# 1999 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1999.

## Events

* Murray Bail won the Miles Franklin Award for Eucalyptus
* Jan Fullerton was appointed Director General of the National Library of Australia, being the first woman and first internal appointee

## Major publications
### Novels

* Thea Astley — Drylands
* Lily Brett — Too Many Men
* Marshall Browne – The Burnt City
* Kate Grenville — The Idea of Perfection
* Dorothy Hewett — Neap Tide
* Julia Leigh — The Hunter
* Bruce Pascoe — Shark
* Dorothy Porter — What a Piece of Work
* Matthew Reilly — Ice Station
* Heather Rose — White Heart
* Kim Scott — Benang
* Amy Witting — Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop

### Science fiction and fantasy

* James Bradley — The Deep Field
* Sara Douglass — Crusader
* Kate Forsyth – The Cursed Towers
* Greg Egan
** "Border Guards"
** Teranesia
* Ian Irvine — Dark is the Moon
* Juliet Marillier – Daughter of the Forest
* Sean McMullen – Souls in the Great Machine
* George Turner – Down There in Darkness

### Crime

* Marshall Browne — The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders
* Garry Disher — The Dragon Man
* Kerry Greenwood – Death Before Wicket
* Gabrielle Lord – Feeding the Demons
* Barry Maitland – The Chalon Heads
* Tara Moss – Fetish
* Chris Nyst — Cop This!
* Peter Temple
** Black Tide
** Shooting Star

### Children's and young adult fiction

* Helen Barnes — Killing Aurora
* Graeme Base — The Worst Band in the Universe
* Kim Caraher — Goanna Anna
* Nick Earls — 48 Shades of Brown
* Christine Harris — Foreign Devil
* Sonya Hartnett — Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf
* Victor Kelleher — The Ivory Trail
* Markus Zusak — The Underdog

### Poetry

* Kevin Hart — Wicked Heat
* John Kinsella — Visitants
* Jennifer Maiden — Mines
* Les Murray — Conscious and Verbal

### Drama

* Van Badham — The Wilderness of Mirrors

### Non-fiction

* Ian McFarlane — Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop
* Drusilla Modjeska — Stravinsky's Lunch
* Les Murray — The Quality of Sprawl: Thoughts about Australia
* Anne Summers — Ducks on the Pond: An Autobiography 1945–1976
* David Walker— Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia 1850–1939

## Awards and honours

* Michael Fitzgerald Page AM "for service to the book publishing industry and to literature as a writer, and through the encouragement and support of upcoming Australian authors"
* Frank John Ford AM "for service to the development of the performing arts in South Australia as a director, playwright, administrator and educator"
* Kay Saunders AM "for service to Australian history as a scholar, author and commentator on social issues"
* John Antill Millett OAM "for service to literature as editor of Poetry Australia"

### Lifetime achievement

| Award | Author |
| Christopher Brennan Award | Kevin Hart |
| Patrick White Award | Gerald Murnane |

### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | K. S. Inglis | Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape | Miegunyah Press |
| ALS Gold Medal | Murray Bail | Eucalyptus | Random House |
| Colin Roderick Award | Christopher Koch | Out of Ireland | Doubleday |
| Nita Kibble Literary Award | Geraldine Brooks | Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey From Down Under to All Over | Anchor Books |

### Fiction
#### International

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region | Murray Bail | Eucalyptus | Harvill Press |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Best Overall Novel | Murray Bail | Eucalyptus | Harvill Press |

#### National

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year Award | James Bradley | The Deep Field | Sceptre |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Hsu-Ming Teo | Love and Vertigo | Allen and Unwin |
| Miles Franklin Award | Murray Bail | Eucalyptus | Random House |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Roger McDonald | Mr Darwin's Shooter | Random House |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Roger McDonald | Mr Darwin's Shooter | Random House |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Kim Scott | Benang : From the Heart | Fremantle Arts Centre Press |

### Crime and Mystery
#### National

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Ned Kelly Award |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Peter Doyle | Amaze Your Friends | Random House |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Andrew Masterson | The Last Days | Picador |
| Ned Kelly Award | Lifetime Achievement | Peter Corris | | |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | | |
| The Age Book of the Year | R. A. Simpson | The Impossible, and Other Poems | Five Islands Press |
| Anne Elder Award | Not awarded | | |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Not awarded | | |
| Mary Gilmore Award | Not awarded | | |

### Children and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction | | Phillip Gwynne | Deadly, Unna? | Penguin |

### Non-fiction

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Not awarded | |
| The Age Book of the Year | Non-Fiction | K. S. Inglis | Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape | Anchor |
| National Biography Award | Biography | Not awarded | | |

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1999 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 15 February — Gordon Neil Stewart, writer (born 1912)
* 1 March — Richard Beynon, playwright, actor and television producer (born 1925)
* 20 April — Ric Throssell, diplomat and author whose writings included novels, plays, film and television scripts and memoirs (born 1922)
* 8 July — Mavis Thorpe Clark, novelist and writer for children (born 1909)
* 12 July — Mungo Ballardie MacCallum, journalist, broadcaster and poet (born 1913)
* 9 October — Morris West, novelist and playwright (born 1916)
* 16 November — Mal Morgan, poet (born 1936, London, England)