Queensland Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced

The shortlists for the 2024 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced.

In several categories, the awards’ value has increased this year, with the total value of the awards now standing at $276,000, up from $238,500 in 2023.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance ($30,000)

• Borderland (Graham Akhurst, UWA Publishing)
• Fat Girl Dancing (Kris Kneen, Text)
• Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
• Poof (J M Tolcher, James Tolcher)
• Personal Score: Sport, culture, identity (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)

Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Awards ($15,000)

(Two awards of $12,000 each, plus career development support to the value of $3,000 each)

• Wallea Eaglehawk
• Gavin Yuan Gao
• Myles McGuire
• Alex Philp
• Sean West

Fiction Book Award ($15,000)

• The Great Undoing (Sharlene Allsopp, Ultimo)
• Body Friend (Katherine Brabon, Ultimo)
• Politica (Yumna Kassab, Ultimo)
• Ghost Cities (Siang Lu, UQP)
• Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)

Nonfiction Book Award ($15,000)

• Deep Water (James Bradley, Hamish Hamilton)
• Monument (Bonny Cassidy, Giramondo)
• Bullet, Paper, Rock: A memoir of words and wars (Abbas El-Zein, Upswell)
• The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world (Antony Loewenstein, Scribe)
• Personal Score: Sport, culture, identity (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)

Children’s Book Award ($15,000)

• Leaf-light (Trace Balla, A&U Children’s)
• Leo and Ralph (Peter Carnavas, UQP)
• Sunshine on Vinegar Street (Karen Comer, A&U Children’s)
• The Impossible Secret of Lillian Velvet (Jaclyn Moriarty, illus by Kelly Canby, A&U Children’s)
• When You’re a Boy (Blake Nuto, Affirm)

Young Adult Book Award ($15,000)

• Borderland (Graham Akhurst, UWA Publishing)
• Smoke & Mirrors (Barry Jonsberg, A&U Children’s)
• The Spider and Her Demons (sydney khoo, Penguin)
• We Could Be Something (Will Kostakis, A&U Children’s)
• I Hope This Doesn’t Find You (Ann Liang, Penguin)

Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection ($15,000)

• The Terrible Event (David Cohen, Transit Lounge)
• Born for You (Magdalena McGuire, Ultimo)
• Gunflower (Laura Jean McKay, Scribe)
• Firelight (John Morrissey, Text)
• The Gorgon Flower (John Richards, UQP)

Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection ($17,500)

• Naag Mountain (Manisha Anjali, Giramondo)
• Reliefs (Jarad Bruinstroop, UQP)
• Three Books (L K Holt, Vagabond)
• Vehicular Man (Mitchell Welch, Rabbit Poetry)
• That Galloping Horse (Petra White, Shearsman Books)

David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer ($20,000)

• ‘Politics’ by Chella Goldwin
• ‘Native Rage’ by Dominic Guerrera
• ‘River Page’ by Lulu Houdini

Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer ($15,000)

• ‘Life Drawing’ by Emily Lighezzolo
• ‘Tender Age’ by Myles McGuire
• ‘EndGain’ by Nicky Peelgrane
• ‘Lovesick’ by Lillian Telford

People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award ($15,000)

• The Great Undoing (Sharlene Allsopp, Ultimo)
• The Naturalist of Amsterdam (Melissa Ashley, Affirm)
• The Bird Art of William T Cooper (Wendy Cooper, NLA Publishing)
• How to Knit a Human: A memoir (Anna Jacobson, NewSouth)
• The Remarkable Mrs Reibey (Grantlee Kieza, ABC Books)
• Ghost Cities (Siang Lu, UQP)
• Immaculate (Anna McGahan, A&U)
• Breath (Carly-Jay Metcalfe, UQP).

The winners in each category, as well as the three winners of the 2024 Queensland Writers Fellowships (each worth $20,000 plus $4,500 in professional development), will be announced on 5 September.

Category: Awards Local news