The shortlists for the 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced today. Congratulations to all the shortlisted entries and good luck! It’s nice to see a few books on there that we have featured here on the blog. Click on the highlighted titles below to read our reviews.
NSW Premier Mike Baird welcomed the announcement of the shortlists: “The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have a proud history of recognising and encouraging our nation’s community of authors, translators, and writers of screen, stage and radio.”
Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Tony Grant said: “The awards celebrate the cultural significance of our literary talent and this year’s shortlists include works by established authors as well as new writers who will strengthen Australian writing now and into the future.”
Hundreds of entries were considered by twenty four judges across the nice prize categories. The winner is announced on Monday 18th May 2015, and I can’t wait to see who wins.
I have to say – lots of extra good luck to you K.A Barker for your debut Young Adult novel The Book of Days! I loved it. Read my review HERE. And, congratulations to all – what an amazing achievement as a writer to be recognised in one of Australia’s most prestigious awards. Beginning in 1979 by Premier Neville Wran, they were the first literary awards to be offered in Australia.
Last year’s literary winners included Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser, The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane, and Boy, Lost by Kristina Olsson.
2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards: Shortlists
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- Only the Animals, Ceridwen Dovey (Penguin Australia)
- In Certain Circles, Elizabeth Harrower (Text Publishing)
- Golden Boys, Sonya Hartnett (Penguin Australia)
- The Snow Kimono, Mark Henshaw (Text Publishing)
- The Golden Age, Joan London (Random House Australia)
- A Million Windows, Gerald Murnane (Giramondo Publishing)
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- The Tribe, Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Giramondo Publishing)
- Foreign Soil, Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette Australia)
- The Strays, Emily Bitto (Affirm Press)
- An Elegant Young Man, Luke Carman (Giramondo Publishing)
- Here Come the Dogs, Omar Musa (Penguin Australia)
- Heat and Light, Ellen van Neerven (University of Queensland Press)
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non‐fiction
- The Europeans in Australia, Alan Atkinson (NewSouth)
- Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799‐1815, Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury)
- This House of Grief, Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
- The Reef: A Passionate History, Iain McCalman (Penguin Books Australia)
- In My Mother’s Hands, Biff Ward (Allen & Unwin)
- The Bush, Don Watson (Penguin Books Australia)
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
- A Vicious Example, Michael Aiken (Grand Parade)
- Devadetta, Judith Beveridge (Giramondo)
- Kin, Anne Elvey (Five Islands Press)
- Wild, Libby Hart (Pitt Street Poetry)
- Unbelievers, or The Moor, John Mateer (Giramondo)
- Earth Hour, David Malouf (University of Queensland Press)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature
- The First Voyage, Allan Baillie (Puffin Books)
- Rivertime, Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin)
- Figgy in the World, Tamsin Janu (Omnibus/Scholastic Australia)
- The Duck and the Darklings, Glenda Millard & Stephen Michael King (Allen & Unwin)
- Crossing, Catherine Norton (Omnibus/Scholastic Australia)
- The Adventures of Sir Roderick the Not‐Very Brave, James O’Loghlin (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature
- The Book of Days, K.A. Barker (Pan Macmillan Australian)
- The Road to Gundagai, Jackie French (HarperCollins Publishers)
- Are You Seeing Me? Darren Groth (Random House Australia)
- Razorhurst, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
- The Cracks in the Kingdom, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- Cracked, Clare Strahan (Allen & Unwin)
Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting
- The Code Episode 1, Shelley Birse (Playmaker Media)
- Upper Middle Bogan Season 1, Episode 8: The Nationals, Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope (Gristmill)
- The Babadook, Jennifer Kent (Causeway)
- Fell, Natasha Pincus Story by Kasimir Burgess and Natasha Pincus. (Felix Media)
- Please Like Me Season 2, Episode 7: Scroggin, Josh Thomas Once My Mother, Sophia Turkiewicz (Change Focus Media)
- Once My Mother, Sophie Turkiewicz (Change Focus Media)
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
- Brothers Wreck, Jada Alberts (Currency Press)
- The Sublime, Brendan Cowell (Melbourne Theatre Company)
- Jasper Jones, Kate Mulvany (adapted from a novel by Craig Silvey) (Barking Gecko Theatre Company)
- The Trouble with Harry, Lachlan Philpott (TheatreofplucK Belfast/MKA New Writing Theatre)
- Kryptonite, Sue Smith (The Sydney Theatre Company)
- Black Diggers, Tom Wright (Queensland Theatre Company)
The NSW Premier’s Prize for Translation
- James Mark Quentin Davies
- Meredith McKinney
- Brian Nelson
- Royall Tyler
Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize (NEW PRIZE)
- Ouyang Yu
- Lilit Zekulin
Thwaites 2015 Community Relations Commission for Multicultural NSW
- Jump for Jordan, Donna Abela (Griffin Theatre Company)
- Black and Proud: The story of an AFL photo, Matthew Klugman and Gary Osmond (NewSouth Publishing)
- Refugees, Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong (UNSW Press)
- I, Migrant: A Comedian’s Journey from Karachi to the Outback, Sami Shah (Allen & Unwin)
- The Tainted Trial of Farah Jama, Julie Szego (Wild Dingo Press)
- Once My Mother, Sophie Turkiewicz (Change Focus Media)
For more information please see the State Library of NSW.
Media Release: 24th April 2015, State Library of NSW
21 replies to “Shortlists announced for 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards”
I notice a couple of those books were also shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards – reminds me I really should check them out. Unfortunately lists like these make me wish I didn’t have to go to work and could just stay home reading all day!
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