in the Hollows Meg Keneally – Free Kate Kruimink – Heartsease Siang Lu – Ghost Cities Emily Maguire – Rapture Alex Miller – The Deal Stephen Orr – Shining Like the Sun Jock Serong – Cherrywood Inga Simpson – The Thinning Nardi Simpson – The Belburd Tim Winton – Juice
Short story collections Ceridwen Dovey – Only the Astronauts Fiona McFarlane – Highway 13 Mykaela Saunders – Always Will Be
Crime and mystery
Garry Disher – Sanctuary Candice Fox – Devil's Kitchen Sulari Gentill – The Mystery Writer Chris Hammer – The Valley Margaret Hickey – The Creeper Lisa Kenway – All You Took From Me Dervla McTiernan – What Happened to Nina? Louise Milligan – Pheasants Nest Vikki Wakefield – To the River
Science fiction and Fantasy
Greg Egan "Death and the Gorgon" Morphotrophic Kate Forsyth – Psyckhe Ben Peek – "Shadow Films" Angela Slatter – The Briar Book of the Dead Kaaron Warren – The Underhistory
Children's and young adult
Kate Emery – My Family and Other Suspects Ambelin Kwaymullina – Liar's Test Emma Lord – Anomaly Katrina Nannestad – All the Beautiful Things Krystal Sutherland – The Invocations Lili Wilkinson – Deep is the Fen
Poetry
Chris Andrews – The Oblong Plot Manisha Anjali – Naag Mountain Judith Beveridge – Tintinnabulum David Brooks – The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems Hasib Hourani – rock flight Nam Le – 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Jeanine Leane – gawimarra gathering Kate Middleton – Television Izzy Roberts-Orr – Raw Salt
Plays
Patricia Cornelius – Bad Boy Glenn Shea – Three Magpies Perched in a Tree Melanie Tait – The Queen's Nanny David Williamson – The Great Divide
Non-Fiction James Bradley – Deep Water Criss Canning – The Paintings of Criss Canning Santilla Chingaipe – Black Convicts Helen Ennis – Max Dupain: A Portrait Helen Garner – The Season Royce Kurmelovs – Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil Amy McQuire – Black Witness Cameron K. Murray – The Great Housing Hijack Lucia Osborne-Crowley – The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell Cher Tan – Peripathetic : Notes on (Un)belonging
Memoir
Abbas El-Zein – Bullet, Paper, Rock Susan Hampton – Anything Can Happen Samah Sabawi – Cactus Pear for My Beloved Markus Zusak – Three Wild Dogs and the Truth
Awards and honours Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
Lifetime achievement AwardAuthor Melbourne Prize for Literature Alexis Wright Mona Brand Award Belinda ChaykoPatrick White Award Pi O
Literary
Award Author Title Publisher ALS Gold Medal Alexis Wright Praiseworthy Giramondo PublishingColin Roderick Award Melissa Lucashenko Edenglassie University of Queensland Press Indie Book Awards Book of the Year David Marr Killing for Country: A Family Story Black Inc New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ali Cobby Eckermann She Is the Earth Magabala BooksStella Prize Alexis Wright Praiseworthy Giramondo Publishing Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Grace Yee Chinese Fish Giramondo Publishing
Fiction
AwardAuthorTitlePublisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature SJ Norman Permafrost University of Queensland Press The Age Book of the Year Tony Birch Women & Children University of Queensland Press ARA Historical Novel Prize Melissa Lucashenko Edenglassie University of Queensland Press The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Kristina Ross First Year Allen and UnwinBarbara Jefferis Award (joint winners)Sara M. SalehSongs for the Dead and the LivingAffirmLucy Treloar Days of Innocence and Wonder Picador Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction Melissa Lucashenko Edenglassie University of Queensland Press Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction Jane Harrison The Visitors Fourth Estate Miles Franklin Award Alexis Wright Praiseworthy Giramondo Publishing Prime Minister's Literary Awards Andre Dao Anam Hamish Hamilton New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Angela O'Keeffe The Sitter University of Queensland PressQueensland Literary Awards Sharlene Allsopp The Great Undoing Ultimo Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Melissa Lucashenko Edenglassie University of Queensland Press Voss Literary Prize Alexis Wright Praiseworthy Giramondo
Children and Young Adult AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher ARA Historical Novel Prize Children and Young Adult Beverley McWilliams Spies in the Sky Pantera PressChildren's Book of the Year Award Older Readers Karen Comer Grace Notes Lothian Younger Readers Tristan Bancks Scar Town Puffin Picture Book Kelly Canby Timeless Fremantle Press Early Childhood Briony Stewart Gymnastica Fantastica! Lothian Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Isolde Martyn & Robyn Ridgeway, illus by Louise Hogan Country TownFremantle PressIndie Book Awards Book of the Year Children's Jaclyn Moriarty The Impossible Secret of Lillian Velvet Allen & Unwin Young Adult Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes Welcome to Sex Hardie GrantPrime Minister's Literary Awards Children's Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Leah Leaman, Cecelia Edwards, Cassandra Algy, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country Hardie Grant Young Adult Will Kostakis We Could Be Something Allen & UnwinNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Children's Levi Pinfold Paradise Sands: A story of enchantment Walker Books Young People's Helena Fox The Quiet and the Loud Pan Macmillan AustraliaQueensland Literary Awards Children's Karen Comer Sunshine on Vinegar Street Allen & Unwin Young Adult sydney knoo The Spider and Her Demons PenguinVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction Lili Wilkinson A Hunger of Thorns Allen & UnwinWestern Australian Premier's Book AwardsChildren'sDianne WolferScout and the Rescue DogsWalker Books
