# 2004 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2004.

## Events

* John Hay, Peter Porter, Elizabeth Webby, W. H. Wilde, and Barbara Ker Wilson are all recognised in the 2004 Australia Day Honours.
* Peter Craven is sacked as editor of Quarterly Essay and the annual The Best Australian... anthologies after a dispute with Black Inc. publisher Morry Schwartz.
* Kenneth Dutton, Nick Enright, Morag Fraser, David Myers, and Brenda Niall are recognised in the Queen's Birthday honours list.
* Independent book publishers Text (Australia) and Canongate (UK) form a joint venture. The Text Media Group, purchased by John Fairfax earlier this year, sells Text Publishing to the joint venture partners.
* Sydney Morning Herald Literary Editor, Malcolm Knox exposes Norma Khouri and her 'factual' account of honour killings in Jordan as a fabrication.
* Mark Rubbo, David Marr and Kerryn Goldsworthy resign as Miles Franklin Award judges in protest at changes to the charter governing the award's administration.
* Inaugural Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Awards held

## Major publications
### Literary fiction

* Sarah Armstrong – Salt Rain
* Larissa Behrendt – Home
* Carmel Bird – Cape Grimm
* Steven Carroll – The Gift of Speed
* John Charalambous – Furies
* Jon Cleary – Miss Ambar Regrets
* Bryce Courtenay – Brother Fish
* Sophie Cunningham – Geography
* Jack Dann – The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean
* Nick Earls – The Thompson Gunner
* Susan Johnson – The Broken Book
* Gail Jones – Sixty Lights
* Stefan Laszczuk – The Goddamn Bus of Happiness
* Amanda Lohrey – The Philosopher's Doll
* Colleen McCullough – Angel Puss
* Andrew McGahan – The White Earth
* Monica McInerney – The Alphabet Sisters
* Emily Maguire – Taming the Beast
* Steven Orr – Hill of Grace
* Eva Sallis – Fire Fire
* Nicholas Shakespeare – Snowleg
* Celestine Hitiura Vaite – Frangipani
* Gerard Windsor – I Have Kissed Your Lips
* Charlotte Wood – The Submerged Cathedral
* Arnold Zable – Scraps of Heaven

### Children's and Young Adult fiction

* Joanna Baker – Devastation Road
* Michael Gerard Bauer – The Running Man
* Sherryl Clark – Farm Kid
* Robert Corbert – Shelf Life
* Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding – A Home for Bilby
* Anthony Eaton – Fireshadow
* Jon Flanagan – The Ruins of Gorlan
* Sonya Hartnett – The Silver Donkey
* Steven Herrick – By the River
* Joanne Horniman – Secret Scribbled Notebooks
* Prue Mason – Camel Rider
* James Moloney – The Book of Lies
* Garth Nix – Grim Tuesday
* Emily Rodda
** Dragon's Nest
** Isle of the Dead
** Shadowgate
** The Sister of the South
* Scott Westerfeld – So Yesterday

### Crime

* Peter Corris – The Coast Road
* Colin Cotterill – The Coroner's Lunch
* Kathryn Fox – Malicious Intent
* Jane Goodall – The Walker
* Kerry Greenwood
** Earthly Delights
** Heavenly Pleasures
* Malcolm Knox – A Private Man
* Barry Maitland – No Trace
* Tara Moss – Covet
* Tony Park – Far Horizon
* Steve J. Spears – Murder by Manuscript

### Romance

* Christine Balint – Ophelia's Fan
* Catherine Jinks – Spinning Around
* Stephanie Laurens – The Ideal Bride
* Rachael Treasure – The Stockmen
* Lynne Wilding – Outback Sunset

