# 2001 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2001.

## Major publications
### Literary fiction

* Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders
* Marshall Browne – The Trumpeting Angel
* Steven Carroll – The Art of the Engine Driver
* Bryce Courtenay – Four Fires
* Robert Dessaix – Corfu: A Novel
* Garry Disher – Past the Headlands
* Richard Flanagan – Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
* Stephen Gray – The Artist is a Thief
* Marion Halligan – The Fog Garden
* Elizabeth Jolley – An Innocent Gentleman
* Kathy Lette – Nip 'n' Tuck
* Joan London – Gilgamesh
* John A. Scott – The Architect
* Tim Winton – Dirt Music
* Arnold Zable – Cafe Scheherazade

### Children's and Young Adult fiction

* Graeme Base – The Waterhole
* Gary Crew – Gothic Hospital
* Garry Disher – Moondyne Kate
* Andy Griffiths – The Day My Bum Went Psycho
* Sonya Hartnett – Forest
* Odo Hirsch – Have Courage, Hazel Green!
* Leigh Hobbs – Horrible Harriet
* Maureen McCarthy – Flash Jack
* Garth Nix
** Above the Veil
** Lirael
* Emily Rodda – City of Rats
* Shaun Tan – The Red Tree
* Margaret Wild – Jinx
* Markus Zusak – When Dogs Cry

### Crime and mystery

* Bunty Avieson – Apartment 255
* Marshall Browne – Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools
* Jon Cleary – Yesterday's Shadow
* Peter Corris – Lugarno
* Emma Darcy – Who Killed Angelique?
* Peter Doyle – The Devil's Jump
* Kerry Greenwood – Away with the Fairies
* Gabrielle Lord – Death Delights
* Matthew Reilly – Area 7
* Patricia Shaw – The Dream Seekers

### Romance

* Lilian Darcy – The Paramedic's Secret
* Barbara Hannay
** The Pregnancy Discovery
** The Wedding Dare

### Science Fiction and Fantasy

* Trudi Canavan – The Magicians' Guild
* Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Ill-Made Mute
* Sara Douglass – The Wounded Hawk
* Greg Egan – Schild's Ladder
* Jennifer Fallon
** Harshini
** Treason Keep
* Kate Forsyth – The Skull of the World
* Ian Irvine – Geomancer
* Fiona McIntosh – Betrayal
* Sean McMullen – Eyes of the Calculor
* Juliet Marillier – Child of the Prophecy
* Kim Wilkins – Angel of Ruin
* Sean Williams
** The Dark Imbalance with Shane Dix
** The Stone Mage and the Sea

### Drama

* Andrew Bovell – Holy Day
* David Brown – Keep Everything You Love
* Nick Enright – Spurboard
* Dorothy Hewett – Nowhere
* Peta Murray – Salt : A Play in Five Helpings
* Joanna Murray-Smith – Bombshells
* John Romeril – Miss Tanaka
* David Williamson
** Charitable Intent
** A Conversation
** Up for Grabs

### Poetry

* M. T. C. Cronin – Bestseller
* John Forbes – Collected Poems : 1970–1998
* Peter Goldsworthy – New Selected Poems
* Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain
* John Kinsella – The Hierarchy of Sheep
* Peter Porter – Max is Missing
* Chris Wallace-Crabbe – By and Large
* Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers

### Biographies

* Peter Carey – 30 Days in Sydney : A Wildly Distorted Account
* Dawn Fraser – Dawn: One Hell of a Life
* Jacqueline Kent – A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, a Literary Life
* John Kinsella – Auto
* Roger McDonald – The Tree in Changing Light
* Hilary McPhee – Other People's Words
* Peter Rose – Rose Boys
* Nadia Wheatley – The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift

### Non-Fiction

* Diane Armstrong – The Voyage of Their Life : The Story of the SS Derna and its Passengers
* Emily Chantiri – The Money Club
* Jill Jolliffe – Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five

