1992 in Australian literature explained

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1992.

Events

• Tim Winton won the Miles Franklin Award for Cloudstreet

Major publications

Novels

• Thea Astley – Vanishing Points
• Brian Castro – After China
• Helen Garner – Cosmo Cosmolino
• Peter Goldsworthy – Honk If You Are Jesus^[1]
• Marion Halligan – Lovers' Knots
• Janette Turner Hospital – The Last Magician^[2]
• Thomas Keneally – Woman of the Inner Sea
• Roger McDonald – Shearers' Motel^[3]
• Andrew McGahan – Praise
• Alex Miller – The Ancestor Game

Children's and young adult fiction

• Pamela Allen – Belinda
• Brian Caswell – A Cage of Butterflies
• Garry Disher – The Bamboo Flute
• Anna Fienberg – Ariel, Zed and the Secret of Life^[4]
• Joanne Horniman – Sand Monkeys
• Victor Kelleher – Del-Del
• Melina Marchetta – Looking for Alibrandi

Crime and mystery

• Peter Corris
  • Beware of the Dog^[5]
  • Browning, P.I.^[6]
  • The Japanese Job^[7]
  • Set Up^[8]
• Marele Day – The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado^[9]
• Garry Disher – Paydirt^[10]
• Kerry Greenwood – Death at Victoria Dock
• Gabrielle Lord – Whipping Boy^[11]
• Jan McKemmish – Only Lawyers Dancing^[12]

Science fiction and fantasy

• Terry Dowling – Blue Tyson^[13]
• Greg Egan
  • "The Hundred Light-Year Diary"
  • Quarantine
• Sean McMullen – Call to the Edge (short stories)^[14]

Poetry

• Beatriz Copello – Women, Souls And Shadows^[15]
• Robert Harris – Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems^[16]
• A. D. Hope – Selected Poems^[17]
• Jill Jones – The Mask and the Jagged Star^[18]
• Les Murray – Translations from the Natural World^[19]
• Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems^[20]
• John Tranter — The Floor of Heaven^[21]

Drama

• Louis Nowra
  • Così
  • Summer of the Aliens

Non-fiction

• Robert Adamson – Wards of the State^[22]
• Stephanie Dowrick – Intimacy and Solitude^[23]
• Sara Henderson – From Strength to Strength: An Autobiography^[24]
• A. D. Hope – Chance Encounters^[25]
• Ruth Park – A Fence Around the Cuckoo^[26]
• Donna Williams – Nobody Nowhere

Awards and honours

• Thea Astley for "service to Australian literature"^[27]
• Jack Pollard for "service to sport and sporting history"^[28]

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award^[29]	R. A. Simpson Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Patrick White Award^[30]	Peter Cowan

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award^[31]	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	Heinemann
ALS Gold Medal^[32]	Rodney Hall	The Second Bridegroom	McPhee Gribble
Colin Roderick Award^[33]	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo	Viking

Fiction

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[34]		The Great World	Chatto & Windus
The Age Book of the Year Award	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	Heinemann
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[35]	Fotini Epanomitis	The Mule's Foal	Allen & Unwin
Miles Franklin Award^[36]	Tim Winton	Cloudstreet	Penguin Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[37]	Simon Leys	The Death of Napoleon	Allen & Unwin
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards^[38]	Brian Castro	Double-Wolf	Allen & Unwin

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Vincent Buckley	Last Poems	McPhee Gribble
Anne Elder Award^[39]	Nicolette Stasko	Abundance	Angus & Robertson
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry^[40]	Kevin Hart	Dog Fox Field: Poems	Golvan Arts
	Gary Catalano	The Empire of Grass : Twenty-Eight Poems : 1983-1989	University of Queensland Press
Mary Gilmore Award^[41]	Alison Croggon	This is the Stone	Penguin

Non-fiction

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	David Marr	Patrick White – A Life	Random House Australia
The Age Book of the Year Award	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo	Viking