### Science Fiction and Fantasy

* John Birmingham – Weapons of Choice
* John Brosnan – Mothership
* Alison Croggon – The Riddle
* Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Iron Tree
* Marianne de Pierres – Nylon Angel
* Jennifer Fallon – Wolfblade
* Rob Gerrand — The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing : A Fifty Year Collection (edited)
* Richard Harland – The Black Crusade
* Simon Haynes – Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts
* Nathan Hobby – The Fur
* Liam Hearn – Brilliance of the Moon
* Ian Irvine – The Life Lottery
* Margo Lanagan – Black Juice
* Glenda Larke – The Tainted
* Maxine McArthur – Less than Human
* Fiona McIntosh
** Blood and Memory
** Bridge of Souls
* Sophie Masson – Snow, Fire, Sword
* Josephine Pennicott – A Fire in the Shell
* Matthew Reilly – Hover Car Racer
* Cherry Wilder and Katya Reimann – The Wanderer
* Kim Wilkins – Giants of the Frost
* Sean Williams – The Crooked Letter

### Drama

* Martin Flanagan – The Call
* Michael Gurr – Julia 3
* Debra Oswald – Mr Bailey's Minder
* Abe Pogos – Toby
* Alana Valentine – Run Rabbit Run!
* David Williamson – Amigos

### Poetry

* M. T. C. Cronin – <More or Less Than> 1–100
* Luke Davies – Totem
* Sarah Day – The Ship
* Noel Rowe – Next to Nothing
* Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum
* Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers

### Non-fiction

* Peter Carey – Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son
* Graeme Davison with Sheryl Yelland – Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities
* Sally Neighbour – In the Shadow of Swords: on the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia

### Biographies

* Michael Ackland – Henry Handel Richardson: A Life
* Phillip Adams – Adam's Ark
* Gay Bilson – Plenty: Digressions on Food
* Max Brown – Charmian and George: The Marriage of George Johnston and Charmian Clift
* Don Chipp – Keep the Bastards Honest
* Michael Duffy – Latham and Abbott
* Carolly Erikson – The Girl from Botany Bay: The True Story of Mary Broad and Her Extraordinary Escape
* Peter FitzSimons – Steve Waugh
* Tim Flannery – Country
* John Hughes – The Idea of Home: Autobiographical Essays
* John Marsden – I Am What I Am: My Life and Curious Times
* Siobhan O'Brien – A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst
* Sue Pieters-Hawke and Hazel Flynn – Hazel's Journey: A Personal Experience of Alzheimer's
* Peter Roebuck – Sometimes I Forgot to Laugh
* Charles Tingwell – Bud: A Life
* Stevie Wright and Glenn Goldsmith – Hard Road: The Life and Times of Stevie Wright

## Awards and honours

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

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Kris Hemensley |
| Patrick White Award | Nancy Phelan |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Luke Davies | Totem | Allen & Unwin |
| ALS Gold Medal | Laurie Duggan | Mangroves | University of Queensland Press |
| Colin Roderick Award | Alan Wearne | The Lovemakers | ABC Books |
| Colin Roderick Award | Tim Winton | The Turning | Picador |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Fiona Capp | That Oceanic Feeling | Allen & Unwin |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Michelle de Kretser | The Hamilton Case | Knopf |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Nada Awar Jarrar | Somewhere, Home | Heineman |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Kate Jennings | Moral Hazard | Picador |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Andrew McGahan | The White Earth | Allen & Unwin |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Julienne van Loon | Road Story | Allen & Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Shirley Hazzard | The Great Fire | Farrar Straus and Giroux |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Brian Castro | Shanghai Dancing | Giramondo Publishing |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | J. M. Coetzee | Elizabeth Costello | Secker & Warburg |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Annamarie Jagose | Slow Water | Vintage Books |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Brett D'Arcy | The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks | Vintage Books |

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

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Melina Marchetta | Saving Francesca | Viking Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Younger Readers | Carole Wilkinson | Dragon Keeper | Black Dog Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Joan Grant, illus. Neil Curtis | Cat and Fish | Lothian |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Early Childhood | Pamela Allen | Grandpa and Thomas | Viking Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Kierin Meehan | Night Singing | Puffin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | David Metzenthen | Boys of Blood and Bone | Penguin Books |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Carole Wilkinson | Dragonkeeper | Black Dog Books |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Young Adult | Martine Murray | How to Make a Bird | Allen & Unwin |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | Margo Lanagan | Black Juice | Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Writing for Young Adults | Colin Bowles | Nights in the Sun | Penguin Books |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Mark Greenwood | The Legend of Lasseter's Reef | Cygnet |

