Australian Indie Award 2013

From Australian Independent Bookseller accessed 6/19/13

The Shortlist for the 2013 Australian Independent Bookseller Awards has been announced. Voted on by the independent booksellers of Australia, The Indie Awards have a proud tradition of picking the best of the best of Australian writing. All of the previous winners, (Breath by Tim Winton, Jasper Jones by Craig Sylvie, The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do, All That I Am by Anna Funder) have gone on to win other major literary awards.

The sixteen shortlisted books will be vying for the top spot as the Indie ‘Book of the Year’ for 2013. Panels of expert judges (all indie booksellers and avid readers) choose winners from four book categories – Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s. Independent booksellers from around the country will then vote to select their favourite book for the year. The category winners and the overall ‘Book of the Year’ winner will be announced on Monday, 25 March 2013.

The shortlisted books for the Indie Awards 2013 are:

 FICTION SHORTLIST:

• Nine Days by Toni Jordan (Text) -- Winner! 
• Lost Voices by Christopher Koch (HarperCollins) 
• Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin) 
• The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska (Random House)

NON-FICTION SHORTLIST:

• Lake Eyre by Paul Lockyer (HarperCollins) 
• QF32 by Richard de Crespigny (Macmillan) -- Winner!
• Sandakan by Paul Ham (Random House) 
• The Essential Leunig: Cartoons from a Winding Path by Michael Leunig (Penguin) 

DEBUT FICTION SHORTLIST:

• The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (Random House) -- Winner! 
• Eleven Seasons by Paul D. Carter (Allen & Unwin) 
• The Cartographer by Peter Twohig (HarperCollins) 
• Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell (Hachette Little Brown) 

CHILDREN’S SHORTLIST:

• The Convent by Maureen McCarthy (Allen & Uwnin) 
• The 26-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (Macmillan) 
• Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin) -- Winner! 
• Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle (Allen & Unwin)

Miles Franklin Literary Award 1957-2013

Australia’s most prestigious literary award was established through the will of the writer Stella Miles Franklin, best known for her novel My Brilliant Career. The bequest came as a surprise to the literary world as Franklin had told nobody – save her trustees – of her plans.
List below copied from wikipedia, accessed on 6/19/13:

