2001 in Australian literature explained

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2001.

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders
• Marshall Browne – The Trumpeting Angel^[1]
• Steven Carroll – The Art of the Engine Driver
• Bryce Courtenay – Four Fires
• Robert Dessaix – Corfu: A Novel^[2]
• Garry Disher – Past the Headlands^[3]
• Richard Flanagan – Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
• Stephen Gray – The Artist is a Thief^[4]
• Marion Halligan – The Fog Garden^[5]
• Elizabeth Jolley – An Innocent Gentleman^[6]
• Kathy Lette – Nip 'n' Tuck^[7]
• Joan London – Gilgamesh
• John A. Scott – The Architect
• Tim Winton – Dirt Music
• Arnold Zable – Cafe Scheherazade^[8]

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Graeme Base – The Waterhole^[9]
• Garry Disher – Moondyne Kate^[10]
• Andy Griffiths – The Day My Bum Went Psycho
• Sonya Hartnett – Forest
• Odo Hirsch – Have Courage, Hazel Green!^[11]
• Leigh Hobbs – Horrible Harriet^[12]
• Maureen McCarthy – Flash Jack^[13]
• Garth Nix
  • Above the Veil
  • Lirael
• Emily Rodda – City of Rats
• Shaun Tan – The Red Tree
• Margaret Wild – Jinx^[14]
• Markus Zusak – When Dogs Cry

Crime and mystery

• Bunty Avieson – Apartment 255
• Marshall Browne – Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools^[15]
• Jon Cleary – Yesterday's Shadow
• Peter Corris – Lugarno^[16]
• Emma Darcy – Who Killed Angelique?^[17]
• Peter Doyle – The Devil's Jump^[18]
• Kerry Greenwood – Away with the Fairies^[19]
• Gabrielle Lord – Death Delights
• Matthew Reilly – Area 7
• Patricia Shaw – The Dream Seekers^[20]

Romance

• Lilian Darcy – The Paramedic's Secret^[21]
• Barbara Hannay
  • The Pregnancy Discovery^[22]
  • The Wedding Dare^[23]

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Trudi Canavan – The Magicians' Guild
• Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Ill-Made Mute^[24]
• Sara Douglass – The Wounded Hawk
• Greg Egan – Schild's Ladder
• Jennifer Fallon
  • Harshini
  • Treason Keep
• Kate Forsyth – The Skull of the World^[25]
• Ian Irvine – Geomancer
• Fiona McIntosh – Betrayal^[26]
• Sean McMullen – Eyes of the Calculor
• Juliet Marillier – Child of the Prophecy
• Kim Wilkins – Angel of Ruin
• Sean Williams
  • The Dark Imbalance with Shane Dix
  • The Stone Mage and the Sea^[27]

Drama

• Andrew Bovell – Holy Day^[28]
• David Brown – Keep Everything You Love^[29]
• Nick Enright – Spurboard^[30]
• Dorothy Hewett – Nowhere^[31]
• Peta Murray – Salt : A Play in Five Helpings^[32]
• Joanna Murray-Smith – Bombshells^[33]
• John Romeril – Miss Tanaka^[34]
• David Williamson
  • Charitable Intent
  • A Conversation
  • Up for Grabs

Poetry

• M. T. C. Cronin – Bestseller^[35]
• John Forbes – Collected Poems : 1970–1998^[36]
• Peter Goldsworthy – New Selected Poems^[37]
• Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain^[38]
• John Kinsella – The Hierarchy of Sheep^[39]
• Peter Porter – Max is Missing^[40]
• Chris Wallace-Crabbe – By and Large^[41]
• Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers^[42]

Biographies

• Peter Carey – 30 Days in Sydney : A Wildly Distorted Account
• Dawn Fraser – Dawn: One Hell of a Life^[43]
• Jacqueline Kent – A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, a Literary Life^[44]
• John Kinsella – Auto^[45]
• Roger McDonald – The Tree in Changing Light^[46]
• Hilary McPhee – Other People's Words^[47]
• Peter Rose – Rose Boys^[48]
• Nadia Wheatley – The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift^[49]

Non-Fiction

• Diane Armstrong – The Voyage of Their Life : The Story of the SS Derna and its Passengers^[50]
• Emily Chantiri – The Money Club^[51]
• Jill Jolliffe – Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five^[52]

Awards and honours

Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award^[53]	Dorothy Porter
Patrick White Award^[54]	Geoff Page

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award^[55]	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	Brandl and Schlesinger
ALS Gold Medal^[56]	Rodney Hall	The Day We Had Hitler Home	Picador
Colin Roderick Award^[57]	Peter Rose	Rose Boys	Allen & Unwin
Nita Kibble Literary Award^[58]	Inga Clendinnen	Tiger's Eye: A Memoir	Text Publishing

Fiction

International

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize^[59]	Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	University of Queensland Press
	Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Arabella Edge	The Company	Picador
	Overall winner	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	University of Queensland Press
Man Booker Prize^[60]		Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	Faber & Faber

