Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2021 shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced.
The shortlisted and highly commended works in each category are:
Fiction
- The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (Richard Flanagan, Knopf)
- Our Shadows (Gail Jones, Text)
- The Animals in That Country (Laura Jean McKay, Scribe)
- The Coconut Children (Vivian Pham, Vintage)
Highly commended
- Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (S L Lim, Transit Lounge)
- Smart Ovens for Lonely People (Elizabeth Tan, Brio)
Nonfiction
- Songlines: The Power and Promise (Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly, Thames & Hudson)
- Body Count: How climate change is killing us (Paddy Manning, S&S)
- Show Me Where It Hurts (Kylie Maslen, Text)
- Blueberries (Ellena Savage, Text)
- Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice (Louise Milligan, Hachette)
- Fire Country: How Indigenous fire management could help save Australia (Victor Steffensen, Hardie Grant Travel)
Highly commended
- After the Count (Stephanie Convery, Viking)
- Hazelwood (Tom Doig, Viking)
- People of the River (Grace Karskens, A&U)
- British India, White Australia: Overseas Indians, intercolonial relations and the Empire (Kama Maclean, NewSouth)
Drama
- Wonnangatta (Angus Cerini, Sydney Theatre Company)
- SLAP. BANG. KISS. (Dan Giovannoni, Melbourne Theatre Company)
- Sunshine Super Girl: The Evonne Goolagong Story (Andrea James, Currency Press)
Highly commended
- Wherever She Wanders (Kendall Feaver, Griffith Theatre Company and Currency Press)
- Torch the Place (Benjamin Law, Melbourne University Publishing)
Poetry
- Ask Me About the Future (Rebecca Jessen, UQP)
- Case Notes (David Stavanger, UWA Publishing)
- Throat (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)
Highly commended
- Of Memory and Furniture (Bron Bateman, Fremantle Press)
- Turbulence (Thuy On, UWAP)
Writing for young adults
- The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo)
- Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)
- Where We Begin (Christie Nieman, Pan)
Highly commended
- The End of the World is Bigger than Love (Davina Bell, Text)
- The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Garth Nix, A&U)
Award for Indigenous writing
- Tell Me Why: The story of my life and my music (Archie Roach, S&S)
- Kindred (Kirli Saunders, Magabala)
- Song of the Crocodile (Nardi Simpson, Hachette)
- Where the Fruit Falls (Karen Wyld, UWAP)
Highly commended
- Late Murrumbidgee Poems (John Mukky Burke, Cordite Books)
Unpublished manuscript
- Anam (André Dao)
- On A Knife’s Edge (Neela Janakiramanan)
- But the Girl (Jessica Zhan Mei Yu)
Highly commended
- Children of Tomorrow (J R Burgmann)
- Goblins (Patrick Hunn)
- The Guest House (Kylie Mirmohamadi).
The winners will be presented with their awards at a digital awards announcement on Monday, 1 February, 2021. The recipients of the fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, young adult categories and the biennial prize for Indigenous writing each receive $25,000, while the winner of the unpublished manuscript award receives $15,000. The winners of each of the seven award categories go on to contest the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature. A people’s choice award, worth $2000, will also be announced.
The 2020 Victorian Prize for Literature was awarded to Sydney playwright S Shakthidharan and associate writer Eamon Flack for their play Counting and Cracking (Belvoir and Co-Curious).
For more information about the awards, see the Wheeler Centre website.
Tags: Victorian Premier's Literary Award
Category: Awards Local news