I was excited to hear about the shortlists for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards! Its been a long wait – the past few years have seen the shortlists announced in May-June with winners announced in July-August, but finally here it is! Congratulations to all nominated.

As announced yesterday by the Minister for Arts.

‘The 2014 shortlists feature some of Australia’s most significant and recognised writers, as well as gifted debut authors across all six award categories: fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult fiction and children’s fiction. The shortlists span many genres, styles and subjects, reflecting on contemporary Australian life, significant moments in Australian and world history as well as gripping readers with fictional stories that captivate young and old readers alike.’


Below are the shortlists for the children’s and young adult books – for the full list please click HERE. (I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see Man Booker Prize Winner Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North on the shortlist – what a year he has had!)

The children’s and young adult shortlist feature some amazing books. Many of them have been nominated several times (NSW, Victorian & WA Premier’s Literary Awards, the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Readings Prize, Aurealis Awards and more) and some are already winners. I’ve read five of the shortlisted books below, but only had time to review three of them – and have three other titles in my ‘to be read’ pile which is slowly growing into a little book mountain (although some are e-books and are in an imaginary book mountain). If only I had more time!

The books feature themes about death and grief and overcoming adversity, growing up, family, divorce, bullying, first love, belonging and home, summer and lessons learned. There’s gothic fairytale, lullabies, adventure, mystery and bravery in these novels and picture books. Read them!

Click on the titles below to read my reviews of some of the shortlists – they are all wonderful books. Read all of my reviews HERE.


2014 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Shortlists

Click on the book cover images for a link for a Goodreads synopsis.

Young Adult Fiction

Felicity Castagna

Pureheart

Girl Defective

Life in Outer Space

Will Kostakis

 

 

 

 

 

Children’s Fiction

silverbuttons

Julie Hunt

MyLifeAsAnAlphabet

KissedByTheMoon

RulesOfSummer

 

 

 

 

Christmas is coming people! As well as these nominated books have a look through these blog posts for some other great book ideas for teenagers and children.


 

Established in 2008, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards are Australia’s richest literary prize with a total prize pool of $600,000 to winners and shortlisted authors across the six categories.

These awards are testament to the strength and talent of Australia’s writers.

Winners will be announced before the end of the year.

For more information about the 2014 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – please click HERE

 

52 replies to “2014 Prime Minister's Literary Awards Shortlists”

  1. So glad to see Felicity Castagan up for the awards! Really loved The Incredible Here and Now!

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