# 2013 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2013.

## Events

* James Ley launches the Sydney Review of Books to provide "an opportunity for Australia's critics to rediscover the art of literary criticism".
* The longlist for the inaugural Stella Prize is announced.
* The shortlist of the Miles Franklin Award contains only female writers for the first time.
* Nicole Bourke, writing under the pseudonym "N. A. Sulway", becomes the first Australian writer to win the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for her novel Rupetta.
* Aora Children's Literature Research Centre in Sydney closes after 12 years of operation.
* The Commonwealth Book Prize was discontinuted after 2013.

## Major publications
### Literary fiction

* Debra Adelaide – Letter to George Clooney
* Steven Carroll – A World of Other People
* J. M. Coetzee – The Childhood of Jesus
* Richard Flanagan – The Narrow Road to the Deep North
* Andrea Goldsmith – The Memory Trap
* Ashley Hay – The Railwayman's Wife
* Tom Keneally – Shame and the Captives
* Hannah Kent – Burial Rites
* Melissa Lucashenko – Mullumbimby
* Colleen McCullough – Bittersweet
* Fiona McFarlane – The Night Guest
* Alex Miller – Coal Creek
* Di Morrissey – The Winter Sea
* Cory Taylor – My Beautiful Enemy
* Christos Tsiolkas – Barracuda
* Felicity Volk – Lightning
* Tim Winton – Eyrie
* Alexis Wright – The Swan Book
* Evie Wyld – All The Birds, Singing

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Alyssa Brugman – Alex as Well
* J. C. Burke – Pretty Girl
* Felicity Castagna – The Incredible Here and Now
* Mem Fox – Baby Bedtime
* Mem Fox – Yoo-hoo, Ladybird!
* Kerry Greenwood – Evan's Gallipoli: A Gripping Story of Unlikely Friendship and an Incredible Journey behind Enemy Lines
* Richard Harland – Song of the Slums
* Karen Healey – When We Wake
* Melissa Keil – Life in Outer Space
* Tania McCartney – An Aussie Year: Twelve Months in the Life of Australian Kids
* James Phelan – 13
* Fiona Wood – Wildlife

### Science fiction and fantasy

* Max Barry – Lexicon
* Greg Egan – The Arrows of Time
* Jennifer Fallon – Reunion
* Traci Harding – Dreaming of Zhou Gong
* Simon Haynes – Hal Spacejock: Safe Art
* Fiona McIntosh – The Scrivener's Tale
* Juliet Marillier – The Caller
* N. A. Sulway – Rupetta

### Crime and mystery

* Honey Brown – Dark Horse
* Peter Corris – The Dunbar Case
* Garry Disher – Bitter Wash Road
* Karen Foxlee – The Midnight Dress
* Poppy Gee – Bay of Fires
* Katherine Howell – Web of Deceit
* Stuart Littlemore —Harry Curry: Rats and Mice
* Adrian McKinty – I Hear the Sirens in the Street
* Barry Maitland – The Raven's Eye
* Matthew Reilly – The Tournament
* Michael Robotham – Watching You
* Angela Savage – The Dying Beach
* David Whish-Wilson – Zero at the Bone
* Chris Womersley – Cairo

### Poetry

* Pamela Brown – Home by Dark
* Lisa Gorton
** The Best Australian Poems 2013
** Hotel Hyperion
* John Kinsella – The Vision of Error: A Sextet of Activist Poems
* Kate Middleton – Ephemeral Waters
* Geoff Page
** 1953
** New Selected Poems
* Dorothy Porter – The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter
* Chris Wallace-Crabbe – New and Selected Poems

### Biography

* Alison Alexander – The Ambitions of Jane Franklin: Victorian Lady Adventurer
* Andrew Burell – Twiggy: The High-Stakes Life of Andrew Forest
* Gabrielle Carey – Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family
* Matthew Condon – Three Crooked Kings
* David Day – Flaws in the Ice: In Search of Douglas Mawson
* Stephen Dando-Collins – Sir Henry Parkes: The Australian Colossus
* Jesse Fink – The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC
* Peter FitzSimons – Ned Kelly: The Story of Australia's Most Notorious Legend
* David Marr – The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell
* Kristina Olsson – Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir
* Michael Pembroke – Arthur Phillip: Sailor, Mercenary, Governor, Spy
* Margaret Simons – Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man
* Helen Trinca – Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St. John
* Clare Wright – The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka