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[61]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	University of Queensland Press
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[62]	Sarah Hay	Skins	Allen & Unwin
	Catherine Padmore	Sibyl's Cave	Allen & Unwin
Miles Franklin Award^[63]	Frank Moorhouse	Dark Palace	Knopf
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[64]	Alex Miller	Conditions of Faith	Allen & Unwin
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	University of Queensland Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	University of Queensland Press
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Tim Winton	Dirt Music	Picador

Children and Young Adult

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	Judith Clarke	Wolf on the Fold	Allen & Unwin
	Younger Readers	Diana Kidd	Two Hands Together	Penguin Books
	Picture Book	Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks	Fox	Allen & Unwin
	Early Childhood	Catherine Jinks, illus. Andrew McLean	You'll Wake the Baby!	Penguin Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks	Fox	Allen & Unwin
	Young People's	Jaclyn Moriarty	Feeling Sorry for Celia	Pan Macmillan Australia
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Margaret Wild, illus. Ron Brooks	Fox	Allen & Unwin
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Young Adult Fiction	James Moloney	Touch Me	University of Queensland Press
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Writing for Young Adults	Julia Lawrinson	Obsession	Fremantle Arts Centre
	Children's	Deborah Lisson	The Yankee Whaler	Scholastic

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Davitt Award^[65]	Novel	Caroline Shaw	Eye to Eye	Random House Australia
Ned Kelly Award^[66]	Novel	Peter Temple	Dead Point	Bantam Books
		Andrew Masterson	The Second Coming	Flamingo
	First novel	Andrew McGahan	Last Drinks	Allen and Unwin
	True crime	Estelle Blackburn	Broken Lives	Stellar Publishing
	Readers' vote	Lindsay Cameron	Bleeding Hearts	HarperCollins
	Lifetime achievement	Professor Stephen Knight

Science fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Aurealis Award	Sf Novel	Sean Williams & Shane Dix	The Dark Imbalance	Voyager Books
	Sf Short Story	Adam Browne	"The Weatherboard Spaceship"	Aurealis
	Fantasy Novel	Sara Douglass	The Wounded Hawk	Voyager Books
	Fantasy Short Story	Sue Isle	"The Woman of Endor"	Orb
	Horror Novel	Kim Wilkins	Angel of Ruin	Voyager Books
	Horror Short Story	Simon Haynes	"Sleight of Hand"	Potato Monkey
	Young Adult Novel	Louise Katz	The Other Face of Janus	Angus & Robertson
Ditmar Award	Novel	Sean Williams & Shane Dix	Evergence 2: The Dying Light	Ace Books
	Short Fiction	Stephen Dedman	"The Devotee"	Eidolon 29/30
		Terry Dowling	"The Saltimbanques"	Blackwater Days

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	Brandl and Schlesinger
Anne Elder Award^[67]	Not awarded
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry^[68]	Geoff Page	Darker and Lighter	Five Islands Press
Mary Gilmore Award^[69]	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Ken Taylor	Africa	Five Islands Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	John Mateer	Barefoot Speech	Fremantle Press
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Dorothy Hewett	Halfway up the Mountain	Fremantle Arts Centre Press

Drama

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Patrick White Playwrights' Award	Brendan Cowell	Bed
	Toby Schmitz	Lucky
	Jackie Smith	The Aliens

Non-Fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Non-Fiction	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year	Non-Fiction	Nadia Wheatley	The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift	HarperCollins
National Biography Award^[70]	Biography	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Kim Mahood	Craft for a Dry Lake	Random House Australia
New South Wales Premier's History Awards	Australian History	Tim Bonyhady	The Colonial Earth	Miegunyah Press at Melbourne University Publishing
	Community and Regional History	Carolyn Wadley Dowley	Through Silent Country	Fremantle Arts Centre Press
	General History	Rowena Lennox	Fighting Spirit of East Timor: The Life of Martinho da Costa Lopes	Pluto Press Australia
	Young People's	No award
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Non-fiction	Brian Matthews	A Fine and Private Place	Picador
	History	Tim Bonyhady	The Colonial Earth	Miegunyah Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Non-fiction	Anna Haebich	Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800–2000	Fremantle Press

Deaths

• 25 February – Don Bradman, cricketer and author (born 1908)^[71]
• 18 September – Amy Witting, novelist (born 1918)^[72]
• 20 September – Patsy Adam-Smith, writer (born 1924)^[73]

Unknown date

• Peter Bladen, poet (born 1922)^[74]

See also

• 2001 in Australia
• 2001 in literature
• 2001 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

