It certainly is the season for shortlists, and another has just been announced – the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2012. This year’s awards include the first ever Poetry Award, as well as a newly incorporated Australian History Prize. A total of $600,000 will be awarded across the six categories, making it the richest literary prize in Australia. It’s nice to see the Gillard government supporting our local industry, especially in the National Year of Reading!
The shortlists are:
Fiction
All That I Am by Anna Funder
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears
Autumn Laing by Alex Miller
Forecast: Turbulence by Janette Turner Hospital
Poetry
Ashes in the Air by Ali Alizadeh
Interferon Psalms by Luke Davies
Armour by John Kinsella
Southern Barbarians by John Mateer
New and Selected Poems by Gig Ryan
Non-Fiction
A Short History of Christianity by Geoffrey Blainey
Michael Kirby: Paradoxes and Principles by A.J Brown
When Horse Became Saw: A Family’s Journey Through Autism by Anthony Macris
Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland
An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark by Mark McKenna
Prize for Australian History
1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia by James Boyce
The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia by Bill Gammage
Breaking the Sheep’s Back by Charles Massey
Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation by Russell McGregor
Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us by Renegade Films Australia Pty Ltd
Young Adult
A Straight Line to My Heart by Bill Condon
Being Here by Barry Jonsberg
Pan’s Whisper by Sue Lawson
When We Were Two by Robert Newton
Alaska by Sue Saliba
Children’s Fiction
Evangeline, the Wish Keeper’s Helper by Maggie Alderson
The Jewel Fish of Karnak by Graeme Base
Father’s Day by Anne Brooksbank
Come Down, Cat! by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo
Goodnight, Mice! by Frances Watts, illustrated by Judy Watson
There are some familiar names on the shortlists, as well as some first time entrants. Good luck to all!
