2008 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2008.

Events
  • "The Bulletin" magazine publishes its last issue, the first was in 1880[1]
  • The Australia Council for the Arts announces Christopher Koch and Gerald Murnane as recipients of its 2008 emeritus writers awards[2]
  • The Australian Federal Government announces funding for a new chair of Australian Literature based at the University of Western Australia[3]
  • Clunes, Victoria, holds its second Booktown weekend[4]
  • The first Crime and Justice Festival in held in Melbourne over the weekend of 19–20 July[5]
  • Australia wins the right to host the 2010 World SF convention in Melbourne[6]
  • A number of previously unknown Banjo Paterson poems are found in an old cash book dating back to the Boer War [7]
  • UNESCO names Melbourne as its second City of Literature, after Edinburgh received the first such award in 2004[8]
  • Caro Llewellyn, a former director of the Sydney Writers' Festival and PEN World Voices Festival in New York, is appointed as director of the new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (now called the Wheeler Centre) in Melbourne[9]

Major publications

Literary fiction

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Crime and Mystery

Romance
  • Anne Gracie – The Stolen Princess
  • Stephanie Laurens – The Edge of Desire
  • Margaret Leigh – The Heart Divided
  • Estelle Pinney – Burnt Sunshine

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Drama

Poetry

See also 2008 in poetry

  • Robert Adamson – The Golden Bird: New and Selected Poems, winner of the C.J. Dennis Prize for Poetry in the 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, shortlisted for the 2009 Age Book of the Year Awards
  • Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night
  • David Brooks – The Balcony, finalist for the 2008 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry; University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3669-3
  • Elizabeth Hodgson – Skin Painting, winner of the 2007 David Unaipon Award; University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3677-8
  • Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria
  • Clive James – Opal Sunset: Selected Poems, 1958–2008
  • John Kinsella – Divine Comedy, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3666-2
  • Anthony Lawrence – Bark, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3664-8
  • David Malouf – Revolving Days, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3635-8
  • Peter Rose editor – The Best Australian Poems 2008 Black Inc., ISBN 978-1-86395-303-0

Non-fiction

Biographies
  • Peter Costello – The Costello Memoirs
  • Jacqueline Kent – An Exacting Heart: The Story of Hephzibah Menuhin
  • Andrew Riemer – A Family History of Smoking

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement
Award Author
Christopher Brennan Award Robert Gray
Patrick White Award John Romeril

Fiction

International
Award Region Category Author Title Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize SE Asia and South Pacific Best Novel Steven Carroll The Time We Have Taken Harper Collins
Best First Novel Karen Foxlee The Anatomy of Wings University of Queensland Press

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
ABC Fiction Award Kain Massin God for the Killing ABC Books
The Age Book of the Year Fiction Tim Winton Breath Hamish Hamilton
ALS Gold Medal Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog Allen & Unwin
Australia-Asia Literary Award David Malouf The Complete Stories Knopf
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Andrew Cromme Document Z Allen and Unwin
Colin Roderick Award Malcolm Knox Jamaica Allen and Unwin
Barbara Jefferis Award Rhyll McMaster Feather Man Brandl and Schlesinger
Miles Franklin Award Steven Carroll The Time We Have Taken Harper Collins
Nita Kibble Literary Award Carol Lefevre Nights in the Asylum Vintage Books
Prime Minister's Literary Awards Fiction Steven Conte The Zookeeper's War Harper Collins
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Fiction Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog Allen & Unwin
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Fiction Helen Garner The Spare Room Text Publishing
South Australian Premier's Awards Fiction Roger McDonald The Ballad of Desmond Kale Vintage Books
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Fiction Helen Garner The Spare Room Text Publishing
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Fiction Stephen Scourfield Other Country Allen & Unwin

Children and Young Adult

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Aurealis Award Young Adult Novel Melina Marchetta Finnikin of the Rock Viking Press
Young Adult Short Story Trent Jamieson "Cracks" Shiny, magazine
Children's Book of the Year Award Older Readers Sonya Hartnett The Ghost's Child Viking Books
Younger Readers Carole Wilkinson Dragon Moon Black Dog Books
Picture Book Matt Ottley Requiem for a Beast Lothian
Early Childhood Aaron Blabey Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley Viking Books
Davitt Award Young Adult Novel Mandy Sayer The Night has a Thousand Eyes Fourth Estate
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Children's Li Cunxin and Anne Spudvilas The Peasant Prince Viking Books
Young People's James Roy Town University of Queensland Press
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Children's Li Cunxin and Anne Spudvilas The Peasant Prince Viking Books
Young Adult Matt Ottley Requiem for a Beast Lothian
South Australian Premier's Awards Children's Michael Gerard Bauer Don't Call Me Ishmael Omnibus Books
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Young Adult Fiction Brigid Lowry| Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful Allen and Unwin
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Children's Liz Lofthouse and Robert Ingpen Ziba Came on a Boat Viking Books
Writing for Young Adults Ken Spillman Love is a UFO Pan Macmillan

