2021 in Australian literature explained

This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2021.

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Aravind Adiga – Amnesty^[1]
• Michael Mohammed Ahmad – The Other Half of You^[2]
• Evelyn Araluen – Dropbear^[3]
• Larissa Behrendt – After Story^[4]
• Steven Carroll – O^[5]
• Michelle de Kretser – Scary Monsters^[6]
• Jennifer Down – Bodies of Light
• Briohny Doyle – Echolalia^[7]
• Max Easton – The Magpie Wing^[8]
• Nikki Gemmell – The Ripping Tree^[9]
• Anita Heiss – Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray: River of Dreams
• John Kinsella – Pushing Back^[10]
• Emily Maguire – Love Objects^[11]
• Jennifer Mills – The Airways^[12]
• Alice Pung – One Hundred Days^[13]
• Claire Thomas – The Performance^[14]
• Christos Tsiolkas – 7 ½^[15]
• Michael Winkler – Grimmish

Collected essays

• Chelsea Watego – Another Day in the Colony^[16]

Children's and young adult fiction

• Felicity Castagna – Girls in Boys' Cars^[17]
• Sophie Gonzales – Only Mostly Devastated^[18]
• Katrina Nannestad – Rabbit, Soldier, Angel Thief^[19]

Crime and mystery

• Tim Ayliffe – The Enemy Within^[20]
• Mark Brandi – The Others^[21]
• B. M. Carroll – You Had It Coming^[22]
• Candice Fox – The Chase
• Helen FitzGerald – Ash Mountain^[23]
• Jack Heath – Kill Your Brother^[24]
• Charlotte McConaghy – Once There Were Wolves^[25]
• Debra Oswald – The Family Doctor^[26]
• Kyle Perry – The Deep^[27]
• Michael Robotham – When You Are Mine^[28]

Poetry

• Pam Brown – Stasis Shuffle^[29]
• Maxine Beneba Clarke – How Decent Folk Behave^[30]
• Andy Jackson – Human Looking^[31]
• Maria Takolander – Trigger Warning^[32]

Non-fiction

• Randa Abdel-Fattah – Coming of Age in the War on Terror^[33]
• Julia Banks – Power Play: Breaking Through Bias, Barriers and Boys' Clubs^[34]
• Alison Croggon – Monsters: A reckoning^[35]
• Mehreen Faruqi – Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud^[36]
• Ross Garnaut – Reset: Restoring Australia after the Pandemic Recession^[37]
• Stan Grant – With the Falling of the Dusk^[38]
• Dale Kent – The Most I Could Be^[39]
• Scott Ludlam – Full Circle: A search for the world that comes next^[40]
• Mark McKenna – Return to Uluru^[41]
• Henry Reynolds – Truth-Telling: History, sovereignty and the Uluru Statement^[42]
• Jeff Sparrow – Crimes Against Nature: Capitalism and Global Heating^[43]
• Corey Tutt and Blak Douglas (illustrator) – The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia's First Peoples^[44]

Awards and honours

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

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Melbourne Prize for Literature^[45]	Christos Tsiolkas
Patrick White Award^[46]	Adam Aitken

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal^[47]	Nardi Simpson	Song of the Crocodile	Hachette Australia
Colin Roderick Award^[48]	Sofie Laguna	Infinite Splendours	Allen & Unwin
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year^[49]	Pip Williams	The Dictionary of Lost Words	Affirm Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[50]	Ellen van Neerven	Throat	University of Queensland Press
Stella Prize^[51]	Evie Wyld	The Bass Rock	Penguin Random House
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards^[52] ^[53]	Laura Jean McKay	The Animals in That Country	Scribe

Fiction

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature^[54]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year^[55]	Robbie Arnott	The Rain Heron	Text Publishing
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award^[56]	Emma Batchelor	Now That I See You	Allen & Unwin
Barbara Jefferis Award^[57]	Not awarded
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction	Craig Silvey	Honeybee	Allen & Unwin
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction	Pip Williams	The Dictionary of Lost Words	Affirm Press
Miles Franklin Award^[58]	Amanda Lohrey	The Labyrinth	Text Publishing
Prime Minister's Literary Awards^[59]	Amanda Lohrey	The Labyrinth	Text Publishing
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards^[60] ^[61]	Kate Grenville	A Room Made of Leaves	Text Publishing
Queensland Literary Awards^[62]	Nardi Simpson	Song of the Crocodile	Hachette Australia
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards^[63]	Laura Jean McKay	The Animals in That Country	Scribe

