Prime Minister's Literary Awards (2008-2010)

From Australian Government, Arts and Culture accessed 7/19/10

2010 Shortlist:
Children's fiction
* Cicada Summer by Kate Constable
* The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrator Andrew Joyner
* Just Macbeth by Andy Griffiths and illustrator Terry Denton
* Mr Chicken goes to Paris by Leigh Hobbs
* Running with the Horses by Alison Lester
* Star Jumps by Lorraine Marwood --Winner!
* Mannie and the Long Brave Day by Martine Murray and illustrator Sally Rippin
* Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children by Jen Storer
* Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild and illustrator Freya Blackwood

Fiction
* Summertime by J. M. Coetzee
* The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster
* The Lakewoman by Alan Gould
* Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
* Ransom by David Malouf --Winner!
* Lovesong by Alex Miller
* As the Earth turns Silver by Alison Wong

Non-fiction
The Water Dreamers: The Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent by Michael Cathcart
Strange Places: A Memoir of Mental Illness by Will Elliott
The Colony: A History of Early Sydney by Grace Karskens --Winner!
The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane
The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir by Mark Tredinnick
The Ghost at the Wedding by Shirley Walker

Young adult fiction
* Stolen by Lucy Christopher
* The Winds of Heaven by Judith Clarke
* Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God by Bill Condon --Winner!
* The Museum of Mary Child by Cassandra Golds
* Swerve by Phillip Gwynne
* Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen
* Beatle meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams



The Prime Minister's Literary Awards celebrate the contribution of Australian literature to the nation's cultural and intellectual life. The awards, held annually, recognise literature's importance to our national identity, community and economy. A tax free prize of $100,000 is awarded to the works judged to be of the highest literary merit in each of two categories: fiction and non-fiction.

The 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Award winners were named by Peter Garrett, Australia's Minister for the Arts. Nam Le won the fiction prize for his short story collection, The Boat, which the judging panel praised for "the daring scope and excellence of its execution, the generous breadth of its emotional and social traverse and the excitement generated by every story."

The nonfiction award was shared by two books, House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann by Evelyn Juers and Drawing the Global Colour Line by Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds. The nonfiction judges lauded both books for "great intellectual authority and international research."

2009 Shortlist:
Non-Fiction
* Van Diemen's Land - James Boyce (Black Inc.)
* Doing Life: A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley - Brian Dibble (UWA Press)
* Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History - Jenny Hocking
* The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island - Chloe Hooper (Penguin Books)
* House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann - Evelyn Juers --co-winner!
* Drawing the Global Colour Line - Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds --co-winner!
* The Henson Case - David Marr (Text Publishing)
* American Journeys - Don Watson (Random House)

Fiction
* The Pages - Murray Bail (Text Publishing)
* People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks (Harper Collins)
* Wanting - Richard Flanagan (Random House)
* Everything I Knew - Peter Goldsworthy (Penguin Books)
* One Foot Wrong - Sofie Laguna (Allen and Unwin)
* The Boat - Nam Le -- Winner!
* The Good Parents - Joan London (Random House)

2008 Prime Minister Literary Awards shortlist

The Minister for the Arts has announced the short list for the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
Short list: Fiction

The 91 entries in the fiction category of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards included a wide range of contemporary Australian fiction.

The seven short-listed fiction books include works in prose, a compilation of short stories and one work in verse. Among the short list are writers whose distinguished careers have spanned decades as well as debut authors whose careers are just beginning.

* Burning In Mireille Juchau (Giramondo)
* El Dorado Dorothy Porter (Picador)
* Jamaica Malcolm Knox (Allen and Unwin)
* Sorry Gail Jones (Vintage)
* The Complete Stories David Malouf (Knopf)
* The Widow and Her Hero Tom Keneally (Doubleday)
* The Zookeeper's War Steven Conte (Fourth Estate) -- winner!

Short list: Non-fiction

A total of 103 books, traversing topics from politics, art, philosophy and architecture were entered in the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards non-fiction category.

The judges selected the seven short-listed books because of their originality, rich detail and clarity of writing. Included in the short list are histories born from meticulous research, engaging accounts of survival and moving stories that resonate long after the book has been closed.

* A History of Queensland Raymond Evans (Cambridge University Press)
* Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time Clive James (Picador)
* My Life as a Traitor Zarah Ghahramani with Robert Hillman (Scribe)
* Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769–1799 Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury)
* Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers Philip Jones (Wakefield Press) -- Winner!
* Shakespeare's Wife Germaine Greer (Bloomsbury)
* Vietnam: The Australian War Paul Ham (HarperCollins)