The achievements of today’s leading Australian writers have been recognised with the announcement of the shortlists for the 2014 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
Twenty-four judges considered hundreds of entries across nine prize categories, with the winners to be announced on the evening of Monday 19 May.
“The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards promote national and international recognition of our dynamic literary community and the work of our talented writers,” said Minister George Souris MP, Minister for the Arts
“Now in their 34th year, the Awards continue to support and encourage great Australian writing, and demonstrate the value and importance of reading to the people of NSW.”
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
The Secret Lives of Men – Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan (Random House Australia)
The Railwayman’s Wife – Ashley Hay (Allen & Unwin)
Questions of Travel – Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
Game – Trevor Shearston (Allen & Unwin)
The Swan Book – Alexis Wright (Giramondo Publishing)
Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
The Night Guest – Fiona McFarlane (Penguin Group – Australia)
Holiday in Cambodia – Laura Jean McKay (Black Inc.)
The First Week – Margaret Merrilees (Wakefield Press)
Letters to the End of Love – Yvette Walker (University of Queensland Press)
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir – Kristina Olsson (University of Queensland Press)
Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia – David Hunt (Black Inc.)
On Warne – Gideon Haigh (Penguin Group – Australia)
Rendezvous with Destiny – Michael Fullilove (Penguin Group – Australia)
Stillways: A Memoir – Steve Bisley (HarperCollins Publishers)
Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler? – Peter Butt (New Holland)
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
The Mundiad – Justin Clemens (Hunter)
The Stone Garden: poems from Clare – Diane Fahey (Clouds of Magellan)
Boom – Liam Ferney (Grand Parade Poets)
Novelties – Fiona Hile (Hunter)
Ephemeral Waters – Kate Middleton (Giramondo Publishing)
Marionette: A biography of Miss Marion Davies – Jessica Wilkinson (Vagabond Press)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature
A Very Unusual Pursuit – Catherine Jinks (Allen & Unwin)
Refuge – Jackie French (HarperCollins Publishers)
Stay Well Soon – Penny Tangey (University of Queensland Press)
The Girl Who Brought Mischief – Katrina Nannestad (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Big Dry – Tony Davis (HarperCollins Publishers)
Jandamarra – Mark Greenwood and Terry Denton (Allen & Unwin)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature
Wildlife – Fiona Wood (Pan Macmillan)
My Life as an Alphabet – Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
Sultan’s Eyes – Kelly Gardiner (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Incredible Here and Now – Felicity Castagna (Giramondo Publishing)
Black Spring – Alison Croggon (Walker Books)
Zac and Mia – AJ Betts (Text Publishing)
Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting
A Moody Christmas – Separate Seats – Phil Lloyd & Trent O’Donnell (Jungleboys FTV Pty Ltd/ABC TV)
An Accidental Soldier – Blake Ayshford (Goalpost Pictures & Taylor Media/ABC TV)
Dance Academy – Not For Nothing – Samantha Strauss (Werner Film Productions/ABC3)
Devil’s Dust – Kris Mrksa (Fremantle Media/ABC TV)
Top Of The Lake – Jane Campion & Gerard Lee (See Saw Films/BBC UKTV)
The Rocket – Kim Mordaunt (Red Lamp Films)
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
Dreams in White – Duncan Graham (Griffin Theatre/Currency Press)
Medea – Anne-Louise Sarks and Kate Mulvany (after Euripides) (Belvoir)
Muff – Van Badham (The Bakehouse Theatre/five.point.one)
The Secret River – Andrew Bovell (Sydney Theatre Company)
Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW Award
Clear Brightness – Kim Cheng Boey (Puncher & Wattmann)
Marrying Italian: When Love is not enough – Vivien Achia (Hybrid Publishers)
Questions of Travel – Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
Refuge – Jackie French (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Flash of Recognition – Jane Lydon (NewSouth Press)
The Secret River – Andrew Bovell (Currency Press)
Administered by the State Library of NSW, the inaugural NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were presented in 1979 by Premier Neville Wran and were the first Premier’s literary awards to be offered in Australia.
Books nominated must have been first published between 1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013. For more information, visit: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/premiersliteraryawards
Image: Jeremy Sims, Daniel Henshall, and Nathaniel Dean in the Sydney Theatre Company production of The Secret River (2013)