Year	Author	Title	Publisher
2013	Michelle de Kretser	Questions of Travel	Allen & Unwin
2012	Anna Funder	All That I Am	Hamish Hamilton
2011	Kim Scott	That Deadman Dance	Picador
2010	Peter Temple	Truth	Text Publishing
2009	Tim Winton	Breath	Hamish Hamilton
2008	Steven Carroll	The Time We Have Taken	HarperCollins Publishers
2007	Alexis Wright	Carpentaria	Giramondo
2006	Roger McDonald	The Ballad of Desmond Kale	Vintage
2005	Andrew McGahan	The White Earth	Allen & Unwin
2004	Shirley Hazzard	The Great Fire	Farrar Straus and Giroux
2003	Alex Miller	Journey to the Stone Country	Allen & Unwin
2002	Tim Winton	Dirt Music	Picador
2001	Frank Moorhouse	Dark Palace	Knopf
2000	Thea Astley Kim Scott	Drylands Benang	Penguin Books Fremantle Press
1999	Murray Bail	Eucalyptus	Random House
1998	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press
1997	David Foster	The Glade within the Grove	Vintage
1996	Christopher Koch	Highways to a War	Heinemann
1995	Helen Demidenko	The Hand That Signed the Paper	Allen & Unwin
1994	Rodney Hall	The Grisly Wife	Macmillan
1993	Alex Miller	The Ancestor Game	Penguin Books
1992	Tim Winton	Cloudstreet	Penguin Books
1991	David Malouf	The Great World	Chatto & Windus
1990	Tom Flood	Oceana Fine	Allen & Unwin
1989	Peter Carey	Oscar and Lucinda	University of Queensland Press
1988	No award		Date changed from year of publication to year of announcement.
1987	Glenda Adams	Dancing on Coral	Viking Press
1986	Elizabeth Jolley	The Well	Viking Press
1985	Christopher Koch	The Doubleman	Chatto & Windus
1984	Tim Winton	Shallows	Allen & Unwin
1983	No award
1982	Rodney Hall	Just Relations	Penguin Books
1981	Peter Carey	Bliss	Faber and Faber
1980	Jessica Anderson	The Impersonators	Macmillan
1979	David Ireland	A Woman of the Future	Penguin Books
1978	Jessica Anderson	Tirra Lirra By the River	Macmillan
1977	Ruth Park	Swords and Crowns and Rings	Nelson Books
1976	David Ireland	The Glass Canoe	Macmillan
1975	Xavier Herbert	Poor Fellow My Country	Fontana Books
1974	Ronald McKie	The Mango Tree	Collins
1973	No award
1972	Thea Astley	The Acolyte	Angus and Robertson
1971	David Ireland	The Unknown Industrial Prisoner	Angus and Robertson
1970	Dal Stivens	A Horse of Air	Angus and Robertson
1969	George Johnston	Clean Straw for Nothing	Collins
1968	Thomas Keneally	Three Cheers for the Paraclete	Angus and Robertson
1967	Thomas Keneally	Bring Larks and Heroes	Cassell
1966	Peter Mathers	Trap	Cassell
1965	Thea Astley	The Slow Natives	Angus and Robertson
1964	George Johnston	My Brother Jack	Collins
1963	Sumner Locke Elliott	Careful, He Might Hear You	Harper and Row
1962	Thea Astley George Turner	The Well Dressed Explorer The Cupboard Under the Stairs	Angus & Robertson Cassell
1961	Patrick White	Riders in the Chariot	Eyre & Spottiswoode
1960	Elizabeth O'Conner	The Irishman	Angus and Robertson
1959	Vance Palmer	The Big Fellow	Angus and Robertson
1958	Randolph Stow	To the Islands	Penguin Books
1957	Patrick White	Voss	Eyre & Spottiswoode

The 2010 Miles Franklin longlist:
Lovesong by Alex Miller -- shortlist
The Bath Fugues by Brian Castro  -- shortlist
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey -- shortlist
Sons of the Rumour by David Foster 
The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster  -- shortlist
Siddon Rock by Glenda Guest
Boy on a Wire by Jon Doust 
Figurehead by Patrick Allington
Patrick and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Truth by Peter Temple -- Winner!, sequel to Broken Shore
Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett  -- shortlist
The People's Train by Thomas Keneally

The shortlist for the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award, one of Australia's most important literary prizes and worth $42,000 (about US$30,000), is:

Breath: A Novel by Tim Winton -- Winner!

Ice by Louis Nowra
The Pages by Murray Bail (to be published here by Vintage September 22)
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
Wanting by Richard Flanagan (to be published here by Atlantic Monthly May 12)

Bookseller and Publisher Online pointed out that Winton has won the Miles Franklin award three times already and Bail has won once. The winner will be announced June 18.

Female authors dominate this year's longlist for the $60,000 (about US$62,728) Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's prestigious prize honoring a novel "of the highest literary merit and which must present Australian life in any of its phases." The shortlist will be announced April 30 and the winner named June 19. The 2013 Miles Franklin longlisted titles are:

Floundering by Romy Ash
Lola Bensky by Lily Brett
Street to Street by Brian Castro 
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser -- Winner!
The Beloved by Annah Faulkner 
The Daughters of Mars by Tom Keneally
The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman 
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany
Red Dirt Talking by Jacqueline Wright

CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature (2002-2010)

From Waverley Council accessed 12/21/10

Award previously called Westfield Waverley Library Awards for Literature (2002-07)

The Award was established in 2002, with the support of Westfield Bondi Junction as its major sponsor, and the Friends of Waverley Library (FOWL). Recognising excellence in research in the creation of literary works, the Award has been won by some of our finest writers, including Gideon Haigh, Helen Garner, Geoffrey Blainey, Christopher Koch and Robert Gray.

