# 1982 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1982.

## Events

* Thomas Keneally won the 1982 Booker–McConnell Prize for Schindler's Ark, the first Australian to win the award.
* Rodney Hall (writer) won the 1982 Miles Franklin Award for Just Relations

## Major publications
### Novels

* Thea Astley — An Item from the Late News
* Rodney Hall — Just Relations
* Thomas Keneally — Schindler's Ark
* David Malouf — Fly Away Peter
* Gerald Murnane — The Plains
* Tim Winton — An Open Swimmer

### Crime and mystery

* Peter Corris — The Marvellous Boy

### Science fiction and fantasy

* Glenda Adams — Games of the Strong
* Damien Broderick — The Judas Mandala

### Short stories

* Beverley Farmer — "Snake"

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Joan Lindsay — Syd Sixpence
* Jan Ormerod — Moonlight
* Nadia Wheatley — Five Times Dizzy

### Poetry

* Les Murray
** Equanimities
** The Vernacular Republic: Poems 1961–1981
* Vivian Smith – Tide Country
* John Tranter — Selected Poems

### Drama

* Jack Davis — The Dreamers
* Louis Nowra — Spellbound
* David Williamson — The Perfectionist

### Non-fiction

* Blanche d'Alpuget — Robert J. Hawke: A Biography
* Edmund Campion — Rockchoppers: Growing up Catholic in Australia
* Nancy Keesing — Lily on the Dustbin: Slang of Australian Women and Families
* Geoffrey Serle — John Monash

## Awards and honours
### Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

* Donald Horne

### Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

* R. D. Fitzgerald
* Hal Porter

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Vincent Buckley |
| Patrick White Award | Bruce Beaver |

### Literary awards

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | David Malouf | Fly Away Peter | Chatto & Windus |
| ALS Gold Medal | No award | | |
| Colin Roderick Award | Geoffrey Serle | John Monash : A Biography | Melbourne University Press |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Booker Prize | Thomas Keneally | Schindler's Ark | Hodder and Stoughton |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | David Malouf | Fly Away Peter | Chatto & Windus |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Brian Castro | Birds of Passage | Allen and Unwin |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Nigel Krauth | Matilda, My Darling | Allen and Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Rodney Hall | Just Relations | Penguin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Peter Carey | Bliss | University of Queensland Press |

### Children and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Colin Thiele | The Valley Between | Opal Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Jan Ormerod | Sunshine | Penguin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's Book Award | Nan Hunt and Craig Smith | Whistle Up the Chimney | William Collins |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Anne Elder Award | Kate Llewellyn | Trader Kate and the Elephants | Friendly Street Poets |
| Anne Elder Award | Peter Goldsworthy | Readings from Ecclesiastes | Angus & Robertson |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Vivian Smith | Tide Country | Angus & Robertson |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Fay Zwicky | Kaddish and Other Poems | University of Queensland Press |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Geoffrey Serle | John Monash: A Biography | Melbourne University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Richard Haese | Rebels and Precursors: The Revolutionary Years of Australian Art | Allen Lane |

## Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1982 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
* 1 January — Craig Silvey, novelist, author of Jasper Jones
* 22 November — Alasdair Duncan, author and journalist
* 22 December — Sarah Holland-Batt, contemporary Australian poet, critic and academic
Unknown date
* Kate Gordon, author of young adult fiction

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1982 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 11 February — Albert Facey, writer, best known as author of A Fortunate Life (born 1894)
* 8 October — Joice NanKivell Loch, author, journalist and humanitarian worker (died in Greece) (born 1887)
* 15 November — Eve Pownall, writer for children and historian (born 1901)