2003 in Australian literature explained

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2003.

Events

• Peter Carey and Joan London join the list of authors who have withdrawn from contention for the Tasmania Pacific Region Prize. In 2002 Richard Flanagan and Tim Winton also declined to have their books nominated for the prize in protest at the involvement of Forestry Tasmania as a sponsor of the Ten Days on the Island festival at which the award winner is to be announced.^[1]
• Members of The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) voted in their Society's 40th anniversary poll to select Australia's favourite book. Tim Winton's Cloudstreet headed the poll followed by The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson.^[2]
• Nevil Shute's 1950 novel, A Town Like Alice was included in a BBC-sponsored UK survey of 100 popular novels, but has failed to make a similar Australian list.^[3]

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Alan Atwood – Burke's Soldier^[4]
• Peter Carey – My Life as a Fake
• Brian Castro – Shanghai Dancing
• J. M. Coetzee – Elizabeth Costello
• Julian Davies – The Boy^[5]
• Nikki Gemmell – The Bride Stripped Bare
• Peter Goldsworthy – Three Dog Night
• Shirley Hazzard – The Great Fire
• Kathryn Heyman – The Accomplice^[6]
• Janette Turner Hospital – Due Preparations for the Plague^[7]
• M. J. Hyland – How the Light Gets In^[8]
• Annamarie Jagose – Slow Water
• Nada A. Jarrar – Somewhere, Home^[9]
• Tom Keneally – The Tyrant's Novel
• Kathy Lette – Dead Sexy^[10]
• Colleen McCullough – The Touch
• Nerida Newton – The Lambing Flat
• Elliot Perlman – Seven Types of Ambiguity
• D. B. C. Pierre – Vernon God Little
• Patricia Shaw – The Five Winds^[11]
• Sue Woolfe – The Secret Cure^[12]

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Pamela Allen – Cuthbert's Babies
• Paul Collins – The Earthborn^[13]
• Kate Constable – The Waterless Sea
• Marianne Curley – The Dark^[14]
• Justin D'Ath – Shaedow Master^[15]
• Garry Disher – Eva's Angel^[16]
• John Heffernan – GBH^[17]
• Melina Marchetta – Saving Francesca^[18]
• David Metzenthen – Boys of Blood & Bone^[19]
• Jaclyn Moriarty – Finding Cassie Crazy^[20]
• Martine Murray – How to Make a Bird
• Garth Nix
  • Abhorsen
  • Mister Monday
• Emily Rodda – Rowan of the Bukshah
• Janeen Webb – The Silken Road to Samarkand^[21]

Crime

• Kirsty Brooks – The Vodka Dialogue
• Ian Callinan – Appointment at Amalfi
• Jon Cleary – Degrees of Connection
• Peter Corris – Master's Mates
• Michelle de Kretser – The Hamilton Case
• Garry Disher – Kittyhawk Down
• Kerry Greenwood – The Castlemaine Murders: A Phryne Fisher Mystery
• Wayne Grogan – Junkie Pilgrim
• Gabrielle Lord – Lethal Factor
• Barry Maitland – The Verge Practice
• Matthew Reilly – Scarecrow
• Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram
• Michael Robotham – The Suspect
• Steve J. Spears – Murder at the Fortnight
• Peter Temple – White Dog
• Lee Tulloch – The Cutting: A Nullin Mystery
• Robin Wallace-Crabbe – The Forger

Romance

• Ally Blake – The Wedding Wish
• Lucy Clark – Englishman at Dingo Creek
• Barbara Hannay – A Wedding at Windaroo
• Stephanie Laurens – A Gentleman's Honor
• Di Morrissey – Barra Creek
• Candice R. Proctor – Beyond Sunrise
• Meredith Webber – Outback Encounter