Following Westfield's withdrawal of sponsorship in 2008, Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), agreed to provide $80000 over three years to ensure the continuation of the Award whilst Council looks for an alternative corporate sponsor. Now know as 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature, the Award offers a highly competitive main prize of $20,000. In addition, each of the 6 finalists receive the Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize, named after one of Australia's most distinguished playwrights who lived in Waverley, and contributed significantly to the Award's success, prior to his untimely death in 2006.

2010 Winner
Andrew Tink. William Charles Wentworth: Australia's greatest native son

2010 Finalists
Vital Signs: Stories from Intensive Care, Ken Hillman, UNSW Press
ƒBreaking News: The Golden Age of Graham Perkin, Ben Hills, Scribe
ƒShoes for the Moscow Circus, Leta Keens, Murdoch Books
ƒCapital, by Kristin Otto, Text Publishing
ƒThe March of the Patriots, Paul Kelly, University of Melbourne Press

2009 Winner
Robert Gray The Land I Came Through Last

2009 Finalists
Greg de Moore Tom Will
David Kilcullen The Accidental Guerrilla
Marina Larsson Shattered Anzacs
David Levell Tour to Hell
John McDonald Art of Australia

2010 Winner
Christopher Koch The Memory Room

2008 Finalists
Waleed Aly People Like Us
Paul Ham Vietnam: The Australian War
Catherine Jinks The Dark Mountain
Kathy Marks Pitcairn: Paradise Lost
Babette Smith Australia’s Birthstain

2007
Shortlist:
John Bailey Mr Stuart’s Track [Macmillan]
Sarah Benjamin A Castle in Tuscany [Pier 9/Murdoch]
Les Carlyon The Great War [Macmillian]
David Hill The Forgotten Children [Random House]
Barry Jones A Thinking Reed [Allen & Unwin]
Alice Pung Unpolished Gem [Black Inc]

Winner:
John Bailey Mr Stuart’s Track [Macmillan]

2006
Shortlist:
Gideon Haigh Asbestos House [Scribe Publications]
Malcolm Knox Secrets of the Jury Room [Random House]
Anne Manne Motherhood [Allen & Unwin]
Meg Stewart Margaret Olley [Random House]
Gerald Stone 1932 [Pan Macmillan]
Brenda Walker The Wing of Night [Penguin/ Viking]

Winner:
Gideon Haigh Asbestos House [Scribe Publications]

2005
Shortlist:
Robert Dessaix Twighlight of Love [Picador/Pan Macmillan]
Tim Flannery Country [Text Publishing]
Helen Garner Joe Cinque’s Consolation [Picador/Pan Macmillan]
Paul Ham Kokoda [HarperCollins]
Susan Johnson The Broken Book [Allen & Unwin]
Alasdair McGregor Frank Hurley [Penguin/Viking]

Winner:
Helen Garner Joe Cinque’s Consolation [Picador/Pan Macmillan]

2004
Shortlist:
Inga Glendinnen Dancing with Strangers [Text Publishing]
Chester Porter Walking on Water: A Life in the Law [Random House]
James Woodford The Dog Fence [Text Publishing]
Geoffrey Blainey Black Kettle and Full Moon [Penguin Group]
Gabrielle Lord Lethal Factor [Hodder Headline]
Li Cunxin Mao's Last Dancer [Penguin Group]

Winner:
Geoffrey Blainey Black Kettle and Full Moon [Penguin Group]

2003
Shortlist:
Michelle Arrow Upstaged [Currency Press]
Barry Hill Broken Song [Knopf]
David Metzenthen Boys of Blood and Bone [Penguin]
Gaby Naher The Truth About My Fathers [Random House]
Nicolas Rothwell Wings of the Kite-Hawk [Picador]
Margaret Simons Meeting of the Waters [Hodder]

