2015 in Australian literature explained

This is a list of the historical events and publications of 2015 in Australian literature.

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Tony Birch – Ghost River
• Lisa Birman — How to Walk Away
• Geraldine Brooks – The Secret Chord
• Robyn Cadwallader — The Anchoress
• Stephen Daisley – Coming Rain
• Gregory Day – Archipelago of Souls
• Peggy Frew – Hope Farm
• Lisa Gorton – The Life of Houses
• Sally Hepworth — The Secrets of Midwives
• David Ireland — The World Repair Video Game
• Susan Johnson – The Landing
• Gail Jones – A Guide to Berlin
• Myfanwy Jones – Leap
• Mireille Juchau – The World Without Us
• Malcolm Knox – The Wonder Lover
• Amanda Lohrey – A Short History of Richard Kline
• Judy Nunn — Spirits of the Ghan
• A. S. Patrić – Black Rock White City
• Gregory David Roberts — The Mountain Shadow
• Steve Toltz – Quicksand
• Lucy Treloar – Salt Creek
• Charlotte Wood – The Natural Way of Things

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Nick Earls – New Boy
• John Flanagan — The Tournament at Gorlan
• Mem Fox – This & That
• Mem Fox – Nellie Belle
• Andy Griffiths – The 65-Storey Treehouse
• John Larkin — The Pause
• Maureen McCarthy – Stay With Me
• Sophie Masson – Hunter's Moon
• Gillian Mears – The Cat with the Coloured Tail
• Louis Nowra – Prince of Afghanistan
• Emily Rodda – Two Moons
• R. A. Spratt — Friday Barnes, Under Suspicion
• Lili Wilkinson – Green Valentine
• Fiona Wood – Cloudwish

Crime and mystery

• Peter Corris – Gun Control
• Garry Disher – The Heat
• Mark Dapin – R&R
• Candice Fox – Fall
• Katherine Howell – Tell the Truth
• Adrian McKinty – Gun Street Girl
• Barry Maitland – Ash Island
• Michael Robotham – Close Your Eyes
• Emma Viskic – Resurrection Bay
• Dave Warner – Before It Breaks

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• K. A. Bedford – Black Light
• John Birmingham
  • Emergence
  • Resistance^[1]
• James Bradley – Clade
• Trudi Canavan — Angel of Storms
• Isobelle Carmody – The Red Queen
• Kate Forsyth — The Beast's Garden
• Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff — Illuminae
• Jane Rawson – Formaldehyde

Romance

• Alison Goodman — The Dark Days Club

Poetry

• Robert Adamson – Net Needle
• David Brooks – Open House
• Clive James – Sentenced to Life
• Les Murray – Waiting for the Past

Drama

• Matthew Whittet – Seventeen

Biographies

• David Day – Paul Keating : The Biography
• Peter Garrett – Big Blue Sky : A Memoir
• Kate Grenville – One Life : My Mother's Story
• Erik Jensen – Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen
• Gerald Murnane – Something for the Pain : A Memoir of the Turf
• Brenda Niall – Mannix
• Magda Szubanski – Reckoning : A Memoir
• Tim Winton – Island Home : A Landscape Memoir

Non-fiction

• Joel Deane – Catch and Kill: The Politics of Power
• Andrew Fowler – The War on Journalism: Media Moguls, Whistleblowers and the Price of Freedom
• Gideon Haigh – Certain Admissions
• Lucy Sussex – Blockbuster! : Fergus Hume and the Mystery of the Hansom Cab

Awards and honours

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

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award^[2]	Gig Ryan
Melbourne Prize for Literature^[3]	Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Patrick White Award^[4]	Joan London

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal^[5]	Jennifer Maiden	Drones and Phantoms	Giramondo Publishing
Colin Roderick Award^[6]	Not awarded
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year^[7]	Don Watson	The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia	Penguin
Nita Kibble Literary Award^[8]	Joan London	The Golden Age	Vintage Books
Stella Prize^[9]	Emily Bitto	The Strays	Affirm Press
Victorian Prize for Literature^[10]	Alan Atkinson	The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation	NewSouth

Fiction

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[11]	Not awarded
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[12]	Murray Middleton	When There’s Nowhere Else to Run	Allen & Unwin
Barbara Jefferis Award^[13]	Not awarded
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction	Sonya Hartnett	Golden Boys	Penguin
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction	Maxine Beneba Clarke	Foreign Soil	Hachette
Miles Franklin Award^[14]	Sofie Laguna	The Eye of the Sheep	Allen & Unwin
Prime Minister's Literary Awards^[15]		The Golden Age	Random House
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[16]	Mark Henshaw	The Snow Kimono	Text Publishing
Queensland Literary Awards^[17]		The Golden Age	Random House
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Rohan Wilson	To Name Those Lost	Allen & Unwin

