# 2019 in Australian literature

This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2019.

## Major publications
### Literary fiction

* Tony Birch – The White Girl
* David Brooks – The Grass Library
* Steven Carroll – The Year of the Beast
* Melanie Cheng – Room for a Stranger
* Peggy Frew – Islands
* Peter Goldsworthy – Minotaur
* John Hughes – No One
* Anna Krien – Act of Grace
* Melina Marchetta – The Place on Dalhousie
* Andrew McGahan – The Rich Man's House (posthumous)
* Gerald Murnane – A Season on Earth
* Favel Parrett – There Was Still Love
* Heather Rose – Bruny
* Philip Salom – The Returns
* Carrie Tiffany – Exploded View
* Lucy Treloar – Wolfe Island
* Christos Tsiolkas – Damascus
* Tara June Winch – The Yield
* Charlotte Wood – The Weekend

### Short stories

* Debra Adelaide – Zebra: And Other Stories
* Yumna Kassab – The House of Youssef
* Josephine Rowe – Here Until August

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Mem Fox – The Tiny Star
* Helena Fox – How It Feels to Float
* Will Kostakis – Monuments
* Tania McCartney – Fauna: Australia's Most Curious Creatures
* Meg McKinlay – Catch a Falling Star
* Bruce Pascoe – Young Dark Emu
* Holden Sheppard – Invisible Boys
* Vikki Wakefield – This is How We Change the Ending

### Crime

* Matthew Condon – The Night Dragon
* Pip Drysdale – The Strangers We Know
* Candice Fox – Gone By Midnight
* Nick Gadd – Death of a Typographer
* Tara Moss – Dead Man Switch
* Dave Warner – River of Salt
* Christian White – The Wife and the Widow

### Science fiction

* John Birmingham – The Cruel Stars
* Claire G. Coleman – The Old Lie
* Greg Egan
** The Best of Greg Egan
** Perihelion Summer
* Garth Nix – Angel Mage

### Poetry

* Louise Crisp – Yuiquimbiang
* Zenobia Frost – After the Demolition
* Charmaine Papertalk Green – Nganajungu Yagu
* L. K. Holt – Birth Plan
* Gerald Murnane – Green Shadows and Other Poems
* Pi O – Heide

### Non-fiction

* Jane Caro – Accidental Feminists
* Maxine Beneba Clarke, with Magan Magan and Ahmed Yussuf (editors) – Growing Up African in Australia
* Stan Grant
** Australia Day
** On Identity
* Nicholas Hasluck – Beyond the Equator: An Australian Memoir
* Jess Hill – See What You Made Me Do
* Jacqueline Kent – Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook
* Caro Llewellyn – Diving into Glass
* Emily Maguire – This is What a Feminist Looks Like
* Bianca Nogrady (editor) – The Best Australian Science Writing 2019
* Christina Thompson – Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

## Awards and honours

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

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Patrick White Award | Jordie Albiston |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| ALS Gold Medal | Pam Brown | click here for what we do | Vagabond Press |
| Colin Roderick Award | Robert Drewe | The True Colour of the Sea | Hamish Hamilton |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Trent Dalton | Boy Swallows Universe | Fourth Estate |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Billy Griffiths | Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia | Black Inc |
| Stella Prize | Vicki Laveau-Harvie | The Erratics | Fourth Estate |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Behrouz Boochani | No Friend But the Mountains | Belvoir and Co-Curious |

### Fiction
#### 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 | Markus Zusak | Bridge of Clay | Picador |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction | Trent Dalton | Boy Swallows Universe | Fourth Estate |
| Miles Franklin Award | Melissa Lucashenko | Too Much Lip | University of Queensland Press |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Gail Jones | The Death of Noah Glass | Text Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Michelle de Kretser | The Life to Come | Allen & Unwin |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Carrie Tiffany | Exploded View | Text Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Elise Valmorbida | The Madonna of the Mountains | Faber & Faber |