Winner:
Barry Hill Broken Song [Knopf]

2002
Shortlist:
Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders [Fourth Estate]
Gideon Haigh The Big Ship [Text Publishing]
Ian Hancock John Gorton-He Did it His Way [Hodder Headline]
Tim Low The New Nature [Viking]
Brenda Niall The Boyds [MU Press]
Shirley Walker Roundabout at Bangalow [UQ Press]

Winner:
Tim Low The New Nature

Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (1999-2010)

From Wikipedia accessed 11/15/10

The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225,000 in prizemoney over 14 categories. One of Australia's richest prizes, top categories offer up to $25,000 for 1st prize.

Fiction Book Award

2010 Summertime, J.M. Coetzee
2009 Wanting by Richard Flanagan
2008 The Spare Room by Helen Garner
2007 Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
2006 The Garden Book by Brian Castro
2005 The Turning by Tim Winton
2004 Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
2003 Due Preparations For The Plague by Janette Turner Hospital
2002 The Volcano by Venero Armanno
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
2000 Drylands by Thea Astley
1999 Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse by Les Murray

Emerging Queensland Author - Manuscript Award

2010 RPM, Noel Mengel
2009 No Award. The prize was shared between four shortlisted authors: Inga Simpson, Rachel Claire, Chris Somerville and Pamela Douglas. Extracts from the shortlisted works were published in the 09:05 issue of Perilous Adventures: The Writer's Magazine.
2008 Omega Park by Amy Vought Barker
2007 Life in the Bus Lane by Ian Commins
2006 The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee
2005 The Long Road of the Junkmailer by Patrick Holland
2004 An Accidental Terrorist by Steven Lang
2003 The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies by Kimberley Starr
2002 The Lambing Flat by Nerida Newton
2001 Mama Kuma: One Woman, Two Cultures by Deborah Carlyon
2000 The Bone Flute by Nike Bourke
1999 Shoelaces by Jillian Watkinson

Unpublished Indigenous Writer - The David Unaipon Award

2010 Purple Threads, Jeanine Leane
2009 The Boundary by Nicole Watson
2008 Every Secret Thing by Marie Munkara
2007 Skin Painting by Elizabeth Eileen Hodgson
2006 Me, Antman and Fleabag by Gayle Kennedy
2005 Anonymous Premonition by Yvette Holt
2004 Dust on Waterglass by Tara June Winch
2003 Whispers of This Wik Woman by Fiona Doyle
2002 Home by Larissa Behrendt
2001 The Mish by Robert Lowe
2000 Bitin’ Back by Vivienne Cleven
1999 Of Muse, Meandering and Midnight by Samuel Wagan Watson
1998 Is That You Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty
1997 When Darkness Falls by John Bodey
1996 Black Angels Red Blood by Steven McCarthy
1995 Warrigal's Way by Warrigal Anderson
1994 The Sausage Tree by Valda Gee and Rosalie Medcraft
1993 Bridge of Triangles by John Muk Muk Burke
1992 Sweet Water, Stolen Land by Philip McLaren
1991 Broken Dreams by Bill Dodd
1990 Caprice: A Stockman's Daughter by Doris Pilkington Garimara
1989 Holocaust Island by Graeme Dixon

Non-Fiction Book Award

2010 The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir, Mark Tredinnick
2009 The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island by Chloe Hooper
2008 Muck by Craig Sherborne
2007 Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica by Professor Tom Griffiths
2006 Packer's Lunch by Neil Chenoweth
2005 Papunya - A Place Made After the Story by Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon
2004 A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb
2003 Meeting of the Waters by Margaret Simons
2002 The Boyds: A Family Biography by Dr Brenda Niall
2001 A Fine and Private Place by Brian Matthews