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Max Barry – Jennifer Government
• K. A. Bedford – Orbital Burn^[22]
• K. J. Bishop – The Etched City
• Russell Blackford – An Evil Hour^[23]
• Trudi Canavan – The High Lord^[24]
• Bill Congreve – Southern Blood: New Australian Tales of the Supernatural
• Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Battle of Evernight
• Sara Douglass – God's Concubine^[25]
  • • Jennifer Fallon Eye of the Labyrinth
  • Lord of the Shadows^[26]
• Lian Hearn – Grass for His Pillow
• Ian Irvine – Terminator Gene
• Victor Kelleher – Born of the Sea^[27]
• Glenda Larke – The Aware^[28]
• Fiona McIntosh – Myrren's Gift^[29]
• Anthony O'Neill – The Lamplighter^[30]
• Kate Orman – Blue Box^[31]
• Tony Shillitoe – Freedom^[32]
• Kim Wilkins – The Autumn Castle^[33]
• Sean Williams and Shane Dix – Heirs of Earth^[34]

Drama

• Mireille Juchau – White Gifts
• Hannie Rayson – Inheritance
• Henri Szeps – One Life, Two Journeys
• David Williamson – Birthrights

Poetry

• Judith Beveridge – Wolf Notes
• Laurie Duggan – Mangroves
• Stephen Edgar – Lost in the Foreground
• Clive James – The Book of My Enemy : Collected Verse, 1958–2003
• John Kinsella – Peripheral Light

Non-fiction

• Fiona Capp – That Oceanic Feeling
• Inga Clendinnen – Dancing with Strangers
• Patricia Crawford and Ian Crawford – Contested Country: A History of the Northcliffe Area
• David Hollinsworth – They Took the Children
• Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark – The History Wars
• Peter Robb – A Death in Brazil

Biographies

• Graeme Blundell – King: The Life and Comedy of Graham Kennedy
• Lorraine Day – Gordon of Dingley Dell: The Life of Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870): Poet and Horseman
• Edward Duyker – Citizen Labillardiere: A Naturalist's Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755–1834)
• Greg Growden – The Snowy Baker Story
• Tom Keneally – Abraham Lincoln
• Jonathan King – Gallipoli: Our Last Man Standing: The Extraordinary Life of Alec Campbell
• Garry Linnell – Playing God: The Rise and Fall of Gary Ablett
• Peter Singer – Pushing Time Away: My Grandfather and the Tragedy of Jewish Vienna
• Nicholas Thomas – Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook
• Anne Whitehead – Bluestocking in Patagonia

Awards and honours

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

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award^[35]	Philip Salom
Patrick White Award^[36]	Janette Turner Hospital

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award^[37]	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	Viking
ALS Gold Medal^[38]	Kate Jennings	Moral Hazard	Picador
Colin Roderick Award^[39]	Tom Keneally	The Tyrant's Novel	Doubleday
Nita Kibble Literary Award^[40]	Gail Jones	Black Mirror	Picador

Fiction

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[42]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	Viking Books
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[43]	Nicholas Angel	Drown Them in the Sea	Allen and Unwin
	Ruth Balint	Troubled Waters	Allen and Unwin
Miles Franklin Award^[44]	Alex Miller	Journey to the Stone Country	Allen & Unwin
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Kate Jennings	Moral Hazard	Fourth Estate
Nita Kibble Literary Award	Gail Jones	Black Mirror	Picador
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Janette Turner Hospital	Due Preparations for the Plague	HarperCollins
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Brian Castro	Shanghai Dancing	Giramondo Publishing
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Gail Jones	Black Mirror	Picador

Children and Young Adult

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	Markus Zusak	The Messenger	Macmillan Publishers
	Younger Readers	Catherine Bateson	Rain May and Captain Daniel	University of Queensland Press
	Picture Book	Norman Jorgensen, illus. Brian Harrison-Lever	In Flanders Fields	Fremantle Arts Centre Press
	Early Childhood	Penny Matthews, illus. Andrew McLean	A Year on Our Farm	Omnibus Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Simon French	Where in the World	Little Hare Books
	Young People's	Markus Zusak	The Messenger	Macmillan Publishers
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Catherine Bateson	Rain May and Captain Daniel	University of Queensland Press
	Young Adult	David Metzenthen	Boys of Blood and Bone	Penguin Books
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Young Adult Fiction	Margo Lanagan	Black Juice	Allen & Unwin
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Writing for Young Adults	Colin Bowles	Nights in the Sun	Penguin Books
	Children's	Mark Greenwood	The Legend of Lasseter's Reef	Cygnet Books

