The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were first presented in 1979 when Neville Wran was Premier, and his ten successors have kept them up. I’ve been following the awards since Bob Carr’s day – eight premiers ago – and even been to some award night dinners, and a couple of the recent more parsimonious events. This year’s shortlist has been announced, and can be read on the State Library website with some clicking back and forth. As a public service to my handfuls of readers, here’s the list on one screen (links take you direct to the judges’ comments on Library’s website, plus in a very few cases to my blog posts). It’s a huge reading list. Please give your pick in the comments.
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- Tony Birch, Dark as Last Night (University of Queensland Press)
- Merlinda Bobis, The Kindness Of Birds (Spinifex Press)
- Katherine Brabon, The Shut Ins (Allen & Unwin)
- John Hughes, The Dogs (Upswell Publishing)
- John Kinsella, Pushing Back (Transit Lounge)
- Claire Thomas, The Performance (Hachette Australia)
Highly commended
- Emily Maguire, Love Objects (Allen & Unwin)
- Michael Mohammed Ahmad, The Other Half of You (Hachette Australia)
- Lucy Neave, Believe in Me (University of Queensland Press)
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- Ella Baxter, The New Animal (Allen & Unwin)
- Kavita Bedford, Friends & Dark Shapes (Text Publishing)
- Stuart Everly-Wilson, Low Expectations (Text Publishing)
- Angela O’Keeffe, Night Blue (Transit Lounge)
- Monica Raszewski, The Archaeology of a Dream City (Balestier Press)
- Chloe Wilson, Hold Your Fire (Scribner)
Highly commended
- Max Easton, The Magpie Wing (Giramondo)
- Diana Reid, Love & Virtue (Ultimo Press)
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- Bernadette Brennan, Leaping into Waterfalls: The enigmatic Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin)
- Veronica Gorrie, Black and Blue: a memoir of racism and resilience (Scribe Publications)
- Amani Haydar, The Mother Wound (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Kate Holden, The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killing at Croppa Creek (Black Inc. Books)
- Brendan James Murray, The School: The ups and downs of one year in the classroom (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Mark Willacy, Rogue Forces (Simon and Schuster Australia)
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
- Eunice Andrada, TAKE CARE (Giramondo Publishing) – my blogpost here
- Evelyn Araluen, Dropbear (University of Queensland Press) – my blogpost here
- Eileen Chong, A Thousand Crimson Blooms (University of Queensland Press) – my blogpost here
- Dan Disney, accelerations & inertias (Vagabond Press)
- John Kinsella Supervivid Depastoralism (Vagabond Press)
- Bella Li, Theory of Colours (Vagabond Press)
Highly commended
- Shari Kocher, Foxstruck and Other Collisions (Puncher and Wattmann)
- Emily Sun, Vociferate (Fremantle Press)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature
- Philip Bunting, Me, Microbes and I (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
- Peter Carnavas, My Brother Ben (University of Queensland Press)
- Christopher Cheng, Stephen Michael King, Bear and Rat (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Karen Foxlee, Dragon Skin (Allen & Unwin)
- Morris Gleitzman, Always (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Kirli Saunders, Bindi (Magabala Books)
Highly commended
- Maryam Master, Exit Through the Gift Shop (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Sandhya Parappukkaran, The Boy who Tried to Shrink his Name (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
- Shirley Purdie, Shirley Purdie: My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe (Magabala Books)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature
- Kathryn Barker, Waking Romeo (Allen & Unwin)
- Felicity Castagna, Girls in Boys’ Cars (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Leanne Hall, The Gaps (Text Publishing)
- Pip Harry, Are You There, Buddah? (Hachette Australia)
- Rebecca Lim, Tiger Daughter (Allen & Unwin)
- Rhiannon Wilde, Henry Hamlet’s Heart (University of Queensland Press)
Highly commended
- Malla Nunn, Sugar Town Queens (Allen & Unwin)
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
- Kodie Bedford, Cursed! (Belvoir Street Theatre) – my blogpost here
- James Elazzi, Queen Fatima (National Theatre of Parramatta/Australian Plays Transform)
- Eliaas Jamieson Brown, Green Park (Griffin Theatre Company)
- Finegan Kruckemeyer, Hibernation (State Theatre Company of South Australia/Currency Press)
- Kirsty Marillier, Orange Thrower (Griffin Theatre Company and National Theatre of Parramatta/Currency Press)
- Ian Michael, Chris Isaacs, York (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting
- Shaun Grant, NITRAM
- Alec Morgantiriki Onus, Ablaze
- Kelsey Munro, Bump Season 1 Episode 10, ‘Matrescence’
- Leah Purcell, The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson
Multicultural NSW Award
- Randa Abdel-Fattah, Coming of Age in the War on Terror (NewSouth)
- Safdar Ahmed, Still Alive (Twelve Panels Press)
- Eunice Andrada, TAKE CARE (Giramondo Publishing)
- Kodie Bedford, Cursed! (Belvoir Street Theatre)
- Amani Haydar, The Mother Wound (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Rebecca Lim, Tiger Daughter (Allen & Unwin)
Highly commended
- Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin, Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra (In Film) – my blog note here
- Krissy Kneen, The Three Burials of Lottie Kneen: Travels with My Grandmother’s Ashes (Text Publishing)
Indigenous Writers’ Prize
- Larissa Behrendt, After Story (University of Queensland Press)
- Lisa Fuller, Ghost Bird (University of Queensland Press)
- Anita Heiss, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray: River of Dreams (Simon and Schuster Australia)
- Terri Janke, True Tracks (NewSouth)
- Gary Lonesborough, The Boy From the Mish (Allen & Unwin)
- Alf Taylor, God, the Devil and Me (Magabala Books)
Highly commended
- Fiona Foley, Biting the Clouds (University of Queensland Press)
- Thomas Mayor, Dear Son (Hardie Grant Explore)
- Jasmine Seymour, Leanne Mulgo Watson, Cooee Mittigar (Magabala Books)
- Yorna (Donny) Woolagoodja, Yornadaiyn Woolagoodja (Magabala Books)
Thee’s no shortlist for the People’s Choice Award, the Book of the Year, or the possible surprise of the evening, the Special Award