### Crime and Mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Janette Turner Hospital | Due Preparations for the Plague | HarperCollins |
| Davitt Award | Readers' Choice | Lindy Cameron | Thicker Than Water | HarperCollins |
| Davitt Award | Young Adult Novel | Ruth Starke | Muck-Up Day | Lothian |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Jon Cleary | Degrees of Connection | HarperCollins |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Jane R. Goodall | The Walker | Hodder Headline |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Wayne Grogan | Junkie Pilgrim | Brandl and Schlesinger |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Peter Rees | Killing Juanita | Allen & Unwin |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime achievement | Bob Bottom | | |

### Science fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | Novel | K. A. Bedford | Eclipse | Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy |
| Aurealis Award | Short Story | Trent Jamieson | "Slow and Ache" | Aurealis |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Juliet Marillier | Blade of Fortriu | Pan Macmillan |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Richard Harland | "The Greater Death of Saito Saku" | Agog! (Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales) |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Rosaleen Love | "Once Giants Roamed the Earth" | Aqueduct Press (The Traveling Tide); Agog! (Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales) |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | No award. | | |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | Lee Battersby | "Pater Familias" | Shadowed Realms |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Novel | Isobelle Carmody | Alyzon Whitestarr | Penguin Books |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | K. J. Bishop | The Etched City | Prime Books |
| Ditmar Award | Novella/Novelette | Lucy Sussex | "La Sentinelle" | Southern Blood: New Australian Tales of the Supernatural |
| Ditmar Award | Short Story | Trudi Canavan | "Room for Improvement" | Forever Shores |
| Ditmar Award | Collected Work | Cat Sparks ed. | Agog! Terrific Tales | Agog! Press |
| Ditmar Award | Collected Work | Peter McNamara and Margaret Winch eds. | Forever Shores | Wakefield Press |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Dorothy Porter | Wild Surmise | Picador |
| The Age Book of the Year | Luke Davies | Totem | Allen & Unwin |
| Anne Elder Award | Lidija Cvetkovic | War is Not the Season for Figs | University of Queensland Press |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Luke Davies | Totem | Allen & Unwin |
| Mary Gilmore Prize | Michael Brennan | The Imageless World | Salt Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Pam Brown | Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems | Salt Publishing |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Judith Beveridge | Wolf Notes | Giramondo Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Judith Beveridge | Wolf Notes | Giramondo Publishing |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | John Kinsella | Peripheral Light | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |

### Drama

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Stephen Carleton | Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset | Playlab |

### Non-Fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Rebe Taylor | Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island | Wakefield Press |
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | Peter Robb | A Death in Brazil | Duffy and Snellgrove |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Barry Hill | Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession | Knopf |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Inga Clendinnen | Dancing with Strangers | Text Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark | The History Wars | Melbourne University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Patricia Crawford and Ian Crawford | Contested Country: A History of the Northcliffe Area | University of Western Australia Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Edward Duyker | Citizen Labillardiere: A Naturalist's Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755–1834) | Melbourne University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Young People's | David Hollinsworth | They Took the Children | Working Title Press |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | | Fiona Capp | That Oceanic Feeling | Allen and Unwin |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Peter Robb | A Death in Brazil | Duffy and Snellgrove |
| Queensland Premier's Literary Awards | History | Inga Clendinnen | Dancing with Strangers | Text Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Graeme Davison | Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities | Allen and Unwin |

## Deaths

* 3 January –
** Len Fox, journalist, historian, social activist and painter (born 1905)
** Barbara Jefferis, novelist and dramatist (born 1917)
* 8 January – Norman Talbot, poet (born 1936)
* 17 February – Bruce Beaver, poet (born 1928)
* 11 April – Wilbur G. Howcroft, writer for children (born 1917)
* 7 July – Elisabeth MacIntyre, writer for children (born 1916)
* 17 August – Thea Astley, novelist (born 1925)
* 8 November – Peter Mathers, novelist and short story writer (born 1931 in Fulham, England)