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Davitt Award^[45]	Novel	Gabrielle Lord	Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing	Hodder Headline Australia
		Alex Palmer	Blood Redemption	HarperCollins
	Readers' Choice	Cathy Cole	Skin Deep	Duffy and Snellgrove
	Young Adult Novel	Natalie Jane Prior	Fireworks and Darkness	Angus & Robertson
Ned Kelly Award^[46]	Novel	Peter Temple	White Dog	Text Publishing
	First novel	Alex Palmer	Blood Redemption	HarperCollins
	True crime	Peter Lalor	Blood Stain	Allen & Unwin
	Lifetime Achievement	Kerry Greenwood

Science fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Aurealis Award	Sf Novel	Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman	Fallen Gods	Telos Publishing
	Sf Short Story	Brendan Duffy	"Louder Echo"	Agog! Terrific Tales
	Fantasy Novel	Garth Nix	Abhorsen	Allen and Unwin
	Fantasy Short Story	Lucy Sussex	"La Sentinelle"
	Horror Novel	Victor Kelleher	Born of the Sea	Viking Books
	Horror Short Story	Simon Brown	"Love is a Stone"	Gathering the Bones
	Young Adult Novel	Garth Nix	Abhorsen	Allen and Unwin
		Carole Wilkinson	Dragonkeeper	Black Dog Books
Ditmar Award	Novel	Sean Williams and Shane Dix	Echoes of Earth	HarperCollins
	Short Fiction	Deborah Biancotti	"King of All and The Metal Sentinel"	Agog! Fantastic Fiction
	Collected Work	Cat Sparks ed.	Agog! Fantastic Fiction	Agog! Press

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year	Laurie Duggan	Mangroves	University of Queensland Press
Anne Elder Award^[47]	Chris Andrews	Cut Lunch	Indigo
	Kathryn Lomer	Extraction of Arrows	University of Queensland Press
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry^[48]	Stephen Edgar	Lost in the Foreground	Duffy & Snellgrove
Mary Gilmore Prize^[49]	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Jill Jones	Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems	Salt Publishing
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Emma Lew	Anything the Landlord Touches	Giramondo Publishing

Non-Fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Non-Fiction	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year	Non-Fiction	Ann Galbally	Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian	Miegunyah Press
National Biography Award^[50]	Biography	Peter Rose	Rose Boys	Allen & Unwin
		Don Watson	Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : a Portrait of Paul Keating PM	Random House
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Mark McKenna	Looking for Blackfellas' Point: An Australian History of Place	University of New South Wales Press
New South Wales Premier's History Awards	Australian History	James Bowen and Margarita Bowen	The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage	Cambridge University Press
	Community and Regional History	Erik Eklund	Steel Town: The Making and Breaking of Port Kembla	Melbourne University Press
	General History	David Garrioch	The Making of Revolutionary Paris	University of California Press
	Young People's	Alan Tucker	My Story: The Bombing of Darwin, The Diary of Tom Taylor	Scholastic Press
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Non-fiction	Margaret Simons	Meeting of the Waters	Hachette Australia
	History	Richard Bosworth	Mussolini	Oxford University Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Non-fiction	Graeme Davison	Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities	Allen & Unwin

Deaths

• 16 March – Susan McGowan, poet (born 1907)
• 18 March – Julie Lewis, short story writer (born 1925)
• 30 March – Nick Enright, playwright and screenwriter (born 1950)^[51]
• 2 April – Joan Phipson, writer for children and young adults (born 1912)
• 20 April – Bill Wannan, editor (born 1915)
• 1 May – Stephen Estaban Kelen, dramatist (born 1912)
• 28 June – Clem Christesen, poet and founding editor of Meanjin (born 1911)^[52]
• 30 June – Oriel Gray, playwright and screenwriter (born 1920)
• 23 November – Hesba Brinsmead, writer for children (born 1922)

