2007 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2007.

Events
  • Surrender by Sonya Hartnett, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are named as Honor Books in the 2007 American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.[1]
  • "The Guardian" newspaper from the UK reports that Borders plans to sell its Australian stores.[2]
  • The small township of Clunes, about 20 kilometres north of Ballarat in Victoria, decides to try to set up Australia's first dedicated booktown. The first weekend event takes place on 20 May.[3]
  • AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), the major Australian literature resource for research and teaching housed at the University of Queensland, announces the commencement of "Black Words", a literary website specialising in Australian Indigenous writers and storytellers and their works.[4]
  • Federal Education minister, Julie Bishop, announces that the Australian Government will allocate funds to A$1.5m to create a Chair of Australian Literature in an Australian university.[5]
  • Charlie Rimmer, Group Commercial Manager for Angus and Robertson bookshops, writes to a number of Australian independent publishers indicating that the bookshop chain will refuse to stock their books without compensation.[6]
  • Lonely Planet, the iconic Australian publisher of travel guides, is sold to the commercial division of the BBC in a deal reportedly worth A$200 million.[7]
  • Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, announces a major new literary prize of $100,000 in both fiction and non-fiction categories.[8]
  • Australia-Asia Literary Award established.

Major publications

Literary fiction

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Crime and Mystery

Romance
  • Anna Campbell – Claiming the Courtesan
  • Emma Darcy – The Billionaire's Scandalous Marriage
  • Lilian Darcy – Cafe du Jour
  • Kimberley Freeman – Duet
  • Anna Jacobs – Tomorrow's Princess
  • Melanie La'Brooy – Serendipity
  • Tamara McKinley – Lands Beyond the Sea

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Drama

Poetry
  • Judith Bishop – Event
  • David Brooks – Urban Elegies, Sydney: Island Press (Australia)
  • Lisa Gorton – Press Release
  • Kathryn Lomer – Two Kinds of Silence, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3612-9
  • David Malouf – Typewriter Music, winner of the 2008 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award
  • Dorothy Porter – El Dorado
  • Peter Rose – The Best Australian Poems 2007, Black Inc., ISBN 978-1-86395-417-4
  • Peter Skrzynecki – Old/New World, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3586-3
  • Petra White – The Incoming Tide

Non-fiction

Biographies
  • Philip Dwyer – Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769–1799
  • Kim Huynh – Where the Sea Takes Us
  • Mark Kurzem – The Mascot
  • Brenda Niall – Life Class: The Education of a Biographer
  • Craig Sherborne – Muck
  • Jeff Sparrow – Communism: A Love Story

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement
Award Author
Christopher Brennan Award John Kinsella
Patrick White Award David Rowbotham

International
Award Region Category Author Title Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize SE Asia and South Pacific Best First Novel Andrew O'Connor Tuvalu Allen and Unwin

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
ABC Fiction Award Damian McDonald Luck in the Greater West ABC Books
The Age Book of the Year Fiction David Malouf Every Move You Make Chatto & Windus
ALS Gold Medal Alexis Wright Carpentaria Giramondo
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Stefan Laszczuk I Dream of Magda Allen and Unwin
Colin Roderick Award Deborah Robertson Careless Vintage
Miles Franklin Award Alexis Wright Carpentaria Giramondo
Nita Kibble Literary Award Deborah Robertson Careless Vintage Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Fiction Peter Carey Theft: A Love Story Alfred A. Knopf
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Fiction Alexis Wright Carpentaria Giramondo
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Fiction Alexis Wright Carpentaria Giramondo
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Fiction Simone Lazaroo The Travel Writer Macmillan

International
Award Author Title Publisher
Andre Norton Award Justine Larbalestier Magic or Madness Penguin Books