## Non-fiction

* Paul Barry – Breaking News : Sex, Lies & the Murdoch Succession
* Susanna de Vries – Australian Heroines of World War One: Gallipoli, Lemnos and the Western Front
* John Safran – Murder in Mississippi: The True Story of How I Met a White Supremacist, Befriended His Black Killer and Wrote this Book

## Awards and honours
### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Judith Beveridge |
| Patrick White Award | Louis Nowra |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| ALS Gold Medal | Michelle de Kretser | Questions of Travel | Allen & Unwin |
| Colin Roderick Award | Ashley Hay | The Railwayman's Wife | Allen & Unwin |
| Colin Roderick Award | Stephen Edgar | Eldershaw | Black Pepper |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | M. L. Stedman | The Light Between Oceans | Vintage Australia |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Annah Faulkner | The Beloved | Picador |
| Stella Prize | Carrie Tiffany | Mateship with Birds | Pan Macmillan |
| Victorian Prize for Literature | Not awarded | | |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Region | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Book Prize | Pacific | Michael Sala | The Last Thread | Affirm Press |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Not awarded | | |
| Barbara Jefferis Award | Not awarded | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction | Toni Jordan | Nine Days | Text Publishing |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction | M. L. Stedman | The Light Between Oceans | Vintage Australia |
| Miles Franklin Award | Michelle de Kretser | Questions of Travel | Allen & Unwin |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Michelle de Kretser | Questions of Travel | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Carrie Tiffany | Mateship with Birds | Pan Macmillan |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Melissa Lucashenko | Mullumbimby | University of Queensland Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Not awarded | |

### Children and young adult
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Margo Lanagan | Sea Hearts | Allen and Unwin |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Younger Readers | Sonya Hartnett | The Children of the King | Viking Books |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Ron Brooks and Julie Hunt | The Coat | Allen and Unwin |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Early Childhood | Emma Allen, illus. Freya Blackwood | The Terrible Suitcase | Scholastic Press, Scholastic Australia |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Children's & YA | Margo Lanagan | Sea Hearts | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Aaron Blabey | The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon | Penguin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Jaclyn Moriarty | A Corner of White | Pan Macmillan |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Children's | Narelle Oliver | Don't Let a Spoonbill in the Kitchen! | Omnibus Books |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Young Adult | Jaclyn Moriarty | A Corner of White | Pan Macmillan |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | No award | | |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Dianne Wolfer, illus. by Brian Simmonds | Light Horse Boy | Fremantle Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Jan Ormerod, illus. by Andrew Joyner | The Swap | Hardie Grant |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Writing for Young Adults | Alyssa Brugman | Alex As Well | Text Publishing |

### Crime and mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Maggie Groff | Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute | Pan Macmillan |
| Davitt Award | Young adult novel | Jennifer Walsh | The Tunnels of Tarcoola | Allen & Unwin |
| Davitt Award | True Crime | Pamela Burton | The Waterlow Killings | Melbourne University Press |
| Davitt Award | Debut novel | Maggie Groff | Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute | Pan Macmillan |
| Davitt Award | Readers' choice | Kerry Greenwood | Tamam Shud: The Somerton Man Mystery | NewSouth Publishing |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Geoffrey McGeachin | Blackwattle Creek | Penguin Books |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Zane Lovitt | The Midnight Promise | Text Publishing |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Robin de Crespigny | The People Smuggler | Viking |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime Achievement | Not awarded | | |