Crime and Mystery

National
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Davitt Award Novel Katherine Howell Frantic Pan Macmillan
Ned Kelly Award Novel Michael Robotham Shatter Sphere Books
First novel Chris Womersley The Low Road Scribe Publishing

Science Fiction
Award Category Author Title Publisher
Aurealis Award SF Novel K. A. Bedford Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
SF Short Story Simon Brown "The Empire" Dreaming Again, Voyager
Fantasy Novel Alison Goodman The Two Pearls of Wisdom HarperCollins
Fantasy Short Story Cat Sparks "Sammarynda Deep" Paper Cities, Senses 5 Press
Horror Novel John Harwood The Seance Random House
Horror Short Story Kirstyn McDermott "Painlessness" Greatest Uncommon Denominator #2
Ditmar Award Novel Sean Williams Saturn Returns Orbit Books
Novella/Novelette Cat Sparks "Lady of Adestan" Orb #7
Short Story Rick Kennett "The Dark and What It Said" Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #28
Collected Work Jonathan Strahan ed. The New Space Opera HarperCollins
Russell B. Farr ed. Fantastic Wonder Stories Ticonderoga Publications

Non-Fiction
Award Category Author Title Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Non-fiction Don Watson American Journeys Random House
Children's Book of the Year Award Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Frances Watts, illus David Legge Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books ABC Books
Davitt Award True crime Janet Fife-Yeomans Killing Jodie Penguin Books
National Biography Award Philip Dwyer Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769–1799 Bloomsbury Publishing
Graham Seal These Few Lines: A Convict Story – The Lost Lives of Myra & William Sykes ABC Books
Prime Minister's Literary Awards Non-fiction Philip Jones Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers Wakefield Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Non-fiction Tom Griffiths Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica University of New South Wales Press
New South Wales Premier's History Awards Australian History Paul Ham Vietnam: The Australian War Harper Collins
Community and Regional History Dianne Johnson, in collaboration with the residents of the Gully and their descendants Sacred Waters: the story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners Halstead Press
General History Michael A. McDonnell The Politics of War: Race, Class and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia University of North Carolina Press
Young People's Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry Australians in the Vietnam War Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Non-fiction Craig Sherborne Muck Black Inc
History Professor Marilyn Lake and Professor Henry Reynolds Drawing the Global Colour Line Melbourne University Press
South Australian Premier's Awards Non-fiction Jacob G. Rosenberg Sunrise West Brandl and Schlesinger
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Non-fiction Meredith Hooper The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's

Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica

 Allen & Unwin
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Non-fiction Antonio Buti Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience University of Western Australia Press
Western Australian history Ruth Marchant James Cottesloe: A Town of Distinction Town of Cottesloe

Poetry
Award Author Title Publisher
The Age Book of the Year J. S. Harry Not Finding Wittgenstein Giramondo Publishing
Mary Gilmore Prize Nathan Shepherdson Sweeping the Light Back into the Mirror University of Queensland Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kathryn Lomer Two Kinds of Silence University of Queensland Press
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards David Malouf Typewriter Music University of Queensland Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Lisa Gorton Press Release Giramondo Publishing
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Hal Colebatch The Light River Connorcourt Publishing

Drama
Award Author Title Publisher
Patrick White Playwrights' Award Nicki Bloom Bloodwood

Deaths
  • 11 January – Nancy Phelan, author (born 1913)
  • 27 March – Alan Collins, short story writer (born 1928)
  • 8 April – John Button, politician and author (born 1933)
  • 26 April – Pamela Bone, journalist and author (born 1940)
  • 29 April – John Hooker, author (born 1932)
  • 21 June – Justina Williams, poet (born 1916)
  • 24 August – Patricia Rolfe, short story writer and critic (born 1920)
  • 30 September – Eleanor Spence, writer for children (born 1928)
  • 30 October – Jacob G. Rosenberg, poet and memoirist (born 1922)
  • 15 November – Ivan Southall, writer for children (born 1921)
  • 10 December – Dorothy Porter, poet (born 1954)
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See also

References
  1. The Bulletin shuts down after 128 years
  2. "Critically acclaimed writers honoured with top literary prize". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  3. "Government funds new Chair in Australian Literature". Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  4. The book of regenesis
  5. Crime and Justice Festival
  6. Aussiecon 4
  7. Poet's works discovered in war diary
  8. Write at the centre
  9. Centre for writing and books gains services of a mind much travelled

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

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