1986 in Australian literature explained

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1986.

Events

• Elizabeth Jolley won the 1986 Miles Franklin Award for The Well
• The Melbourne Writers Festival is held for the first time

Major publications

Novels

• Margaret Barbalet — Blood in the Rain^[1]
• Janine Burke — Second Sight
• Elizabeth Jolley — The Well
• Rod Jones — Julia Paradise^[2]
• John Macgregor — Propinquity
• Christina Stead —
• Alan Wearne — The Nightmarkets
• Morris West — Cassidy
• Tim Winton — That Eye, the Sky
• Patrick White — Memoirs of Many in One

Crime and mystery

• Peter Corris
  • Deal Me Out^[3]
  • The Greenwich Apartments^[4]
• Tony Kenrick — China White^[5]

Science fiction and fantasy

• George Turner — "Shut the Door When You Go Out"^[6]
• Cherry Wilder — The Summer's King^[7]

Short Stories

• Janette Turner Hospital — Dislocations^[8]
• Joan London — Sister Ships and Other Stories
• Sally Morgan — "The Letter"^[9]
• Archie Weller — Going Home^[10]
• Tim Winton — "Swimming to Salvation"^[11]

Children's and young adult fiction

• Graeme Base — Animalia
• Hesba Fay Brinsmead — Someplace Beautiful^[12]
• Victor Kelleher — Taronga
• Doug MacLeod — Sister Madge's Book of Nuns^[13]
• Emily Rodda — Pigs Might Fly^[14]
• Gillian Rubinstein — Space Demons^[15]

Poetry

• Lily Brett — The Auschwitz Poems^[16]
• Robert Harris — The Cloud Passes Over^[17]
• Philip Hodgins — Blood and Bone^[18]
• Rhyll McMaster — Washing the Money: Poems with photographs^[19]
• Jan Owen — Boy with a Telescope^[20]
• John A. Scott — St. Clair: Three Narratives^[21]

Drama

• Michael Gow — Away

Non-fiction

• Gillian Bouras — A Foreign Wife^[22]
• Robert Hughes — The Fatal Shore
• Kylie Tennant — The Missing Heir^[23]

Awards and honours

• Geoffrey Serle, for "service to scholarship and literature, particularly in the field of Australian history"^[24]
• Nicholas Hasluck, for "service to literature"^[25]
• Dorothy Hewett, for "service to literature"^[26]
• Barbara Jefferis, for "service to literature"^[27]
• Grace Perry, for "service to Australian literature, particularly as editor of Poetry Australia"^[28]
• Russel Ward, for "service to literature, particularly in the field of Australian history"^[29]

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award^[30]	Not awarded
Patrick White Award^[31]	John Morrison

Literary awards

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award^[32]	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	Fremantle Press
ALS Gold Medal^[33]	Thea Astley	Beachmasters	Penguin Books
Colin Roderick Award^[34]	Fr Tom Boland	James Duhig	University of Queensland Press

Fiction awards

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[35]	Helen Garner	The Children's Bach	McPhee Gribble
The Age Book of the Year Award	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	Fremantle Press
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[36]	Robin Walton	Glace Fruits	Allen and Unwin
Miles Franklin Award^[37]	Elizabeth Jolley	The Well	Viking Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[38]	Helen Garner	Postcards from Surfers	McPhee Gribble
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards^[39]	Peter Carey	Illywhacker	University of Queensland Press

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Robert Gray	Selected Poems 1963–1983	Angus & Robertson
Anne Elder Award^[40]	Jan Owen	Boy with Telescope	Angus & Robertson
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry^[41]		Washing the Money : Poems with Photographs	Angus and Robertson
Mary Gilmore Award^[42]	Stephen J. Williams	A Crowd of Voices	Pariah Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Robert Gray	Selected Poems 1963-83	Angus & Robertson
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards	Rhyll McMaster	Washing the Money	Angus & Robertson
	John A. Scott	St. Clair	University of Queensland Press

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers^[43]	Thurley Fowler	The Green Wind	Rigby
	Picture Book^[44]	Terry Denton	Felix & Alexander
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Young People's Literature	James Aldridge	The True Story of Spit MacPhee	Viking/Penguin Books Australia

Drama

Award	Category	Author	Title
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Script	Peter Carey & Ray Lawrence	Bliss
	Play	Michael Gow	Away

Non-fiction

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	R. M. Gibbs	A History of Prince Alfred College	Peacock Publications
The Age Book of the Year Award	Garry Kinnane	George Johnston: A Biography	Nelson
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	George Munster	A Paper Prince	Viking
	Phillip Pepper with Tess De Araugo	The Kurnai of Gippsland, Volume One	Hyland House
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards	John Bryson	Evil Angels	Viking

