WA prem’s awards 2014 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 29 July 2014 Books+Publishing

The titles shortlisted for the 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards were announced on 28 July by State Library of Western Australia CEO and state librarian Margaret Allen.

The shortlisted titles in each category, chosen from 552 entries, are:

Children’s books

Baby Bedtime (Mem Fox, illus by Emma Quay, Viking)
Light Horse Boy (Dianne Wolfer, illus by Brian Simmonds, Fremantle Press)
My Superhero (Chris Owen, illus by Moira Court, Fremantle Press)
Stay Well Soon (Penny Tangey, UQP)
The Swap (Jan Ormerod, illus by Andrew Joyner, Little Hare Books)
Violet Vanishes (Ursula Dubosarsky, illus by Annie White, Lothian)

Digital narrative

Afterdeath (Evangeline Than & Gareth Lockett, Red Alpha)
Authentic in All Caps (Christy Dena, Universe Creation 101)
Neomad (Stuart Campbell & Wah Cheung, Big hART)
Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise (Jason Nelson, Turbulence, New York City)
#PRISOM (Mez Breeze & Andy Campbell, Mez Breeze Design and Dreaming Methods)

Fiction

All the Birds, Singing (Evie Wyld, Vintage)
Coal Creek (Alex Miller, A&U)
Elemental (Amanda Curtin, UWA Publishing)
Eyrie (Tim Winton, Penguin)
The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt (Tracy Farr, Fremantle Press)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Richard Flanagan, Vintage)

Nonfiction

Broken Nation (Joan Beaumont, A&U)
Boy, Lost (Kristina Olsson, UQP)
Citizen Emperor (Philip Dwyer, Bloomsbury)
Night Games (Anna Krien, Black Inc.)
Out of the Mountains (David Kilcullen, Scribe)
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (Clare Wright, Text)

Poetry

Hotel Hyperion (Lisa Gorton, Giramondo)
Six Different Windows (Paul Hetherington, UWA Publishing)
Stone Scar Air Water (Judy Johnson, Walleah Press)
Unearthed (Tracy Ryan, Fremantle Press)
Walking: New and Selected Poems (Kevin Brophy, Five Islands Press)
Xn (Carol Jenkins, Puncher & Wattmann)

Scripts

Forget Me Not (Tom Holloway, Currency Press)
Maggie Stone (Caleb Lewis, self-published)
Prompter (Sam Fox & Patrick Pittman, Hydra Poesis)
The Beast (Eddie Perfect, Anti-Semantic)
The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars (Van Badham, Currency Press)
The Secret River (Andrew Bovell, Currency Press)

Highly commended: An Accidental Soldier (Blake Ayshford, Cameron Creswell)

Western Australian emerging writers

Fractured (Dawn Barker, Hachette)
Letters to the End of Love (Yvette Walker, UQP)
Salt Story: Of Sea-dogs and Fisherwoman (Sarah Drummond, Fremantle Press)
Stella’s Sea (Sally-Ann Jones, UWA Publishing)

West Australian history

A Town is Born: The Story of Fitzroy Crossing (Steve Hawke, Magabala)
Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man (Margaret Simons, Viking)
Koombana Days (Annie Boyd, Fremantle Press)
Perth (David Whish-Wilson, NewSouth)
Seeking Wisdom: A Centenary History of the University of Western Australia (Jenny Gregory, UWA Publishing)
The Marriage Knot: Marriage and Divorce in Colonial Western Australia 1829-1900 (Penelope Hetherington, UWA Publishing)

Writing for young adults

Alex as Well (Alyssa Brugman, Text)
Joyous and Moonbeam (Richard Yaxley, Omnibus)
Life in Outer Space (Melissa Keil, Hardie Grant Egmont)
My Life as an Alphabet (Barry Jonsberg, A&U)
The Incredible Here and Now (Felicity Castagna, Giramondo)
You Don’t Even Know (Sue Lawson, Black Dog Books)

Highly commended: Cry Blue Murder (Kimberley Kane & Marion Roberts, UQP).

Readers can vote for their favourite book from the fiction shortlist for the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by the West Australian newspaper.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, this is the first time the awards have included a prize for an emerging writer.

The winners will be announced on 22 September 2014.

Category: Local news