See also

• 2003 in Australia
• 2003 in literature
• 2003 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. http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/newsSeptemberOctober2003 Austlit Gateway News March/April 2003
2. http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/newsSeptemberOctober2003 Austlit Gateway News July/August 2003
3. http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/newsSeptemberOctober2003 Austlit Gateway News September/October 2003
4. Web site: Burke's Soldier by Alan Atwood. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
5. Web site: The Boy by Julian Davies. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
6. Web site: Austlit — The Accomplice by Kathryn Heyman . Austlit. 22 May 2024.
7. Web site: Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
8. Web site: How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
9. Web site: Somewhere, Home by Nada Awar Jarrar. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
10. Web site: Dead Sexy by Kathy Lette. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
11. Web site: Austlit — The Five Winds by Patricia Shaw . Austlit. 22 May 2024.
12. Web site: The Secret Cure by Sue Woolfe. National Library of Australia. 22 May 2024.
13. Web site: The Earthborn by Paul Collins. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
14. Web site: The Dark by Marianne Curley. Austlit. 17 November 2024.
15. Web site: Shaedow Master by Justin D'Ath. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
16. Web site: Eva's Angel by Garry Disher. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
17. Web site: GBH by John Heffernan. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
18. Web site: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
19. Web site: Boys of Blood & Bone by David Metzenthen. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
20. Web site: Finding Cassie Crazy by Jaclyn Moriarty. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
21. Web site: The Silken Road to Samarkand by Janeen Webb. National Library of Australia. 17 November 2024.
22. Web site: Orbital Burn by K. A. Bedford . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
23. Web site: An Evil Hour by Russell Blackford . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
24. Web site: The High Lord by Trudi Canavan . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
25. Web site: God's Concubine by Sara Douglass . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
26. Web site: Lord of the Shadows by Jennifer Fallon . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
27. Web site: Born of the Sea by Victor Kelleher . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
28. Web site: The Aware by Glenda Larke . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
29. Web site: Myrren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
30. Web site: The Lamplighter by Anthony O'Neill . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
31. Web site: Blue Box by Kate Orman . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
32. Web site: Freedom by Tony Shillitoe . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
33. Web site: The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
34. Web site: Heirs of Earth by Sean Williams & Shane Dix . ISFDB. 26 May 2024.
35. Web site: Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award . Austlit. 11 September 2023.
36. Web site: Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners . Austlit. 10 September 2023.
37. Web site: "No need for a `real job' after book wins prize" . The Age, 22 August 2003, p3. 15 July 2024. .
38. Web site: ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 13 January 2024.
39. Web site: Colin Roderick Award — Other Winners . James Cook University. 16 January 2024.
40. Web site: Kibble Literary Award . Australian National University . 26 February 2024.
41. Web site: Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007 . Commonwealth Foundation. 18 January 2024.
42. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
43. Web site: "Austlit – Australian/Vogel Award 2003-2005" . Austlit. 19 February 2024.
44. Web site: Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award (1957-) . Austlit. 21 September 2023.
45. Web site: "LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2003" . LibraryThing. 19 January 2024.
46. Web site: 2003 Ned Kelly Award Winners . https://web.archive.org/web/20160327181222/http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/9 . 2016-03-27 . 19 January 2024 . Australian Crime Writers.
47. Web site: Austlit — Anne Elder Award 2002-2004 . Austlit. 13 February 2024.
48. Web site: Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 2002-2004 . Austlit. 13 February 2024.
49. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 13 February 2024.
50. Web site: "National Biography Award – Past Winners" . State Library of NSW. 1 August 2024.
51. Web site: Nick Enright . 2024-02-19 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
52. Web site: Austlit — Clem Christesen (1911-1999). Austlit. 23 November 2023.