Children and Young Adult

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award^[64]	Older Readers	Davina Bell	The End of the World is Bigger than Love	Text
	Younger Readers	Kate Gordon	Aster's Good, Right Things	Riveted Press
	Picture Book	Meg McKinlay, illus. Matt Ottley	How to Make a Bird	Walker Books
	Early Childhood	Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn-Jarman, illus. Mel Pearce	No! Never		Lothian Books
	Eve Pownall Award for Information Books	Pamela Freeman, illus. Liz Anelli	Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu	Walker Books
	Nan Chauncy Award^[65]	Jan Nicholls
Indie Book Awards Book of the Year	Children's	Amelia Mellor	The Grandest Bookshop in the World	Affirm Press
	Young Adult	Kate O'Donnell	This One is Ours	University of Queensland Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Amelia Mellor	The Grandest Bookshop in the World	Affirm
	Young People's	Davina Bell	The End of the World is Bigger than Love	Text
Queensland Literary Awards	Children's	Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Dub Leffler	Bindi	Magabala Books
	Young Adult	Cath Moore	Metal Fish, Falling Snow	Text
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards	Young Adult Fiction	Cath Moore	Metal Fish, Falling Snow	Text

Crime and Mystery

National

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature	Not awarded
Anne Elder Award^[68]	Ella Jeffery	Dead Bolt	Puncher & Wattmann
Mary Gilmore Award^[69]	Em König	Breathing Plural	Cordite
Prime Minister's Literary Awards	Stephen Edgar	The Strangest Place: New and Selected Poems	Black Pepper
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Ellen van Neerven	Throat	University of Queensland Press
Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection	Ouyang Yu	Terminally Poetic	Ginninderra Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards	David Stavanger	Case Notes	UWA Publishing

Drama

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Script	Laurence Billiet	Freeman	General Strike and Matchbox Pictures
	Play	Dylan Van Den Berg	Milk	The Street Theatre
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards		Angus Cerini	Wonnangatta	Sydney Theatre Company

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	Julia Baird	Phosphorescence	Random House
	Illustrated Non-Fiction	Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan	Plantopedia	Smith Street Books
National Biography Award^[70]	Biography	Cassandra Pybus	Truganini: Journey Through the Apocalypse	Allen & Unwin
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Kate Fullagar	The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire	Yale University Press
New South Wales Premier's History Awards^[71]	Australian History	Grace Karskens	People of the River: Lost worlds of early Australia	Allen & Unwin
	Community and Regional History	Matthew Colloff	Landscapes of Our Hearts: Reconciling people and environment	Thames & Hudson
	General History	Luke Keogh	The Wardian Case: How a simple box moved plants and changed the world	The University of Chicago Press
Queensland Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Luke Stegemann	Amnesia Road: Landscape, violence and memory	NewSouth Publishing
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards	Non-Fiction	Paddy Manning	Body Count: How Climate Change is Killing Us	Simon & Schuster

Deaths

• 1 May – Kate Jennings, poet and writer (died in the United States) (b. 1948)^[72]
• 25 April – Valerie Parv, romance novelist (b. 1951)^[73]
• 16 May – Vera Deacon, historian (b. 1926)^[74]
• 16 September – Tim Thorne, poet (b. 1944)^[75]
• 22 November –
  • Stuart Macintyre, historian (b. 1947)^[76]
  • Doug MacLeod, children's writer, poet, screenwriter and playwright (b. 1959)^[77]
  • Babette Smith, historian (b. 1942)
• 26 November – Desmond O'Grady, journalist and author (died in Rome) (b. 1929)^[78]
• 26 December – Paul B. Kidd, radio broadcaster and true crime writer (b. 1945)^[79]

See also

• 2021 in Australia
• 2021 in literature
• 2021 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature
• List of Australian literary awards