Children and Young Adult

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	Claire Zorn	The Protected	University of Queensland Press
	Younger Readers	Libby Gleeson	The Cleo Stories : The Necklace and the Present	Allen & Unwin
	Picture Book	Freya Blackwood, text Irema Kobald	My Two Blankets	Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont
	Early Childhood	Libby Gleeson, illus. Freya Blackwood	Go to Sleep, Jessie!	Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year	Children's & YA	Judith Rossell	Withering-by-Sea	Penguin
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Catherine Norton	Crossing	Omnibus/Scholastic Australia
		Tamsin Janu	Figgy in the World	Omnibus/Scholastic Australia
	Young People's	Jaclyn Moriarty	The Cracks in the Kingdom	Pan Macmillan Australia
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Young Adult Fiction	Claire Zorn	The Protected	University of Queensland Press

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Davitt Award^[19]	Novel	Liane Moriarty	Big Little Lies	Penguin Books
	Young adult novel	Ellie Marney	Every Word	Allen & Unwin
	Children's novel	Judith Rossell	Withering-By-Sea	HarperCollins
	True crime	Caroline Overington	Last Woman Hanged	HarperCollins
	Debut novel	Christine Bongers	Intruder	Random House
	Readers' choice	Sandi Wallace	Tell Me Why	Clan Destine Press
Ned Kelly Award^[20]	Novel	Candice Fox	Eden	Random House
	First novel	Jock Serong	Quota	Text Publishing
	True crime	Helen Garner	This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial	Text Publishing
	Lifetime achievement	Not awarded

Science fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Aurealis Award	Sf Novel	Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff	Illuminae	Allen & Unwin
	Sf Short Story	Sean Williams	"All the Wrong Places"	Meeting Infinity (Solaris Books)
	Fantasy Novel	Trent Jamieson	Day Boy	Text Publishing
	Fantasy Short Story	Rowena Cory Daniels	"The Giant's Lady"	Legends 2 (Newcon Press)
	Horror Novel	Trent Jamieson	Day Boy	Text Publishing
	Horror Short Story	Joanne Anderton	"Bullets"	In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep (AHWA)
	Young Adult Novel	Kathryn Barker	In the Skin of a Monster	Allen & Unwin
	Young Adult Short Story	Deborah Kalin	"The Miseducation of Mara Lys"	Cherry Crow Children (Twelfth Planet Press)
Ditmar Award	Novel	Glenda Larke	The Lascar's Dagger	Hachette
	Best Novella or Novelette	Sean Williams	"The Legend Trap"	Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
	Best Short Story	Cat Sparks	"The Seventh Relic"	Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Not awarded
Anne Elder Award^[21]	Cathy Altmann	Circumnavigation	Poetica Christi Press
Mary Gilmore Award^[22]	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[23]	David Malouf	Earth Hour	University of Queensland Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Jill Jones	The Beautiful Anxiety	Puncher and Wattmann

Drama

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Script	Jennifer Kent	The Babadook	Causeway Films
Patrick White Playwrights' Award	Award	Neil Levi	Kin	Sydney Theatre Company
	Fellowship	Tommy Murphy

Non-Fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Non-Fiction	Not awarded
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year	Non-Fiction	Don Watson	The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia	Penguin
National Biography Award^[24]	Biography	Philip Butterss	An Unsentimental Bloke: The Life and Work of C J Dennis	Wakefield Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Don Watson	The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia	Penguin
New South Wales Premier's History Awards	Australian History	Alan Atkinson	The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation	Oxford University Press
	Community and Regional History	Babette Smith	The Luck of the Irish : How a Shipload of Convicts Survived the Wreck of the Hive to Make a New Life in Australia	Allen & Unwin
	General History	Warwick Anderson & Ian R Mackay	Intolerant Bodies : A Short History of Autoimmunity	Johns Hopkins University Press
Queensland Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Don Watson	The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia	Penguin
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Non-fiction	Alan Atkinson	The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation	Oxford University Press