References

Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Trumpeting Angel by Marshall Browne. National Library of Australia. 15 July 2024.
2. Web site: Corfu by Robert Dessaix. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
3. Web site: Past the Headlands by Garry Disher. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
4. Web site: The Artist is a Thief by Stephen Gray. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
5. Web site: The Fog Garden by Marion Halligan. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
6. Web site: An Innocent Gentleman by Elizabeth Jolley. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
7. Web site: Nip 'n' Tuck by Kathy Lette. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
8. Web site: Cafe Scheherazade by Arnold Zable. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
9. Web site: The Waterhole by Graeme Base. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
10. Web site: Moondyne Kate by Garry Disher. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
11. Web site: Have Courage, Hazel Green! by Odo Hirsch. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
12. Web site: Horrible Harriet by Leigh Hobbs. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
13. Web site: Flash Jack by Maureen McCarthy . National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
14. Web site: Jinx by Margaret Wild. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
15. Web site: Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools by Marshall Browne. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
16. Web site: Lugarno by Peter Corris. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
17. Web site: Who Killed Angelique? by Emma Darcy. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
18. Web site: The Devil's Jump by Peter Doyle. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
19. Web site: Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
20. Web site: The Dream Seekers by Patricia Shaw. Austlit. 11 July 2024.
21. Web site: The Paramedic's Secret by Lilian Darcy. Austlit. 11 July 2024.
22. Web site: The Pregnancy Discovery by Barbara Hannay. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
23. Web site: The Wedding Dare by Barbara Hannay. National Library of Australia. 11 July 2024.
24. Web site: The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. ISFDB. 16 June 2024.
25. Web site: The Skull of the World by Kate Forsyth. ISFDB. 16 June 2024.
26. Web site: Betrayal by Fiona McIntosh. ISFDB. 16 June 2024.
27. Web site: The Stone Mage and the Sea by Sean Williams. ISFDB. 16 June 2024.
28. Web site: Holy Day by Andrew Bovell. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
29. Web site: Keep Everything You Love by David Brown. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
30. Web site: Spurboard by Nick Enright. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
31. Web site: Nowhere by Dorothy Hewett. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
32. Web site: Salt : A Play in Five Helpings by Peta Murray. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
33. Web site: Bombshells by Joanna Murray-Smith. Austlit. 8 October 2024.
34. Web site: Miss Tanaka by John Romeril. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
35. Web site: Bestseller by M. T. C. Cronin. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
36. Web site: Collected Poems : 1970–1998 by John Forbes. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
37. Web site: New Selected Poems by Peter Goldsworthy. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
38. Web site: Halfway Up the Mountain by Dorothy Hewett. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
39. Web site: The Hierarchy of Sheep by John Kinsella. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
40. Web site: Max is Missing by Peter Porter. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
41. Web site: By and Large by Chris Wallace-Crabbe. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
42. Web site: The Lovemakers by Alan Wearne. National Library of Australia. 19 September 2024.
43. Web site: Dawn: One Hell of a Life by Dawn Fraser. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
44. Web site: A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, a Literary Life by Jacqueline Kent. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
45. Web site: Auto by John Kinsella. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
46. Web site: The Tree in Changing Light by Roger McDonald. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
47. Web site: Other People's Words by Hilary McPhee. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
48. Web site: Rose Boys by Peter Rose . National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
49. Web site: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift by Nadia Wheatley. National Library of Australia. 8 October 2024.
50. Web site: The Voyage of Their Life : The Story of the SS Derna and its Passengers by Diane Armstrong. National Library of Australia. 18 September 2024.
51. Web site: The Money Club by Emily Chantiri. National Library of Australia. 18 September 2024.
52. Web site: Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five by Jill Jolliffe. National Library of Australia. 18 September 2024.
53. Web site: Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award . Austlit. 11 September 2023.
54. Web site: Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners . Austlit. 10 September 2023.
55. Web site: "Poet wins Book of the Year award" . The Age, 25 August 2001, p12. 17 June 2024. .
56. Web site: ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 13 January 2024.
57. Web site: Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners . James Cook University. 16 January 2024.
58. Web site: Kibble Literary Award . Australian National University . 26 February 2024.
59. Web site: Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007 . Commonwealth Foundation. 18 January 2024.
60. Web site: Peter Carey The Booker Prizes . 18 January 2024. thebookerprizes.com . en.
61. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
62. Web site: "Austlit – Australian/Vogel Award 2000-2002" . Austlit. 19 February 2024.
63. Web site: Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award (1957-) . Austlit. 21 September 2023.
64. Web site: "A boundary writer climbs the mountain" . Sydney Morning Herald, 15 May 2001, p6. 5 July 2024. .
65. Web site: "LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2001" . LibraryThing. 10 January 2024.
66. Web site: 2001 Ned Kelly Award Winners . https://web.archive.org/web/20160327181222/http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/7 . 2016-03-27 . 17 January 2024 . Australian Crime Writers.
67. Web site: Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1998-2000 . Austlit. 13 February 2024.
68. Web site: Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 1994-2001 . Austlit. 13 February 2024.
69. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 10 February 2024.
70. Web site: "National Biography Award – Past Winners" . State Library of NSW. 1 August 2024.
71. Web site: Bradman, Sir Donald George (Don) (1908–2001) by John Howard . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 10 August 2023.
72. Web site: Austlit — Amy Witting . Austlit. 10 August 2023.
73. Web site: Austlit — Patsy Adam-Smith . Austlit. 10 August 2023.
74. Web site: Austlit — Peter Bladen . Austlit. 10 August 2023.