The shortlists for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced today, bringing together some of Australia’s most prominent and decorated writers. The Fiction shortlist, for example, features two former Man Booker winners, and two Miles Franklin winners.
The Awards recognise Australia’s literary talent across six different categories: fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult literature, children’s literature and poetry. A panel of fifteen judges, whittled down more than 500 entries across these six categories to a shortlist of thirty.
The winner of each categories will receive $80,000, whilst each of the shortlisted authors will receive $5000. The winners are set to be announced later in the year.
The 2018 shortlists are:
Fiction
- A Long Way from Home – Peter Carey
- Border Districts – Gerald Murnane
- First Person – Richard Flanagan
- Taboo – Kim Scott
- The Life to Come – Michelle de Kretser
Non-fiction
- Asia’s Reckoning – Richard McGregor
- Mischka’s War: A European Odyssey of the 1940s – Sheila Fitzpatrick
- No Front Line: Australia’s Special Forces at War in Afghanistan – Chris Masters
- The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders – Stuart Kells
- Unbreakable – Jelena Dokic and Jessica Halloran
Australian history
- Beautiful Balts: From Displaced Persons to New Australians – Jayne Persian
- Hidden in Plain View: The Aboriginal People of Coastal Sydney – Paul Irish
- Indigenous and Other Australians Since 1901 – Timothy Rowse
- John Curtin’s War: The coming of war in the Pacific, and reinventing Australia, Volume 1 – John Edwards
- The Enigmatic Mr Deakin – Judith Brett
Poetry
- Archipelago – Adam Aitken
- Blindness and Rage: A Phantasmagoria – Brian Castro
- Chatelaine – Bonny Cassidy
- Domestic Interior – Fiona Wright
- Transparencies – Stephen Edgar
Young Adult literature
- Living on Hope Street – Demet Divaroren
- My Lovely Frankie – Judith Clarke
- Ruben – Bruce Whatley
- The Ones that Disappeared – Zana Fraillon
- This is My Song – Richard Yaxley
Children’s literature
- Feathers – Phil Cummings and Phil Lesnie
- Figgy Takes the City – Tamsin Janu
- Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee! – Lisa Shanahan and Binny Talib
- Pea Pod Lullaby – Glenda Millard and Stephen Michael King
- Storm Whale – Sarah Brennan and Jane Tanner
For more information about the shortlisted books, authors and to see the judges’ comments, click HERE.
