# 1986 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1986.

## Events

* Elizabeth Jolley won the 1986 Miles Franklin Award for The Well
* The Melbourne Writers Festival is held for the first time

## Major publications
### Novels

* Margaret Barbalet — Blood in the Rain
* Janine Burke — Second Sight
* Blanche d'Alpuget — Winter in Jerusalem
* Elizabeth Jolley — The Well
* Rod Jones — Julia Paradise
* John Macgregor — Propinquity
* Christina Stead — I'm Dying Laughing: The Humourist
* Alan Wearne — The Nightmarkets
* Morris West — Cassidy
* Tim Winton — That Eye, the Sky
* Patrick White — Memoirs of Many in One

### Crime and mystery

* Peter Corris
** Deal Me Out
** The Greenwich Apartments
* Tony Kenrick — China White

### Science fiction and fantasy

* George Turner — "Shut the Door When You Go Out"
* Cherry Wilder — The Summer's King

### Short Stories

* Janette Turner Hospital — Dislocations
* Joan London — Sister Ships and Other Stories
* Sally Morgan — "The Letter"
* Archie Weller — Going Home
* Tim Winton — "Swimming to Salvation"

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Graeme Base — Animalia
* Hesba Fay Brinsmead — Someplace Beautiful
* Victor Kelleher — Taronga
* Doug MacLeod — Sister Madge's Book of Nuns
* Emily Rodda — Pigs Might Fly
* Gillian Rubinstein — Space Demons

### Poetry

* Lily Brett — The Auschwitz Poems
* Robert Harris — The Cloud Passes Over
* Philip Hodgins — Blood and Bone
* Rhyll McMaster — Washing the Money: Poems with photographs
* Jan Owen — Boy with a Telescope
* John A. Scott — St. Clair: Three Narratives

### Drama

* Michael Gow — Away

### Non-fiction

* Gillian Bouras — A Foreign Wife
* Robert Hughes — The Fatal Shore
* Kylie Tennant — The Missing Heir

## Awards and honours

* Geoffrey Serle AO, for "service to scholarship and literature, particularly in the field of Australian history"
* Nicholas Hasluck AM, for "service to literature"
* Dorothy Hewett AM, for "service to literature"
* Barbara Jefferis AM, for "service to literature"
* Grace Perry AM, for "service to Australian literature, particularly as editor of Poetry Australia"
* Russel Ward AM, for "service to literature, particularly in the field of Australian history"

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Not awarded |
| Patrick White Award | John Morrison |

### Literary awards

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Joan London | Sister Ships and Other Stories | Fremantle Press |
| ALS Gold Medal | Thea Astley | Beachmasters | Penguin Books |
| Colin Roderick Award | Fr Tom Boland | James Duhig | University of Queensland Press |

### Fiction awards

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Helen Garner | The Children's Bach | McPhee Gribble |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Joan London | Sister Ships and Other Stories | Fremantle Press |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Robin Walton | Glace Fruits | Allen and Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Elizabeth Jolley | The Well | Viking Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Helen Garner | Postcards from Surfers | McPhee Gribble |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Peter Carey | Illywhacker | University of Queensland Press |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Robert Gray | Selected Poems 1963–1983 | Angus & Robertson |
| Anne Elder Award | Jan Owen | Boy with Telescope | Angus & Robertson |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Rhyll McMaster | Washing the Money : Poems with Photographs | Angus and Robertson |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Stephen J. Williams | A Crowd of Voices | Pariah Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Robert Gray | Selected Poems 1963-83 | Angus & Robertson |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Rhyll McMaster | Washing the Money | Angus & Robertson |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | John A. Scott | St. Clair | University of Queensland Press |

### Children and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Thurley Fowler | The Green Wind | Rigby |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Terry Denton | Felix & Alexander | Oxford University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's Literature | James Aldridge | The True Story of Spit MacPhee | Viking/Penguin Books Australia |

### Drama

| Award | Category | Author | Title |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Script | Peter Carey & Ray Lawrence | Bliss |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Play | Michael Gow | Away |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Drama | Janis Balodis | Too Young for Ghosts |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | R. M. Gibbs | A History of Prince Alfred College | Peacock Publications |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Garry Kinnane | George Johnston: A Biography | Nelson |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | George Munster | A Paper Prince | Viking |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Phillip Pepper with Tess De Araugo | The Kurnai of Gippsland, Volume One | Hyland House |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | John Bryson | Evil Angels | Viking |

## Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1986 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
* 23 August — Jack Heath, writer of fiction for children and adults

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1986 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 2 March — Margaret Trist, novelist and short story writer (born 1914)
* 27 September — Olga Masters, writer, journalist, novelist and short story writer (born 1919)
* 10 November — Laurence Collinson, British and Australian playwright, actor, poet, journalist, and secondary school teacher (born 1925)