# 2002 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2002.

## Major publications
### Literary fiction

* J. M. Coetzee – Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life II
* Bryce Courtenay – Matthew Flinders' Cat
* Andrea Goldsmith – The Prosperous Thief
* Sonya Hartnett – Of a Boy
* Sarah Hay – Skins
* Chloe Hooper – A Child's Book of True Crime
* Kate Jennings – Moral Hazard
* Gail Jones – Black Mirror
* Thomas Keneally – An Angel in Australia
* Colleen McCullough – The October Horse
* Alex Miller – Journey to the Stone Country
* Dorothy Porter – Wild Surmise
* Eva Sallis – The City of Sealions

### Children's and Young Adult fiction

* J. C. Burke – White Lies
* Isobelle Carmody – Darksong
* Alison Croggon – The Gift
* Mem Fox – The Magic Hat
* Marieke Hardy – Short Cuts
* Richard Harland – Ferren and the White Doctor
* Lian Hearn – Across the Nightingale Floor
* Maureen McCarthy – When You Wake and Find Me Gone
* Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor – Njunjul the Sun
* David Metzenthen – Wildlight: A Journey
* Kirsty Murray – Walking Home with Marie-Claire
* Gillian Rubinstein – The Whale's Child
* Markus Zusak – The Messenger

### Crime

* Carmel Bird – Open for Inspection
* Kirsty Brooks – Lady Luck
* Jon Cleary – The Easy Sin
* Jane Clifton – Half Past Dead
* Peter Corris – Salt and Blood
* Kerry Greenwood – Murder in Montparnasse
* Gabrielle Lord – Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing
* Barry Maitland – Babel
* Shane Maloney – Something Fishy
* Tara Moss – Split
* Alex Palmer – Blood Redemption
* Peter Temple – In The Evil Day

### Romance

* Lilian Darcy – For the Taking
* Barbara Hannay
** A Bride at Birralee
** Their Doorstep Baby
* Di Morrissey – Kimberley Sun
* Valerie Parv
** The Baron and the Bodyguard
** The Marquis and the Mother-To-Be

### Science Fiction and Fantasy

* Damien Broderick – Transcension
* Trudi Canavan – The Novice
* Cecilia Dart-Thornton
** The Battle of Evernight
** The Lady of the Sorrows
* Sara Douglass
** The Crippled Angel
** Hades' Daughter
* Greg Egan
** Schild's Ladder
** "Singleton"
* Ian Irvine – Tetrarch
* Fiona McIntosh
** Destiny
** Revenge
* Sean McMullen – Voyage of the Shadowmoon
* Juliet Marillier – Wolfskin
* Sean Williams
** Echoes of Earth with Shane Dix
** The Sky Warden and the Sun
** The Storm Weaver and the Sand

### Drama

* David Brown – Eating Ice Cream With Your Eyes Closed
* Nick Enright
** Country Music
** A Man with Five Children
* Michael Gow – The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
* Michael Gurr – The Simple Truth
* Daniel Keene – Half and Half
* Jenny Kemp – Still Angela
* Joanna Murray-Smith – Rapture
* David Williamson – Soulmates

### Poetry

* M. T. C. Cronin – My Lover's Back : 79 Love Poems
* Robert Gray – Afterimages
* Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems
* Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches
* Kate Lilley – Versary
* Les Murray
** Collected Poems : 1961–2002
** Poems the Size of Photographs

### Non-fiction

* Bruce Bennett – Australian Short Fiction: A History
* Anna Funder – Stasiland
* Mark McKenna – Looking for Blackfellas' Point : An Australian History of Place
* Ashley Mallett – The Black Lords of Summer : The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond
* John Marsden – The Boy You Brought Home : A Single Mother's Guide to Raising Boys

### Biographies

* Nick Bleszynski – Shoot Straight, You Bastards! : The Truth Behind the Killing of 'Breaker' Morant
* Barry Dickins – Black and Whiteley : Barry Dickins in Search of Brett
* Ann Galbally – Charles Conder : The Last Bohemian
* Barry Hill – Broken Song : T. G. H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession
* Thomas Keneally – American Scoundrel : The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles
* Ross McMullin – Pompey Elliott
* Brenda Niall – The Boyds : A Family Biography
* Don Watson – Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : A Portrait of Paul Keating PM

## Awards and honours

Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Dimitris Tsaloumas |
| Patrick White Award | Tom Hungerford |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Don Watson | Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : A Portrait of Paul Keating PM | Random House |
| ALS Gold Medal | Richard Flanagan | Gould's Book of Fish | Picador |
| Colin Roderick Award | Don Watson | Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : A Portrait of Paul Keating PM | Random House |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Marion Halligan | The Fog Garden | Allen & Unwin |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Richard Flanagan | Gould's Book of Fish | Picador |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Meaghan Delahunt | In the Blue House | Bloomsbury |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Overall winner | Richard Flanagan | Gould's Book of Fish | Picador |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Joan London | Gilgamesh | Grove Press |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Danielle Wood | The Alphabet of Light and Dark | Allen & Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Tim Winton | Dirt Music | Picador |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Tim Winton | Dirt Music | Picador |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Tim Winton | Dirt Music | Picador |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Richard Flanagan | Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish | Picador |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Gail Jones | Black Mirror | Picador |