Notes and References

1. Web site: Amnesty by Aravind Adiga. National Library of Australia. 6 July 2024.
2. Web site: The Other Half of You by Michael Mohammed Ahmad. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
3. Web site: Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
4. Web site: After Story by Larissa Behrendt. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
5. Web site: O by Steven Carroll. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
6. Web site: Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
7. Web site: Echolalia by Briohny Doyle. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
8. Web site: The Magpie Wing by Max Easton. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
9. Web site: The Ripping Tree by Nikki Gemmell. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
10. Web site: Pushing Back by John Kinsella. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
11. Web site: Love Objects by Emily Maguire. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
12. Web site: The Airways by Jennifer Mills. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
13. Web site: One Hundred Days by Alice Pung. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
14. Web site: The Performance by Max Easton. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
15. Web site: 7 ½ by Christos Tsiolkas. National Library of Australia. 5 July 2024.
16. Web site: Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
17. Web site: Girls in Boys' Cars by Felicity Castagna. National Library of Australia. 6 July 2024.
18. Web site: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales. National Library of Australia. 6 July 2024.
19. Web site: Rabbit, Soldier, Angel Thief by Katrina Nannestad. National Library of Australia. 6 July 2024.
20. Web site: The Enemy Within by Tim Ayliffe. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
21. Web site: The Others by Mark Brandi . National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
22. Web site: You Had It Coming by B. M. Carroll. Austlit. 8 July 2024.
23. Web site: Ash Mountain by Helen FitzGerald. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
24. Web site: Kill Your Brother by Jack Heath. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
25. Web site: Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. Austlit. 8 July 2024.
26. Web site: The Family Doctor by Debra Oswald. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
27. Web site: The Deep by Kyle Perry. Austlit. 8 July 2024.
28. Web site: When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
29. Web site: Stasis Shuffle by Pam Brown. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
30. Web site: How Decent Folk Behave by Maxine Beneba Clarke. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
31. Web site: Human Looking by Andy Jackson. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
32. Web site: Trigger Warning by Maria Takolander. National Library of Australia. 8 July 2024.
33. Web site: Coming of Age in the War on Terror by Randa Abdel-Fattah. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
34. Web site: Power Play: Breaking Through Bias, Barriers and Boys' Clubs by Julia Banks. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
35. Web site: Monsters: A reckoning by Alison Croggon. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
36. Web site: Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud by Mehreen Faruqi. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
37. Web site: Reset: Restoring Australia after the Pandemic Recession by Ross Garnaut. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
38. Web site: With the Falling of the Dusk by Stan Grant. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
39. Web site: The Most I Could Be by Dale Kent. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
40. Web site: Full Circle: A search for the world that comes next by Scott Ludlam. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
41. Web site: Return to Uluru by Mark McKenna . National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
42. Web site: Truth-Telling: History, sovereignty and the Uluru Statement by Henry Reynolds. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
43. Web site: Crimes Against Nature: Capitalism and Global Heating by Jeff Sparrow. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
44. Web site: The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia's First Peoples by Corey Tutt and Blak Douglas. National Library of Australia. 9 July 2024.
45. Web site: Austlit — Melbourne Prize . Austlit. 9 November 2023.
46. Web site: 2021-12-07. Aitken wins 2021 Patrick White Award. live. 2022-01-26. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20211207001128/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/12/07/207313/aitken-wins-patrick-white-award/ . 7 December 2021 .
47. Web site: ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners . Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 12 January 2024.
48. Web site: Colin Roderick Award — Other Winners . 13 July 2020. James Cook University. 2 February 2024.
49. Web site: "Indie Book Awards - Winners 2021" . Australian Independent Booksellers. 11 March 2024.
50. Web site: 2021-04-26. 'Eight jobs at once and no sick days': $60,000 prizes a welcome relief for young writer. 4 January 2024. www.abc.net.au. en-AU.
51. Web site: 2021-04-22. Evie Wyld wins the 2021 Stella Prize. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210422103735/https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/writing-and-publishing/andrea-simpson/evie-wyld-wins-the-2021-stella-prize-262366 . 22 April 2021 . 2020-04-30. ArtsHub. en-AU.
52. Web site: 2021-03-17. Pandemic novel wins Australia's richest literary prize. live. 2021-03-19. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210411120101/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/03/17/174779/pandemic-novel-wins-australias-richest-literary-prize/ . 11 April 2021 .
