ABIA 2017 longlists announced

The longlists for the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced.

The titles in each category are:

General fiction book of the year

• All These Perfect Strangers (Aoife Clifford, S&S)
• The Birdman’s Wife (Melissa Ashley, Affirm)
• The Chocolate Tin (Fiona McIntosh, Michael Joseph)
• The Dry (Jane Harper, Macmillan)
• The Four Legendary Kingdoms (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan)
• The One Who Got Away (Caroline Overington, HarperCollins)
• The Rules of Backyard Cricket (Jock Serong, Text)
• Truly Madly Guilty (Liane Moriarty, Macmillan)

Literary fiction book of the year

• An Isolated Incident (Emily Maguire, Picador)
• Between a Wolf and a Dog (Georgia Blain, Scribe)
• Crimes of the Father (Tom Keneally, Vintage)
• Goodwood (Holly Throsby, A&U)
• The Easy Way Out (Steven Amsterdam, Hachette)
• The Good People (Hannah Kent, Picador)
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (Dominic Smith, A&U)
• Where the Trees Were (Inga Simpson, Hachette)

General nonfiction book of the year

• Dying: A Memoir (Cory Taylor, Text)
• Everywhere I Look (Helen Garner, Text)
• Fight Like a Girl (Clementine Ford, A&U)
• Girl Stuff 8-12 (Kaz Cooke, Viking)
• Talking To My Country (Stan Grant, HarperCollins)
• The Barefoot Investor (Scott Pape, Wrightbooks)
• The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed their own Government, (Niki Savva, Scribe)
• True Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia Volume 2 (David Hunt, Black Inc.)

Biography of the year

• Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing (Ashleigh Wilson, Text)
• Life As I Know It (Michelle Payne & John Harms, MUP)
• Paul Keating: The Big-Picture Leader (Troy Bramston, Scribe)
• Songs of a War Boy (Deng Adut, Hachette)
• The Boy Behind the Curtain (Tim Winton, Hamish Hamilton)
• The Hate Race (Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette)
• Victoria (Julia Baird, HarperCollins)
• Working Class Boy (Jimmy Barnes, HarperCollins)

Book of the year older children (8 to 14 years)

• Artie and the Grime Wave (Richard Roxburgh, A&U)
• Gemina (Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, A&U)
• The Bad Guys Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic)
• The Bone Sparrow (Zana Fraillon, Lothian)
• The Unforgettable What’s His Name (Paul Jennings, illus by Craig Smith, A&U)
• WeirDo #7: Mega Weird! (Anh Do & Jules Faber, Scholastic)
• Words in Deep Blue (Cath Crowley, Pan)
• Wormwood Mire: A Stella Montgomery Intrigue (Judith Rossell, ABC Books)

Book of the year for younger children (0 to 8 years)

• Charlie and the War Against the Grannies (Alan Brough, Pan)
• Circle (Jeannie Baker, Walker Books)
• Mr Chicken Arriva a Roma (Leigh Hobbs, A&U)
• Pig the Elf (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic)
• Pig the Winner (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic)
• The 78-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
• There is a Monster on My Holiday Who Farts (Tim Miller & Matt Stanton, ABC Books)
• What Do They Do with All the Poo from All the Animals at the Zoo? (Anh Do & Laura Wood, Scholastic)

Illustrated book of the year

• Around the World in 80 Dinners (Janne Apelgren & Joanna Savil, MUP)
• Basics to Brilliance (Donna Hay, HarperCollins)
• Margaret Preston (Lesley Harding, Miegunyah Press)
• Neighbourhood (Hetty McKinnon, Plum)
• New York (Megan Hess, Hardie Grant Books)
• Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family (Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive, ABC Books)
• Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (Shannon Matinez & Mo Wyse, Hardie Grant)
• The Bikini Body 28-Day Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Guide (Kayla Itsines, Macmillan)

International Book of the Year

• Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen, S&S)
• Commonwealth (Ann Patchett, Bloomsbury)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (J K Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne, Little Brown)
• The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet (Michael Mosley, S&S)
• The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo (Amy Schumer, HarperCollins)
• The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben, Black Inc.)
• The North Water (Ian McGuire, Scribner)
• The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead, Fleet)

Matt Richell Award for new writer of the year

• Fight Like a Girl (Clementine Ford, A&U)
• Goodwood (Holly Throsby, A&U)
• Music and Freedom (Zoë Morrison, Vintage)
• The Dry (Jane Harper, Macmillan)
• The Island Will Sink (Briohny Doyle, The Lifted Brow)
• The Midnight Watch (David Dyer, Hamish Hamilton)
• The Paper House (Anna Spargo-Ryan, Picador)
• Wasted: A Story of Alcohol, Grief and a Death in Brisbane (Elspeth Muir, Text)

Small publishers’ adult book of the year

• Damned Whores and God’s Police (Anne Summers, NewSouth)
• Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus and Nauru (Madeline Gleeson, NewSouth)
• Position Doubtful: Mapping Landscapes and Memories (Kim Mahood, Scribe)
• Poum and Alexandre (Catherine de Saint Phalle, Transit Lounge)
• Saltwater (Cathy McLennan, UQP)
• The Australian Native Bee Book (Tim Heard, Sugarbag Bees)
• The Island Will Sink (Briohny Doyle, The Lifted Brow)
• The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh (Leigh Straw, NewSouth)

Small publishers’ children’s book of the year

• Crabbing with Dad (Paul Seden, Magabala)
• Even Mummy Cries (Naomi Hunter & Karen Erasmus, Empowering Resources)
• I Love Me (Sally Morgan & Ambelin Kwaymullina, Fremantle Press)
• Mad Magpie (Gregg Dreise, Magabala)
• My Sister is a Superhero (Damon Young & Peter Carnavas, UQP)
• Steve Goes to Carnival (Joshua Button & Robyn Wells, Magabala)
• The Mozzie with a Sharp Snozzie (Irina Goundortseva, Big Sky Publishing)
• The Secrets We Keep (Nova Weetman, UQP).

A panel of industry experts will select the shortlists, which will be announced on 1 May. The winners will be announced on 25 May at a ceremony at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney.

The ABIAs celebrate the ‘best books of the year, well published’. For more information, visit the ABIA website here.

Category: Local news