### Children and Young Adult
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Sonya Hartnett | Forest | Viking Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Younger Readers | John Heffernan, illus. Andrew McLean | My Dog | Margaret Hamilton Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Libby Gleeson, illus. Armin Greder | An Ordinary Day | Scholastic Press |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Early Childhood | Bob Graham | Let's Get a Pup! | Walker Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Shaun Tan | The Red Tree | Lothian Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Anthony Hill | Soldier Boy: The True Story of Jim Martin, the Youngest Anzac | Penguin Books |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Michael Stephens | Blat Magic | HarperCollins |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Young Adult | Markus Zusak | When Dogs Cry | Pan Macmillan |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | Meme McDonald and Boori Monty Pryor | Njunjul the Sun | Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Writing for Young Adults | Pat Lowe | Feeling the Heat | Penguin Books |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac | The Legend of Moondyne Joe | Cygnet |

### Crime and Mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Carolyn Morwood | A Simple Death | Women's Press |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Kerry Greenwood | The Three-Pronged Dagger | Lothian |
| Davitt Award | Readers' Choice | Lindy Cameron | Bleeding Hearts | HarperCollins |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Gabrielle Lord | Death Delights | Hodder Headline Australia |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Bunty Avieson | Apartment 255 | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Emma Darcy | Who Killed Angelique? | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Larry Writer | Razor | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Mike Richards | The Hanged Man | Scribe Publications |
| Ned Kelly Award | Teenage/YA | Ken Catran | Blue Murder | Lothian |
| Ned Kelly Award | Readers' vote | Bunty Avieson | Apartment 255 | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime achievement | Patrick Gallagher | | |

### Science fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Novel | Damien Broderick | Transcension | Tor Books |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Short Story | Sean McMullen | "Walk to the Full Moon" | F&SF |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Sean Williams | The Storm Weaver and the Sand | Voyager Books |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | No award presented | | |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | A. L. McCann | The White Body of Evening | Flamingo |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | Kim Westwood | "Oracle" | Redsine |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Novel | Sophie Masson | The Hand of Glory | Hodder Headline |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Garth Nix | Lirael | Allen and Unwin |
| Ditmar Award | Short Fiction | Jack Dann | "The Diamond Pit" | Jubilee |
| Ditmar Award | Short Fiction | Lucy Sussex | "Absolute Uncertainty" | F&SF |
| Ditmar Award | Collected Work | Damien Broderick ed. | Earth is But a Star | UWA Press |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Cath Kenneally | Around Here | Wakefield Press |
| The Age Book of the Year | Robert Gray | Afterimages | Duffy and Snellgrove |
| Anne Elder Award | Bronwyn Lea | Flight Animals | University of Queensland Press |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Kate Lilley | Versary | Salt Publishing |
| Mary Gilmore Prize | Geraldine McKenzie | Duty | Paper Bark Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Alan Wearne | The Lovemakers | Penguin Books |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Robert Gray | Afterimages | Duffy and Snellgrove |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Barbara Temperton | Going Feral | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |

### Drama

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Reg Cribb | Last Cab to Darwin | Last Cab Productions |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Ian Wilding | Even Amongst Dogs | |

### Non-Fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | John Birmingham | Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney | Random House Australia |
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | Don Watson | Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : A Portrait of Paul Keating PM | Random House Australia |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Jacqueline Kent | A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, a Literary Life | Viking Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Gail Bell | The Poison Principle | Pan Macmillan |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Nadia Wheatley | The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift | HarperCollins |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | John Bailey | The White Divers of Broome: the true story of a fatal experiment | Pan Macmillan |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | David Garrioch | The Making of Revolutionary Paris | University of California Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Young People's | Papunya School | Papunya School Book of Country and History | Allen and Unwin |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | | Inga Clendinnen | Tiger's Eye: A Memoir | Text Publishing |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Brenda Niall | The Boyds: A Family Biography | Melbourne University Press |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | History | Les Carlyon | Gallipoli | Pan Macmillan |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Brenda Niall | The Boyds: A Family Biography | Melbourne University Press |

## Deaths

* 27 May – Ray Mathew, poet and novelist (born 1929)
* 6 June – Peter Cowan, short story writer and literary editor (born 1914)
* 25 August – Dorothy Hewett, poet (born 1923)
* 16 September – J. E. Macdonnell, novelist (born 1917)
* 2 October – R. A. Simpson, poet (born 1929)
* 8 December – Gary Catalano, poet and critic (born 1947)
Unknown date
* Olive Pell, librarian and poet (born 1903)