History Book Award - Faculty of Arts, University of Queensland Award

2010 Sydney Harbour: A history, Ian Hoskins
2009 Stella Miles Franklin by Jill Roe
2008 Drawing the Global Colour Line by Professor Marilyn Lake and Professor Henry Reynolds
2007 Iron Kingdom by Christopher Clark
2006 Arthur Tange: The Last of the Mandarins by Dr Peter Edwards
2005 The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African History Through Songs, Sermons and Speech by Shane White and Graham White
2004 Dancing with Strangers by Inga Clendinnen
2003 Mussolini by Professor Richard Bosworth
2002 Gallipoli by Les Carlyon
2001 The Colonial Earth by Tim Bonyhady
2000 John Curtin: A Life by David Day
1999 The Sky Travellers by Bill Gammage

Children's Book Award - Mary Ryan's Award

2009 Little Blue by Gaye Chapman
2008 The Peasant Prince by Li Cunxin and Anne Spudvilas
2007 Layla Queen of Hearts by Glenda Millard
2006 The Slightly Bruised Glory of Cedar B. Hartley (who can't help flying high and falling in deep) by Martine Murray
2005 Camel Rider by Prue Mason
2004 Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson
2003 Rain May and Captain Daniel by Catherine Bateson
2002 Blat Magic by Michael Stephens
2001 Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks
2000 The Family Tree by Jane Godwin
1999 Unseen by Paul Jennings

Young Adult Book Award

2010 Toppling, Sally Murphy
2009 A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard
2008 Requiem for a Beast by Matt Ottley
2007 One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
2006 The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky
2005 Secret Scribbled Notebooks by Joanne Horniman
2004 How to Make a Bird by Martine Murray
2003 Boys of Blood and Bone by David Metzenthen
2002 When Dogs Cry by Markus Zusak
[edit]Science Writers - Department of State Development, Trade and Innovation Award

2010 Catching Cancer, Sonya Pemberton
2009 Pasteur's Gambit: Louis Pasteur, The Australasian Rabbit Plague and a Ten Million Dollar Prize by Stephen Dando-Collins
2008 Why is Uranus Upside Down? (and other Questions about the Universe) by Professor Fred Watson
2007 Crude by Dr Richard Smith
2006 Good Health in the 21st Century by Dr Carole Hungerford
2005 Stem Cells by Elizabeth Finkel
2004 Genius of Junk by Sonya Pemberton

Poetry Collection - Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award

2010 Apocrypha, Peter Boyle
2009 The Striped World by Emma Jones
2008 Typewriter Music by David Malouf
2007 The Passenger by Dr Laurie Duggan
2006 The New Arcadia by Professor John Kinsella
2005 The Ship by Sarah Day
2004 Wolf Notes by Judith Beveridge

Australian Short Story Collection - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award

2010 Little White Slips, Karen Hitchcock
2009 The Boat by Nam Le
2008 Someone Else by John Hughes
2007 Every Move You Make by David Malouf
2006 A Funny thing Happened at 27 000 Feet by Craig Cormick
2005 Vincenzo's Garden by John Clancy
2004 Mahjar by Eva Sallis

Literary Work Advancing Public Debate - the Harry Williams Award

2010 Requiem for a Species: Why we resist the truth about climate change, Clive Hamilton
2009 Code of Silence by Sarah Ferguson
2008 In My Shoes by Quentin McDermott and Steve Taylor
2007 Jonestown by Chris Masters
2006 Asbestos House by Gideon Haigh
2005 Sickness in the System by Hedley Thomas
2004 The History Wars by Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark
2003 Dark Victory by David Marr and Marian Wilkinson
2002 In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right by Robert Manne and Reconciliation: A Journey by Michael Gordon
2001 Borderline: Australia's Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers by Peter Mares and Dossier Inside the ABC by David Fagan and Dossier Team
2000 Why Weren't We Told by Henry Reynolds
1999 The Moment the Laughter Died by Tony Koch

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)