# 1969 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1969.

## Major publications
### Books

* Mena Calthorpe – The Defectors
* Jon Cleary – Remember Jack Hoxie
* Dymphna Cusack – The Half-Burnt Tree
* Sumner Locke Elliott – Edens Lost
* George Johnston – Clean Straw for Nothing
* Thomas Keneally – The Survivor
* D'Arcy Niland – Dead Men Running
* F. J. Thwaites – No Love to Give

### Short stories

* Manning Clark – Disquiet and Other Stories
* Lyndall Hadow – Full Cycle and Other Stories
* Lee Harding – "Dancing Gerontius"
* T. A. G. Hungerford – "Wong Chu and the Queen's Letterbox"
* Frank Moorhouse – Futility and Other Animals
* Dal Stivens – Selected Stories 1936-1968

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Hesba Brinsmead – Isle of the Sea Horse
* Annette Macarthur-Onslow – Uhu
* Joan Phipson – Peter and Butch
* Ivan Southall – Finn's Folly
* Eleanor Spence – Jamberoo Road
* Colin Thiele – Blue Fin

### Poetry

* Bruce Beaver – Letters to Live Poets
* Gwen Harwood
** "Barn Owl"
** "Father and Child"
* A. D. Hope – New Poems, 1956-1969
* James McAuley – Surprises of the Sun
* David Malouf – "The Year of the Foxes"
* Les Murray – The Weatherboard Cathedral
* Thomas Shapcott – Inwards to the Sun : Poems
* Randolph Stow – A Counterfeit Silence: Selected Poems

### Drama

* Dorothy Hewett – Mrs Porter and the Angel

## Awards and honours
### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| ALS Gold Medal | No award | | |
| Colin Roderick Award | Francis Webb | Collected Poems | Angus and Robertson |
| Miles Franklin Award | George Johnston | Clean Straw for Nothing | Collins |

### Children and young adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Margaret Balderson | When Jays Fly to Barbmo | Oxford University Press |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Ivan Southall, illustrated by Ted Greenwood | Sly Old Wardrobe | Cheshire |

### Science fiction and fantasy

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Australian SF Achievement Award | Best Australian Science Fiction | A. Bertram Chandler | False Fatherland | Horwitz |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Randolph Stow | A Counterfeit Silence: Selected Poems | Angus and Robertson |

## Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1969 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
* 1 April – Larissa Behrendt, novelist and academic
* 23 October – Trudi Canavan, novelist
Unknown date
* Tegan Bennett Daylight, novelist

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1969 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 2 February — William Hatfield, novelist (born 1892)
* 8 July – Charmian Clift, novelist (born 1923)
* 12 July — Henry George Lamond, novelist (born 1885)
* 4 September – Emily Bulcock, poet and journalist (born 1877)
* 2 October – Katharine Susannah Prichard, novelist (born 1883)
* 11 October – Marie Bjelke Petersen, novelist (born 1874)
* 21 November – Norman Lindsay, novelist and artist (born 1879)
* 27 November – May Gibbs, writer for children (born 1877)
Unknown date
* Kathleen Dalziel, poet (born 1881)