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1986 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 23 August — Jack Heath, writer of fiction for children and adults^[45]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1986 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 2 March — Margaret Trist, novelist and short story writer (born 1914)^[46]
• 27 September — Olga Masters, writer, journalist, novelist and short story writer (born 1919)^[47]
• 10 November — Laurence Collinson, British and Australian playwright, actor, poet, journalist, and secondary school teacher (born 1925)^[48]

See also

• 1986 in Australia
• 1986 in literature
• 1986 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — Blood in the Rain by Margaret Barbalet. Austlit. 15 November 2023.
2. Web site: Austlit — Julia Paradise by Rod Jones . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
3. Web site: Austlit — Deal Me Out by Peter Corris . Austlit. 29 November 2023.
4. Web site: Austlit — The Greenwich Apartments by Peter Corris . Austlit. 29 November 2023.
5. Web site: Austlit — China White by Tony Kenrick . Austlit. 29 November 2023.
6. Web site: "Shut the Door When You Go Out" by George Turner. ISFDB. 26 February 2024.
7. Web site: Austlit — The Summer's King by Cherry Wilder . Austlit. 26 February 2024.
8. Web site: Austlit — Dislocations by Janette Turner Hospital. Austlit. 26 November 2023.
9. Web site: Austlit — "The Letter" by Sally Morgan . Austlit. 26 November 2023.
10. Web site: Austlit — Going Home by Archie Weller . Austlit. 26 November 2023.
11. Web site: Austlit — "Swimming to Salvation" by Tim Winton . Austlit. 26 November 2023.
12. Web site: Austlit — Someplace Beautiful by Hesba Fay Brinsmead . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
13. Web site: Austlit — Sister Madge's Book of Nuns By Doug MacLeod . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
14. Web site: Austlit — Pigs Might Fly by Jennifer Rowe . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
15. Web site: Austlit — Space Demons by Gillian Rubinstein . Austlit. 29 November 2023.
16. Web site: Austlit — The Auschwitz Poems by Lily Brett . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
17. Web site: Austlit — The Cloud Passes Over by Robert Harris . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
18. Web site: Austlit — Blood and Bone by Philip Hodgins . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
19. Web site: Austlit — Washing the Money: Poems with photographs by Rhyll Mcmaster . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
20. Web site: Austlit — Boy with a Telescope by Jan Owen . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
21. Web site: Austlit — St. Clair: Three Narratives by John A. Scott . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
22. Web site: Austlit — A Foreign Wife by Gillian Bouras . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
23. Web site: Austlit — The Missing Heir by Kylie Tennant . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
24. Web site: Dr Alan Geoffrey Serle. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191219023834/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/872561 . 19 December 2019 . 2019-12-19.
25. Web site: Nicholas Paul Hasluck. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191219023835/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869695 . 19 December 2019 . 2019-12-19.
26. Web site: Dorothy Coade Hewett. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190905141638/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870127 . 5 September 2019 . 2019-12-19.
27. Web site: Barbara Tarlton Jefferis (Mrs Hinde). honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194552/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870228 . 11 December 2019 . 2019-12-19.
28. Web site: Dr Grace Amelia Perry. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190418034601/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870271 . 18 April 2019 . 2019-12-19.
29. Web site: Professor Russell Braddock Ward. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194233/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869782 . 11 December 2019 . 2019-12-19.
30. Web site: Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award 1980-87. Austlit. 13 September 2023.
31. Web site: Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners . Austlit. 22 August 2023.
32. Web site: "Short Stories Top the List" . The Age, 3 December 1986, p11. 28 May 2024. .
33. Web site: ALS Gold Medal - Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 25 June 2023.
34. Web site: Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners . James Cook University. 25 June 2023.
35. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
36. Web site: Austlit — The Australian/Vogel National Literary Award 1986. Austlit. 15 November 2023.
37. News: Literary prize . . 61 . 18,862 . Australian Capital Territory, Australia . 26 May 1987 . 27 June 2023 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
38. Web site: Premier's prize giving a sober literary affair. Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 1986, p5. 3 May 2024. .
39. Web site: Winners of the 1986 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards . The Age, 4 October 1986, p13. 26 April 2024. .
40. Web site: Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1985-88 . Austlit. 9 February 2024.
41. Web site: Austlit — Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 1986 . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
42. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 8 February 2024.
43. Web site: Austlit — Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers 1986 . Austlit. 9 December 2023.
44. Web site: Austlit — Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book 1986 . Austlit. 28 November 2023.
45. Web site: Austlit — Jack Heath . Austlit. 15 November 2023.
46. Web site: Margaret Bethesda Trist (1914–1986) by Vivienne Muller . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 15 November 2023.
47. Web site: Olga Masters (1919-1986) . 2023-09-19 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
48. Web site: Laurence Henry (Laurie) Collinson (1925–1986) by William Hatherell . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 15 November 2023.