Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced

Creative Australia has announced the titles shortlisted for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Fiction

• Anam (André Dao, Hamish Hamilton)
• Restless Dolly Maunder (Kate Grenville, Text)
• Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
• The Carnal Fugues (Catherine McNamara, Puncher & Wattmann)
• Stone Yard Devotional (Charlotte Wood, A&U)

Nonfiction

• Close to the Subject: Selected Works (Daniel Browning, Magabala)
• Eventually Everything Connects (Sarah Firth, A&U)
• Graft: Motherhood, Family and a Year on the Land (Maggie MacKellar, Penguin)
• A Kind of Confession (Alex Miller, A&U)
• A Clear Flowing Yarra (Harry Saddler, Affirm)

Australian history

• Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country (Ryan Cropp, La Trobe University Press)
• Bee Miles (Rose Ellis, A&U)
• Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled (Kate Fullagar, Scribner)
• Killing for Country: A Family Story (David Marr, Black Inc.)
• Courting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law (Alecia Simmonds, La Trobe University Press)

Poetry

• In the Photograph (Luke Beesley, Giramondo)
• The Cyprian (Amy Crutchfield, Giramondo)
• She Is the Earth (Ali Cobby Eckermann, Magabala)
• Golden Bridge: New Poems (Jennifer Maiden, Quemar Press)
• The Drama Student (Autumn Royal, Giramondo)

YA

• Grace Notes (Karen Comer, Lothian)
• Welcome to Sex (Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham, HGCP)
• We Could Be Something (Will Kostakis, A&U)
• We Didn’t Think It Through (Gary Lonesborough, A&U)
• A Hunger of Thorns (Lili Wilkinson, A&U)

Children’s

• Etta and the Shadow Taboo (Jared Field, illus by Jeremy Worrall, HGCP)
• Ghost Book (Remy Lai, A&U)
• Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky (Rebecca Lim, A&U)
• Millie Mak the Maker (Alice Pung, illus by Sher Rill Ng, HarperCollins)
• Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country (Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Leah Leaman, Cecelia Edwards, Cassandra Algy, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti, Hardie Grant Explore).

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards acknowledge the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. This is the second year that the awards have been delivered by Creative Australia, following the release of the federal government’s 2023 Revive national cultural policy.

In a statement, Creative Australia said 533 entries were received across the six award categories. The winners and shortlisted authors will share in a tax-free prize pool of $600,000. Each shortlisted author will receive $5000, with the winner of each category receiving $80,000.

Said Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette: ‘Stories are the heartbeat of our culture, connecting us to our past, illuminating our present and shaping our future. The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards celebrate the storytellers who enrich our lives with their creativity and outstanding talent.’

The winners of the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards will be announced on 12 September at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

More information on the shortlists, including judging panel comments, is available on the Creative Australia website.

Category: Awards Local news