# 1994 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1994.

## Events

* Rodney Hall (writer) won the Miles Franklin Award for The Grisly Wife

## Major publications
### Novels

* Thea Astley — Coda
* Lily Brett — Just Like That
* Peter Carey — The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
* Richard Flanagan — Death of a River Guide
* Drusilla Modjeska — The Orchard
* John A. Scott — What I Have Written
* Tim Winton — The Riders

### Short stories

* Marian Eldridge — The Wild Sweet Flowers
* Lucy Sussex – The Lottery : Nine Science Fiction Stories (edited)

### Science fiction and fantasy

* Greg Egan — Permutation City
* Sean McMullen – Voices in the Light
* George Turner – Genetic Soldier

### Crime and mystery

* Jon Cleary – Autumn Maze
* Peter Corris
** Casino
** Get Even
** The Time Trap
* Marele Day – The Disappearances of Madalena Grimaldi
* Garry Disher – Crosskill
* Kerry Greenwood – Blood and Circuses
* Nicholas Hasluck – A Grain of Truth
* Barry Maitland – The Marx Sisters
* Shane Maloney – Stiff
* Dorothy Porter — The Monkey's Mask

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Pamela Allen — Clippity-Clop
* Gary Crew — The Watertower
* Mem Fox — Tough Boris
* Jackie French — Somewhere Around the Corner

### Poetry

* Robert Adamson — Waving to Hart Crane
* Bruce Beaver — Anima and Other Poems
* Peter Boyle — Coming Home from the World
* Dorothy Hewett — Peninsula
* Rhyll McMaster — Flying the Coop: New and Selected Poems 1972-1994
* Jan Owen — Night Rainbows

### Drama

* Beatrix Christian — Blue Murder
* Michael Gow — Sweet Phoebe
* Hannie Rayson — Falling From Grace
* David Williamson — Sanctuary

### Non-fiction

* John Birmingham — He Died with a Felafel in His Hand
* Gillian Bouras — Aphrodite and the Others
* Robert Dessaix — A Mother's Disgrace
* Tim Flannery — The Future Eaters
* Jan Ruff O'Herne — Fifty Years of Silence
* Susan Varga — Heddy and Me
* Donna Williams — Somebody Somewhere

## Awards and honours

* Patsy Adam-Smith AO "for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and recording of oral histories"
* Laurie Hergenhan AO "for service to Australian literary scholarship and to education"
* Joan Phipson AM "for service to children's literature"
* Judith Rodriguez AM "for service to Australian literature, particularly in the area of poetry"

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Judith Rodriguez |
| Patrick White Award | Dimitris Tsaloumas |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Peter Carey | The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith | University of Queensland Press |
| ALS Gold Medal | Louis Nowra | Radiance and The Temple | Currency Press |
| Colin Roderick Award | Patrick Buckridge | The Scandalous Penton: A Biography of Brian Penton | University of Queensland Press |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Marion Halligan | Lovers' Knots | Heinemann |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | David Malouf | Remembering Babylon | Random House |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Fotini Epanomitis | The Mule's Foal | Allen & Unwin |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Frank Moorhouse | Grand Days | William Heinemann |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Peter Carey | The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith | University of Queensland Press |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Darren Williams | Swimming in Silk | Allen and Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Rodney Hall | The Grisly Wife | Macmillan |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Adib Khan | Seasonal Adjustments | Allen and Unwin |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | John A. Scott | What I Have Written | McPhee Gribble |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Joan London | Letter to Constantine | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Andrew Lansdown | Between Glances | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Dorothy Porter | The Monkey's Mask | Hyland House |
| Anne Elder Award | Not awarded | | |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Not awarded | | |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Deborah Staines | Now, Millenium | Spinifex Press |

### Children and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction | | Ursula Dubosarsky | The White Guinea-Pig | Viking Books |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Susan Maushart | Sort of a Place Like Home: Remembering the Moore River Native Settlement | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Jim Davidson | Lyrebird Rising | Melbourne University Press |

## Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
* 18 April — Alexandra Adornetto, actress and author who writes for children and young adults
* 25 June — Robbie Coburn, poet

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 28 January — Frank Hardy, novelist, best known for Power Without Glory (born 1917)
* 7 February — Rosemary Wighton, literary editor, author and advisor to the South Australian government on women's affairs (born 1925)
* 29 May — Nene Gare, writer and artist, best known for The Fringe Dwellers (born 1919)
* 7 September — James Clavell, novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war (born 1921)
* 9 September — Hugh Atkinson (novelist), novelist, journalist, screenwriter and documentary film maker (born 1921)
* 16 December — Mary Durack, author and historian (born 1913)