53. Web site: 2021-02-02. McKay wins $100k Victorian Prize for Literature. live. 2021-03-23. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210201230809/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/02/02/162048/mckay-wins-100k-victorian-prize-for-literature/ . 1 February 2021 .
54. Web site: State Library of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners. 18 April 2024.
55. Web site: "Robbie Arnott's Rain Heron swoops on the Age Book of the Year" . 3 September 2021. The Age, 3 September 2021. 31 January 2024.
56. Web site: Steger. Jason. 2021-04-30. How truth and fiction won Emma Batchelor this year's Vogel Award. 2021-04-30. The Sydney Morning Herald. en.
57. Web site: "Barbara Jefferis Award" . Australian Society of Authors. 20 January 2024.
58. Web site: 2021-07-15. $60,000 Miles Franklin awarded to a novel 'soaked in sadness' that is ultimately about hope. live. 2021-07-15. ABC News. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210715062116/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-15/miles-franklin-literary-award-tasmanina-author-amanda-lohrey/100293360 . 15 July 2021 .
59. Web site: 2021-12-15. PMLA 2021 winners announced. live. 2021-12-15. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20211214225032/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/12/15/207378/pmla-2021-winners-announced/ . 14 December 2021 .
60. Web site: 2021-04-27. NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021 winners announced. live. 2021-04-28. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210427003116/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/04/27/185497/nsw-premiers-literary-awards-2021-winners-announced/ . 27 April 2021 .
61. Web site: 2021-04-26. 'Eight jobs at once and no sick days': $60,000 prizes a welcome relief for young writer. 2021-04-28. www.abc.net.au. en-AU.
62. Web site: 2021-09-09. Winners announced for 2021 Queensland Literary Awards. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210909191704/https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93179. 2021-09-09. 2021-09-09. Queensland Government: Ministerial Media Statements. en.
63. Web site: 2021-03-17. Pandemic novel wins Australia's richest literary prize. live. 2021-03-19. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210411120101/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/03/17/174779/pandemic-novel-wins-australias-richest-literary-prize/ . 11 April 2021 .
64. Web site: 2021-08-21. CBCA Book of the Year 2021 winners announced. live. 2021-08-20. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210820025648/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/08/20/191847/cbca-book-of-the-year-2021-winners-announced/ . 20 August 2021 .
65. Web site: 2021-06-25. Nicholls wins 2021 CBCA Nan Chauncy Award. live. 2021-06-28. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625002427/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/06/25/188657/nicholls-wins-2021-cbca-nan-chauncy-award/ . 25 June 2021 .
66. Web site: 2021-08-30 . Davitt Awards winners announced . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210830010711/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/08/30/192250/davitt-awards-winners-announced-3/ . 2021-08-30 . 2021-09-01 . Books+Publishing . en-AU.
67. Web site: 2021-08-26. Ned Kelly Awards 2021 winners announced. 2021-08-26. Books+Publishing. en-AU.
68. Web site: 2021-04-15. Jeffrey wins 2020 Anne Elder Award for 'Dead Bolt'. live. 2021-04-30. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210415004322/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/04/15/185144/jeffrey-wins-2020-anne-elder-award-for-dead-bolt/ . 15 April 2021 .
69. Web site: Mary Gilmore Award . . 5 February 2024.
70. Web site: 2021-08-05. National Biography Award winner's announced on ABC Sydney. 2021-08-26. ABC Radio. en.
71. Web site: 2021-09-06. NSW Premier's History Awards 2021 winners announced. live. 2021-09-06. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20210906011639/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/09/06/192708/nsw-premiers-history-awards-2021-winners-announced/ . 6 September 2021 .
72. Web site: Haigh, Gideon. 2 May 2021. Expat writer Kate Jennings had a voice both fierce and fun. subscription. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210503013158/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Farts%2Fbooks%2Fexpat-writer-kate-jennings-had-a-voice-both-fierce-and-fun%2Fnews-story%2F7bafe09361978b0a9c74c49651281b3b&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&nk=97d29b95bfed9a469cf8c987a43c4421-1620005517. 3 May 2021. 2 May 2021. The Australian.
73. Web site: Valerie Parv . Austlit. 27 June 2023.
74. Web site: 2021-05-18. Newcastle loses a legend: Vera Deacon passes away, aged 94. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210518024210/https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7257081/newcastle-loses-a-legend-vera-deacon-passes-away-aged-94/. 2021-05-18. 2021-05-18. Newcastle Herald. en-AU.
75. Web site: 2021-09-17. Timothy Colin Thorne – Death Notice. 2021-09-19. The Advocate.
76. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/celebrated-historians-babette-smith-stuart-macintyre-have-died/news-story/9a7c523fec73bade9d617eafc3ed7ea3 Celebrated historians Babette Smith, Stuart Macintyre have died
77. Web site: 2021-12-01. Vale Doug MacLeod. live. 2021-12-22. Books+Publishing. en-AU. https://web.archive.org/web/20211207052854/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/12/01/206790/vale-doug-macleod/ . 7 December 2021 .
78. Web site: Phillilps . John . 2021-11-28 . Obituary: Desmond O'Grady, Australian foreign correspondent who reported on Italy for over half a century . 2023-10-19 . www.italianinsider.it.
79. Web site: White. Daniella. 27 December 2021. Veteran Australian radio broadcaster Paul B. Kidd dies, aged 76. 27 December 2021. Sydney Morning Herald.