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award Older Readers Margo Lanagan Red Spikes Allen & Unwin
Younger Readers Catherine Bateson Being Bee University of Queensland Press
Picture Book Shaun Tan The Arrival Lothian
Early Childhood Libby Gleeson, illus. Freya Blackwood Amy and Louis Scholastic Press
Davitt Award Young Adult Jaclyn Moriarty The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie Pan Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Children's Narelle Oliver Home Omnibus Books
Young People's Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe Allen & Unwin
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Children's Glenda Millard Layla Queen of Hearts ABC Books
Young Adult Judith Clarke One Whole and Perfect Day Allen & Unwin
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction Simmone Howell Notes from the Teenage Underground Macmillan
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Writing for Young Adults Kate McCaffrey Destroying Avalon Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Children's Shaun Tan The Arrival Lothian

International
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Duncan Lawrie Dagger Peter Temple The Broken Shore Text Publishing

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Davitt Award Novel Sydney Bauer Undertow Macmillan
Ned Kelly Awards Novel Garry Disher Chain of Evidence Soho Press
First novel Adrian Hyland Diamond Dove Text Publishing

Science Fiction
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Aurealis Award Novel Will Elliott The Pilo Family Circus ABC Books
Short Story Shaun Tan The Arrival Lothian
Ditmar Award Novel Will Elliott The Pilo Family Circus ABC Books
Novella/Novelette Paul Haines "The Devil in Mr Pussy (Or How I Found God Inside My Wife)" Coeur de Lion Publishing
Short Story Rjurik Davidson "The Fear of White" Borderlands #7
Collected Work edited by Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol. 2 Mirrordanse Books
Australian Shadows Award Will Elliott The Pilo Family Circus ABC Books

Non-Fiction
Award Category Author Title Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Non-fiction Peter Cochrane Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy Melbourne University Press
Davitt Award True crime Karen Kissane Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage Hachette Australia
National Biography Award Jacob Rosenberg East of Time Brandl & Schlesinger
Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History Les Carlyon The Great War Macmillan
Peter Cochrane Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy Melbourne University Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Non-fiction Robert Hughes Things I Didn't Know: A Memoir Alfred A. Knopf
New South Wales Premier's History Awards Australian History Libby Robin How a Continent Created a Nation University of NSW Press
Community and Regional History Regina Ganter Mixed Relations: Asian Aboriginal Contact in North Australia University of Western Australia Press
General History Christopher Clark Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 Harvard University Press
Young People's John Nicholson Songlines and Stone Axes Allen & Unwin
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Non-fiction Tom Griffith Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica University of NSW Press
History Christopher Clark Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 Harvard University Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Non-fiction Danielle Clode Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes Melbourne University Press

Poetry
Award Author Title Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Robert Adamson The Goldfinches of Baghdad Flood Editions
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry Robert Adamson The Goldfinches of Baghdad Flood Editions
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards John Tranter Urban Myths: 210 Poems University of Queensland Press
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Laurie Duggan The Passenger University of Queensland Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Judy Johnson Jack Pandanus Press
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Dennis Haskell All the Time in the World Salt Publishing

Drama
Award Author Title Publisher
Patrick White Playwrights' Award (joint winners) Angus Cerini Wretch
Timothy Daly The Man in the Attic

Deaths
  • 1 February – Elizabeth Jolley, author (born 1923)
  • 22 February – Joyce Lee, poet (born 1913)
  • 2 March – David A. Myers, poet and publisher (born 1942)
  • 23 May – John Croyston, poet (born 1933)
  • 11 July – Glenda Adams, author (born 1939)
  • 11 July – Noel Rowe, poet (born 1951)
  • 1 August – Mona Brand, playwright (born 1915)
  • 24 August – Philip Grundy, translator (born 1932)
  • 16 October – Steve J. Spears, author and playwright (born 1951)
  • 31 October – Eric Rolls, author (born 1923)
  • 24 December – Jan McKemmish, author (born 1950)

See also

References
  1. The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
  2. "The Guardian" 22.03.2007
  3. Clunes to do it by the book
  4. New website brings Black Words into focus
  5. Bishop creates Aust literature position
  6. Bookshop chain puts bite on small publishers
  7. Payday for travellers who forged an empire
  8. "Rudd to reward Aussie writers". Archived from the original on 8 December 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2008.

Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.