### Science fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | SF Novel | Max Barry | Lexicon | Hachette |
| Aurealis Award | SF Short Story | Kaaron Warren | "Air, Water, and the Grove" | Pandemonimum Press (The Lowest Heaven) |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Mitchell Hogan | A Crucible of Souls | Mitchell Hogan |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Jay Kristoff | "The Last Stormdancer" | Thomas Dunne Books |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | Allyse Near | Fairytales for Wilde Girls | Random House Australia |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | Kim Wilkins | "The Year of Ancient Ghosts" | Ticonderoga Publications (The Year of Ancient Ghosts) |
| Aurealis Award | Anthology | Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene | The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror | Ticonderoga Publications |
| Aurealis Award | Anthology | Tehani Wessely | One Small Step, An Anthology of Discoveries | FableCroft Publishing |
| Aurealis Award | Collection | Joanne Anderton | The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories | FableCroft Publishing |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Novel | Marty Young | 809 Jacob Street | Black Beacon Books |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Long Fiction | Kaaron Warren | "The Unwanted Women of Surrey" | Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Short Fiction | Debbie Cowens | "Caterpillars" | Baby Teeth: Bite-sized Tales of Terror edited by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Edited Publication | Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray, editors | Baby Teeth: Bite-sized Tales of Terror | Paper Road Press |
| Australian Shadows Awards | Collected Works | Jo Anderton | The Bone Chime Song and other stories | FableCroft Publishing |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Margo Lanagan | Sea Hearts | Allen & Unwin |
| Ditmar Award | Novella/Novelette | Kaaron Warren | "Sky" | Twelfth Planet Press (Through Splintered Walls) |
| Ditmar Award | Short Story | Thoraiya Dyer | "The Wisdom of Ants" | Clarkesworld 75 |
| Ditmar Award | Collected Work | Kaaron Warren, edited by Alisa Krasnostein | Through Splintered Walls | Twelfth Planet Press |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| Anne Elder Award | Elizabeth Allen | Body Language | Vagabond Press |
| Mary Gilmore Prize | Not awarded | | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Ali Cobby Eckermann | Ruby Moonlight | Magabala Books |
| Queensland Literary Awards | John Kinsella | Jam Tree Gully | W. W. Norton |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | No award | | |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Paul Hetherington | Six Different Windows | UWA Publishing |

### Drama

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Play | Reg Cribb | The Damned | The Yellow Agency |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Script | Louise Fox | Dead Europe | See Saw Films; Porchlight Films |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Award | Chris Summers | King Artur | |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Fellowship | Angela Betzien | | |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Not awarded | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Kristin Weidenbach, illus. Timothy Ide | Tom the Outback Mailman | Lothian Children's Books, Hachette Australia |
| Davitt Award | True crime | Pamela Burton | The Waterlow Killings | Melbourne University Publishing |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | Richard de Crespigny | QF32 | Pan Macmillan |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Peter Fitzpatrick | The Two Frank Thrings | Monash University Publishing |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | George Megalogenis | The Australian Moment | Penguin Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Gideon Haigh | The Office: A Hard Working History | Miegunyah |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Janet Butler | Kitty's War: The remarkable wartime experiences of Kit McNaughton | University of Queensland Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Patti Miller | The Mind of a Thief | University of Queensland Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Saliha Belmessous | Assimilation and Empire: Uniformity in the French and British Colonies, 1541–1954 | Oxford University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Young People's | Jackie French | Pennies for Hitler | HarperCollins |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Non-fiction | Kristina Olsson | Boy, Lost | University of Queensland Press |
| Queensland Literary Awards | History | Jane Lydon | The Flash of Recognition | New South Books |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | No award | | |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Non-fiction | Kristina Olsson | Boy, Lost | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Western Australian history | Margaret Simons | Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man | Penguin Books |

## Deaths

* 23 May – Hazel Hawke, memoirist (born 1929)
* 16 July – Christopher Koch, novelist (born 1932)
* 5 September – Elisabeth Wynhausen, Dutch-born journalist and author (born 1946)
* 11 September – Keith Dunstan, journalist and author (born 1925)
* 9 October – Mark "Chopper" Read, writer (born 1954)
* 16 November – Graham Stone, bibliographer (born 1926)