## Awards and honours

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

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Dorothy Porter |
| Patrick White Award | Geoff Page |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Rosemary Dobson | Untold Lives and Later Poems | Brandl and Schlesinger |
| ALS Gold Medal | Rodney Hall | The Day We Had Hitler Home | Picador |
| Colin Roderick Award | Peter Rose | Rose Boys | Allen & Unwin |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Inga Clendinnen | Tiger's Eye: A Memoir | Text Publishing |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Arabella Edge | The Company | Picador |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Overall winner | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| Man Booker Prize | | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | Faber & Faber |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Sarah Hay | Skins | Allen & Unwin |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Catherine Padmore | Sibyl's Cave | Allen & Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Frank Moorhouse | Dark Palace | Knopf |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Alex Miller | Conditions of Faith | Allen & Unwin |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Tim Winton | Dirt Music | Picador |

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

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Judith Clarke | Wolf on the Fold | Allen & Unwin |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Younger Readers | Diana Kidd | Two Hands Together | Penguin Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks | Fox | Allen & Unwin |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Early Childhood | Catherine Jinks, illus. Andrew McLean | You'll Wake the Baby! | Penguin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks | Fox | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Jaclyn Moriarty | Feeling Sorry for Celia | Pan Macmillan Australia |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks | Fox | Allen & Unwin |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | James Moloney | Touch Me | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Writing for Young Adults | Julia Lawrinson | Obsession | Fremantle Arts Centre |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Deborah Lisson | The Yankee Whaler | Scholastic |

### Crime and Mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Caroline Shaw | Eye to Eye | Random House Australia |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Peter Temple | Dead Point | Bantam Books |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Andrew Masterson | The Second Coming | Flamingo |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Andrew McGahan | Last Drinks | Allen and Unwin |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Estelle Blackburn | Broken Lives | Stellar Publishing |
| Ned Kelly Award | Readers' vote | Lindsay Cameron | Bleeding Hearts | HarperCollins |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime achievement | Professor Stephen Knight | | |

### Science fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Novel | Sean Williams & Shane Dix | The Dark Imbalance | Voyager Books |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Short Story | Adam Browne | "The Weatherboard Spaceship" | Aurealis |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Sara Douglass | The Wounded Hawk | Voyager Books |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Sue Isle | "The Woman of Endor" | Orb |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | Kim Wilkins | Angel of Ruin | Voyager Books |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | Simon Haynes | "Sleight of Hand" | Potato Monkey |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Novel | Louise Katz | The Other Face of Janus | Angus & Robertson |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Sean Williams & Shane Dix | Evergence 2: The Dying Light | Ace Books |
| Ditmar Award | Short Fiction | Stephen Dedman | "The Devotee" | Eidolon 29/30 |
| Ditmar Award | Short Fiction | Terry Dowling | "The Saltimbanques" | Blackwater Days |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year | Rosemary Dobson | Untold Lives and Later Poems | Brandl and Schlesinger |
| Anne Elder Award | Not awarded | | |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Geoff Page | Darker and Lighter | Five Islands Press |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Not awarded | | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Ken Taylor | Africa | Five Islands Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | John Mateer | Barefoot Speech | Fremantle Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Dorothy Hewett | Halfway up the Mountain | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |

### Drama

| Award | Author | Title |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Brendan Cowell | Bed |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Toby Schmitz | Lucky |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Jackie Smith | The Aliens |

### Non-Fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Not awarded | |
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | Nadia Wheatley | The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift | HarperCollins |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Not awarded | | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Kim Mahood | Craft for a Dry Lake | Random House Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Tim Bonyhady | The Colonial Earth | Miegunyah Press at Melbourne University Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Carolyn Wadley Dowley | Through Silent Country | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Rowena Lennox | Fighting Spirit of East Timor: The Life of Martinho da Costa Lopes | Pluto Press Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Young People's | No award | | |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Brian Matthews | A Fine and Private Place | Picador |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | History | Tim Bonyhady | The Colonial Earth | Miegunyah Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Anna Haebich | Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800–2000 | Fremantle Press |

## Deaths

* 25 February – Don Bradman, cricketer and author (born 1908)
* 18 September – Amy Witting, novelist (born 1918)
* 20 September – Patsy Adam-Smith, writer (born 1924)
* 10 October – Helen Asher, novelist, left bequest for Asher Award (born 1927 in Germany)
Unknown date
* Peter Bladen, poet (born 1922)