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

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Clare Atkins | Between Us | Black Inc. |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Younger Readers | Emily Rodda | His Name Was Walter | HarperCollins |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Picture Book | Shaun Tan | Cicada | Lothian |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Early Childhood | Alison Lester | Trick's Bad Day | Affirm |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Coral Vass, illustrated by Dub Leffler | Sorry Day | National Library of Australia |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Nan Chauncy Award | James Moloney | | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Children's | Karen Foxlee | Lenny's Book of Everything | Allen & Unwin |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Young Adult | Barry Jonsberg | A Song Only I Can Hear | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Lorraine Marwood (joint winner) | Leave Taking | University of Queensland Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Claire Saxby and Tannya Harricks (joint winner) | Dingo | Walker Books |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Erin Gough | Amelia Westlake | Hardie Grant Egmont |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Young Adult Fiction | Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina | Catching Teller Crow | Allen & Unwin |

### Crime and Mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Dervla McTiernan | The Rúin | HarperCollins |
| Davitt Award | Young adult novel | Sarah Epstein | Small Spaces | Walker Books |
| Davitt Award | Children's novel | Judith Rossell | Wakestone Hall | ABC Books |
| Davitt Award | True crime | Chloe Hooper | The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire | Penguin |
| Davitt Award | Debut novel | Bri Lee | Eggshell Skull | Allen & Unwin |
| Davitt Award | Readers' choice | Jane Harper | The Lost Man | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Jane Harper | The Lost Man | Pan Macmillan |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Dervla McTiernan | The Rúin | HarperCollins |
| Ned Kelly Award | True crime | Bri Lee | Eggshell Skull | Allen & Unwin |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime achievement | Bob Bottom | | |

### Science fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Sam Hawke | City of Lies (Poison Wars 1) | Tor Books |
| Ditmar Award | Best Novella or Novelette | Tansy Rayner Roberts | Cabaret of Monsters | self-published |
| Ditmar Award | Best Short Story | Kathleen Jennings | "The Heart of Owl Abbas" | Tor.com |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| Anne Elder Award | Eunice Andrada | Flood Damages | Giramondo |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Marjon Mossammaparast | That Sight | Cordite |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Judith Bishop | Interval | University of Queensland Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Kate Lilley | Tilt | Vagabond Press |

### Drama

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Script | Benjamin Gilmour | Jirga | Felix Media Pty Ltd |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Play | Kendall Feaver | The Almighty Sometimes | Griffin Theatre |

### Non-Fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Not awarded | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | Chloe Hooper | The Arsonist | Random House Australia |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year | Illustrated Non-Fiction | Marcia Langton | Marcia Langton: Welcome to Country | Hardie Grant Travel |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Behrouz Boochani | No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison | Picador Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Billy Griffiths (joint winner) | Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia | Black Inc. |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Sarah Krasnostein (joint winner) | The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster | Text Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Meredith Lake | The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History | NewSouth Books |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Sarah Luke | Callan Park, Hospital for the Insane | Australian Scholarly Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Christina Thompson | Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia | Harper |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Mary Hoban | An Unconventional Wife: The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold | Scribe |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Behrouz Boochani | No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison | Picador Australia |

## Deaths

* 20 January – Mudrooroo, novelist, poet and playwright (pen name of Colin Thomas Johnson)(born 1938)
* 1 February – Andrew McGahan, novelist (born 1966)
* 4 March – Les Carlyon, newspaper editor and nonfiction writer (born 1942)
* 13 March – Edmund Capon, art historian (died in London)(born 1940 in London)
* 15 March – Rudi Krausmann, playwright and poet (born 1933 in Austria)
* 22 March – Jack Absalom, artist, author and adventurer (born 1927)
* 29 April – Les Murray, poet, anthologist and critic (born 1938)
* 19 May – John Millett, poet, reviewer and poetry editor (born 1921)
* 1 June – Christobel Mattingley, writer for children and young adults (born 1931)
* 13 July – Kerry Reed-Gilbert, poet and author (born 1956)
* 21 July –
** Laurie Hergenhan, literary scholar (born 1931)
** Ann Moyal, historian of science (born 1926)
* 10 September – Hal Colebatch, poet and novelist (born 1945)
* 30 October – Beatrice Faust, co-founder of Women's Electoral Lobby, journalist and author (born 1939)
* 24 November – Clive James, poet, novelist and critic (died in Cambridge, England)(born 1939)