Deaths

• 28 January — Lionel Gilbert, historian, author, and academic, (born 1924)^[25]
• 29 January — Colleen McCullough, novelist (born 1937)^[26]
• 13 February — Faith Bandler, author and civil rights activist (born 1918)^[27]
• 23 February — James Aldridge, novelist (born 1918)^[28]
• 20 March — Malcolm Fraser, politician and author (born 1930)^[29]
• 23 March — Alan Seymour, playwright (born 1927)^[30]
• 20 May — J. S. Harry, poet (born 1939)^[31]
• 20 August — Veronica Brady, poet and critic (born 1929)^[32]
• 4 October — Nan Hunt, children's writer who also wrote as N. L. Ray (born 1918)^[33]

See also

• 2015 in Australia
• 2015 in literature
• 2015 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature
• List of Australian literary awards

References

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — Resistance by John Birmingham . Austlit. 30 November 2023.
2. Book: National Literary Awards Results 2015. Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria. 2015. 15.
3. Web site: Austlit — Melbourne Prize . Austlit. 9 November 2023.
4. Web site: "London wins 2015 Patrick White Literary Award" . Books+Publishing, 29 October 2015. 27 August 2023.
5. Web site: ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 12 January 2024.
6. Web site: Colin Roderick Award — Other Winners . 13 July 2020. James Cook University. 2 February 2024.
7. Web site: "Indie Book Awards - Winners 2015" . Australian Independent Booksellers. 24 May 2024.
8. Web site: 2009-06-09 . Kibble Literary Award . 9 March 2024 . . en-AU.
9. Web site: "The Stella Prize — 2015" . The Stella prize. https://web.archive.org/web/20160316170307/http://thestellaprize.com.au/the-stella-prize/2015-2/. 12 January 2024. 16 March 2016.
10. Web site: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2015 . 3 February 2024. The Wheeler Centre.
11. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
12. Web site: 2015-04-21 . Middleton wins 2015 Vogel . 2022-05-17 . Books+Publishing . en-AU.
13. Web site: "Barbara Jefferis Award" . Australian Society of Authors. 20 January 2024.
14. News: Miles Franklin Literary Award: Sofie Laguna wins for novel The Eye Of The Sheep . ABC News . 23 June 2015 . 23 June 2015 . ABC News, 23 June 2015.
15. Web site: "Prime Minister's Literary Awards - Shortlist and winners: 2021-2008" . Creative Australia. 11 January 2024.
16. Web site: "Rejected 32 times, The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw wins NSW Premier's Literary Award". 18 May 2015 . 10 January 2024.
17. Web site: "2015 Queensland Literary Awards" . The Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory. 11 January 2024.
18. Web site: "The Crime Writers' Association - Past Winners" . CWA. 18 January 2024.
19. Web site: Announcing the 15th Davitt Awards' Results for Best Crime Books . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150910080639/http://www.sistersincrime.org.au/content/announcing-15th-davitt-awards%E2%80%99-results-best-crime-books . 2015-09-10 . 30 January 2024.
20. Web site: August 24, 2015. Awards: Hugo and Ned Kelly Winners. 30 January 2024. Shelf Awareness. December 21, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231221152727/https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2577. live.
21. Web site: Austlit — Anne Elder Award . Austlit. 6 February 2024.
22. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 5 February 2024.
23. Web site: "Don Watson wins Book of the Year in 2015 NSW Premier's Literary Awards with a grand and gloomy portrait of The Bush" . 18 May 2015. The Age, 18 May 2015. 6 February 2024.
24. Web site: National Biography Award 2015 Winner. State Library of New South Wales. 1 August 2024.
25. Web site: . 14 February 2015 . OBITUARY: Dr Lionel Gilbert OAM 1924-2015 . Fairfax Regional Media . 11 December 2015.
26. News: Fox. Margalit . Colleen McCullough, Author of 'The Thorn Birds', Dies at 77. 29 January 2015 . New York Times . 29 January 2015.
27. News: Political activist and writer Faith Bandler AC dies aged 96. . 13 February 2015 . February 13, 2015.
28. Web site: Remembering James Aldridge. Text Publishing. 2020-01-09.
29. Web site: Malcolm Fraser (1930-2015). 2024-02-14 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
30. News: Gilbert . W. Stephen . 2015-04-01 . Alan Seymour obituary . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-10-01 . 0261-3077.
31. Web site: JS Harry, the virtuoso poet who took her curious rabbit on world discovery tour. Stasko. Nicolette. 2015-06-04. The Sydney Morning Herald. en. 2020-01-09.
32. Web site: Veronica Brady (1929-2015). 2023-10-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
33. Web site: Nan Hunt (1918-2015). 2022-03-02 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . en.