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1992 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 28 January — Dora Birtles, novelist, short-story writer, poet and travel writer (born 1903)
• 8 February — Roland Robinson, poet, writer and collector of Australian Aboriginal myths (born 1912)^[42]
• 24 May — Beatrice Davis, Australia's first full-time book editor (born 1909)^[43]
• 19 June — Jas H. Duke, performance poet (born 1939)^[44]
• 22 October — Peter Pinney, novelist and travel writer (born 1922)^[45]
• 6 December — Mary Finnin, artist, art teacher and poet (born 1906)^[46]
• 21 December — Paul White, missionary, evangelist, radio program host and author of the Jungle Doctor Series (born 1910)^[47]

See also

• 1992 in Australia
• 1992 in literature
• 1992 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

Notes and References

1. Web site: Honk If You Are Jesus by Peter Goldsworthy. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
2. Web site: The Last Magician by Janette Turner Hospital. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
3. Web site: Shearers' Motel by Roger McDonald. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
4. Web site: Ariel, Zed and the Secret of Life by Anna Fienberg. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
5. Web site: Beware of the Dog by Peter Corris. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
6. Web site: Browning, P.I. by Peter Corris. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
7. Web site: The Japanese Job by Peter Corris. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
8. Web site: Set Up by Peter Corris. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
9. Web site: The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado by Marele Day. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
10. Web site: Paydirt by Garry Disher. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
11. Web site: Whipping Boy by Gabrielle Lord. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
12. Web site: Only Lawyers Dancing by Jan McKemmish. National Library of Australia. 27 April 2024.
13. Web site: Blue Tyson by Terry Dowling . ISFDB. 1 June 2024.
14. Web site: Call to the Edge by Sean McMullen . ISFDB. 1 June 2024.
15. Web site: Women, Souls And Shadows by Beatriz Copello. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
16. Web site: Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems by Robert Harris. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
17. Web site: Selected Poems by A. D. Hope. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
18. Web site: The Mask and the Jagged Star by Jill Jones. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
19. Web site: Translations from the Natural World by Les Murray. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
20. Web site: Selected Poems by Elizabeth Riddell. National Library of Australia. 19 April 2024.
21. Web site: The Floor of Heaven by John Tranter. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
22. Web site: Wards of the State by Robert Adamson. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
23. Web site: Intimacy and Solitude by Stephanie Dowrick. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
24. Web site: From Strength to Strength: An Autobiography by Sara Henderson. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
25. Web site: Chance Encounters by A. D. Hope. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
26. Web site: A Fence Around the Cuckoo by Ruth Park. National Library of Australia. 17 April 2024.
27. Web site: Thea Beatrice May Astley, AM. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191225054452/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870247 . 25 December 2019 . 2019-12-25.
28. Web site: Jack Ernest Pollard. honours.pmc.gov.au. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191225054449/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/886222 . 25 December 2019 . 2019-12-25.
29. Web site: Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award. Austlit. 13 September 2023.
30. Web site: Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners . Austlit. 8 September 2023.
31. Web site: "Family the theme 'Age' literary winners" . The Age, 5 December 1992, p19. 28 May 2024. .
32. Web site: ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 10 January 2024.
33. Web site: Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners . James Cook University. 31 December 2023.
34. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
35. Web site: Austlit — The Australian/Vogel National Literary Award 1992. Austlit. 16 February 2023.
36. Web site: Austlit — Cloudstreet - Awards . Austlit. 14 September 2023.
37. Web site: Author creates more than a tingle of excitement. Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 1992, p4. 8 May 2024. .
38. Web site: Castro wins two writers' awards. The Sunday Age, 13 September 1992, p4. 27 April 2024.
39. Web site: Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1992-94 . Austlit. 11 February 2024.
40. Web site: Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 1991-93 . Austlit. 11 February 2024.
41. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 10 February 2024.
42. Web site: Roland Edward Robinson (1912–1992) by Peter Kirkpatrick . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 25 November 2023.
43. Web site: Beatrice Deloitte Davis (1909–1992) by Beverley Kingston . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 16 November 2023.
44. Web site: Jas Heriot Duke (1939-1992). 2024-02-13 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
45. Web site: Peter Patrick Pinney (1922–1992) by Richard White and Claire Petrie . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 9 April 2024.
46. Death Notice showing date of death as 6 Dec 1992, including crossreference to married name Mary Connellan, The Age, published 7 Dec 1992, via Ryerson Index
47. http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/cemetery/southern_highlands/st_simon_st_jude/sssj008.html Hawkesbury on the Net, Paul White's grave