Crime and Mystery
National
Award Category Author Title PublisherDavitt Award Novel Monica Vuu When One of Us Hurts Pan Macmillan Young adult novel Amy Doak Eleanor Jones Is Not a Murderer Penguin Books Children's novel Lucinda Gifford The Wolves of Greycoat Hall Walker Books Non-fiction Rebecca Hazel The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife Vintage Books Debut Christine Keighery The Half Brother Ultimo Readers' choice Alison Goodman The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies HarperCollinsNed Kelly Award Novel Sally Hepworth Darling Girls Pan Macmillan First novel Matt Francis Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point Big Sky Publishing True crime Nick McKenzie Crossing the Line Hachette Australia
Non-Fiction AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher The Age Book of the Year Non-Fiction Ross McMullin Life So Full of Promise ScribeIndie Book Awards Book of the Year Non-Fiction David Marr Killing for Country: A Family Story Black Inc Illustrated Non-Fiction Wendy Cooper The Bird Art of William T. Cooper National Library of Australia National Biography Award Biography Lamisse Hamouda The Shape of Dust: a father wrongly imprisoned. A daughter's quest to free him Pantera Press Prime Minister's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Daniel BrowningClose to the Subject: Selected Works Magabala BooksAustralian HistoryRyan CroppDonald Horne: A Life in the Lucky CountryLa Trobe University Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Christine KenneallyGhosts of the Orphanage Hachette AustraliaNew South Wales Premier's History Awards Australian History Alecia SimmondsCourting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law La Trobe University Press, with Black Inc Community and Regional History Shauna BostockReaching Through Time: Finding my family's stories Allen & Unwin General History Katharine E. McGregorSystemic Silencing: Activism, Memory, and Sexual Violence in Indonesia University of Wisconsin Press Queensland Literary Awards Non-Fiction Abbas El-ZeinBullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars Upswell Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Ellen van Neerven Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity University of Queensland Press
Poetry AwardAuthorTitlePublisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Gavin Yuan Gao At the Altar of Touch University of Queensland Press Anne Elder Award Sara M. Saleh The Flirtation of Girls/Ghazal el-Banat University of Queensland PressMary Gilmore Award Dan Hogan Secret Third Thing Cordite Books Prime Minister's Literary Awards Amy Crutchfield The Cyprian Giramondo Publishing New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Tais Rose Wae Riverbed Sky Songs Vagabond Press Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection L. K. Holt Three Books Vagabond PressVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Grace Yee Chinese Fish Giramondo Publishing
Drama AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisherNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Script Anna Barnes Safe Home, Episode 1 Kindling Pictures Play Nicholas Brown Sex Magick Griffin Theatre Company & Currency PressVictorian Premier's Literary Awards S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack The Jungle and the Sea Belvoir St Theatre & Currency PressPatrick White Playwrights' Award Award Not awarded Fellowship Not awarded
Deaths
13 January – David Hansen, art historian (born 1958) 4 February – Lowitja O'Donoghue, public administrator and Indigenous rights advocate (born 1932) 19 February – Marion Halligan, novelist, short story writer, reviewer and essayist (born 1940) 25 March – Ian Heads, historian and journalist (born 1943) 30 April – Lyndall Ryan, historian (born 1943) 10 May – Hugh Edwards, journalist, author and marine photographer (born 1933 in Scotland) 24 July – Ray Lawler, playwright (born 1921) 31 August – Jack Hibberd, playwright (born 1940) 4 October – Barbara Blackman, writer, essayist, poet, librettist, broadcaster and philanthropist (born 1928) 7 November – Eric Beach, poet (born 1947, in New Zealand) 30 November – Susan Duncan, journalist, memoirist and novelist (born 1951) 10 December – Brenda Walker, novelist (born 1957) 18 December – John Marsden, writer and teacher (born 1950) Unknown date
Eric Beach, poet and playwright (born in New Zealand, 1947)
See also
2024 in Australia 2024 in literature 2024 in poetry List of years in Australian literature List of years in literature
References