# 1987 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1987.

## Events

* Glenda Adams won the 1987 Miles Franklin Award for Dancing on Coral

## Major publications
### Novels

* Glenda Adams — Dancing on Coral
* Murray Bail — Holden's Performance
* Sumner Locke Elliott — Waiting for Childhood
* Barbara Hanrahan — Kewpie Doll
* Nicholas Hasluck — Truant State
* David Ireland — Bloodfather
* Nicholas Jose — Paper Nautilus
* Thomas Keneally — The Playmaker
* Olga Masters — Amy's Children
* Colleen McCullough — The Ladies of Missalonghi
* Boyd Oxlade — Death in Brunswick
* Nancy Phelan — Home is the Sailor
* Eric Willmot — Pemulwuy, the Rainbow Warrior

### Short stories

* Jessica Anderson — Stories from the Warm Zone
* Thea Astley — It's Raining in Mango
* Julie Lewis — The Walls of Jericho: Stories
* Patrick White — Three Uneasy Pieces

### Children's and young adult fiction

* John Marsden — So Much to Tell You

### Science fiction and fantasy

* Greg Egan – "Neighbourhood Watch"
* Isobelle Carmody — Obernewtyn
* George Turner — The Sea and Summer

### Crime and mystery

* Jon Cleary — Dragons at the Party
* Peter Corris — The January Zone
* Jennifer Rowe — Grim Pickings

### Poetry

* Judith Beveridge — The Domesticity of Giraffes
* Dorothy Hewett — Alice in Wormland

### Drama

* Dorothy Hewett — Me and the Man in the Moon
* David Malouf — Blood Relations
* Wendy Richardson — Windy Gully
* David Williamson — Emerald City

### Non-fiction

* Brian Matthews — Louisa
* Sally Morgan — My Place

## Awards and honours

* Rosemary Dobson AO, for "service to literature, particularly in the field of poetry"
* David Malouf AO, for "service to literature"
* Peter Cowan (writer) AM, for "service to Australian literature"
* Ruth Park AM, for "service to literature"
* Rica Erickson AM, for "service to the arts, particularly as an author and illustrator

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Not awarded |
| Patrick White Award | William Hart-Smith |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Jessica Anderson | Stories from the Warm Zone | Penguin |
| ALS Gold Medal | Alan Wearne | The Nightmarkets | Penguin |
| Colin Roderick Award | Nancy Phelan | Home is the Sailor and the Best of Intentions | Hyland House |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Blanche d'Alpuget | Winter in Jerusalem | Heinemann |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Jessica Anderson | Stories from the Warm Zone | Penguin |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Jim Sakkas | Ilias | Allen and Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Glenda Adams | Dancing on Coral | Viking Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Glenda Adams | Dancing on Coral | Viking Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Janine Burke | Second Sight | Greenhouse Publications |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| Anne Elder Award | Sarah Day | A Hunger to be Less Serious | Angus & Robertson |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Elizabeth Riddell | Occasions of Birds and Other Poems | Brindabella Press |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Jan Owen | Boy with Telescope | Angus & Robertson |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Philip Hodgins | Blood and Bone | Angus & Robertson |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Lily Brett | The Auschwitz Poems | Scribe |

### Children and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Simon French | All We Know | Angus and Robertson |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Junko Morimoto, translated by Isao Morimoto | Kojuro and the Bears | Random House |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's Literature | Nan Hunt and Betina Ogden | A Rabbit Named Harris | William Collins |

### Drama

| Award | Category | Author | Title |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Film Script | David Parker | Malcolm |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Television Script | Helen Garner | Two Friends |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Play | David Malouf | Blood Relations |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Drama | Ben Lewin | A Matter of Convenience |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | Robert Hughes | The Fatal Shore | Knopf |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Patrick O'Farrell | The Irish In Australia | University of New South Wales Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Hugh Stretton | Political Essays | |

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1987 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 3 March — Cyril Pearl, Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality (born 1904)
* 18 April — Kenneth Cook, Australian journalist, television documentary maker and novelist (born 1929)
* 8 May — Marjorie Barnard, Australia novelist and short story writer, critic, historian and librarian (born 1897)
* 24 May — Robert D. Fitzgerald, poet (born 1902)
* 3 July — Grace Perry, poet, playwright, and founder and editor of the South Head Press (born 1927)
* 17 December — Lucy Walker, romance novelist (born 1907)