This is a list of the historical events and publications of 2015 in Australian literature.
Major publications Literary fiction Tony Birch – Ghost River Lisa Birman — How to Walk Away Geraldine Brooks – The Secret Chord Robyn Cadwallader — The Anchoress Stephen Daisley – Coming Rain Gregory Day – Archipelago of Souls Peggy Frew – Hope Farm Lisa Gorton – The Life of Houses Sally Hepworth — The Secrets of Midwives David Ireland — The World Repair Video Game Susan Johnson – The Landing Gail Jones – A Guide to Berlin Myfanwy Jones – Leap Mireille Juchau – The World Without Us Malcolm Knox – The Wonder Lover Amanda Lohrey – A Short History of Richard Kline Judy Nunn — Spirits of the Ghan A. S. Patrić – Black Rock White City Gregory David Roberts — The Mountain Shadow Steve Toltz – Quicksand Lucy Treloar – Salt Creek Charlotte Wood – The Natural Way of Things
Children's and Young Adult fiction Nick Earls – New Boy John Flanagan — The Tournament at Gorlan Mem Fox – This & That Mem Fox – Nellie Belle Andy Griffiths – The 65-Storey Treehouse John Larkin — The Pause Maureen McCarthy – Stay With Me Sophie Masson – Hunter's Moon Gillian Mears – The Cat with the Coloured Tail Louis Nowra – Prince of Afghanistan Emily Rodda – Two Moons R. A. Spratt — Friday Barnes, Under Suspicion Lili Wilkinson – Green Valentine Fiona Wood – Cloudwish
Crime and mystery Peter Corris – Gun Control Garry Disher – The Heat Mark Dapin – R&R Candice Fox – Fall Katherine Howell – Tell the Truth Adrian McKinty – Gun Street Girl Barry Maitland – Ash Island Michael Robotham – Close Your Eyes Emma Viskic – Resurrection Bay Dave Warner – Before It Breaks
Science Fiction and Fantasy K. A. Bedford – Black Light John Birmingham Emergence Resistance Merlinda Bobis – Locust Girl: A Lovesong James Bradley – Clade Trudi Canavan — Angel of Storms Isobelle Carmody – The Red Queen Kate Forsyth — The Beast of Blackmoor Bog Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff — Illuminae Jane Rawson – Formaldehyde
Romance Alison Goodman — The Dark Days Club
Poetry Robert Adamson – Net Needle David Brooks – Open House Brook Emery, with Sarah Holland-Batt eds. — Australian Poetry Anthology, Volume 4. Clive James – Sentenced to Life Les Murray – Waiting for the Past
Drama Daniel Keene – The Long Way Home Matthew Whittet – Seventeen
Biographies David Day – Paul Keating : The Biography Peter Garrett – Big Blue Sky : A Memoir Kate Grenville – One Life : My Mother's Story Gerald Murnane – Something for the Pain : A Memoir of the Turf Brenda Niall – Mannix Magda Szubanski – Reckoning : A Memoir Tim Winton – Island Home : A Landscape Memoir
Non-fiction Joel Deane – Catch and Kill: The Politics of Power Andrew Fowler – The War on Journalism: Media Moguls, Whistleblowers and the Price of Freedom Gideon Haigh – Certain Admissions Lucy Sussex – Blockbuster! : Fergus Hume and the Mystery of the Hansom Cab
Awards and honours
Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
Lifetime achievement
Award Author Christopher Brennan Award Gig Ryan Melbourne Prize for Literature Chris Wallace-Crabbe Patrick White Award Joan London
Literary
Award Author Title Publisher ALS Gold Medal Jennifer Maiden Drones and Phantoms Giramondo Publishing Colin Roderick Award Not awarded Indie Book Awards Book of the Year Don Watson The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia Penguin Nita Kibble Literary Award Joan London The Golden Age Vintage Books Stella Prize Emily Bitto The Strays Affirm Press Victorian Prize for Literature Alan Atkinson The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation NewSouth
Fiction
National
Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Not awarded The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Murray Middleton When There’s Nowhere Else to Run Allen & Unwin Barbara Jefferis Award Not awarded Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction Sonya Hartnett Golden Boys Penguin Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction Maxine Beneba Clarke Foreign Soil Hachette Miles Franklin Award Sofie Laguna The Eye of the Sheep Allen & Unwin Prime Minister's Literary Awards Joan London The Golden Age Random House New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Mark Henshaw The Snow Kimono Text Publishing Queensland Literary Awards Joan London The Golden Age Random House Victorian Premier's Literary Award Rohan Wilson To Name Those Lost Allen & Unwin Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Not awarded Voss Literary Prize Elizabeth Harrower In Certain Circles Text Publishing
Children and Young Adult National
Award Category Author Title PublisherChildren's Book of the Year Award Older Readers Claire Zorn The Protected University of Queensland Press Younger Readers Libby Gleeson The Cleo Stories : The Necklace and the Present Allen & Unwin Picture Book Freya Blackwood, text Irema Kobald My Two Blankets Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont Early Childhood Libby Gleeson, illus. Freya Blackwood Go to Sleep, Jessie! Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont Indie Book Awards Book of the Year Children's & YA Judith Rossell Withering-by-Sea PenguinNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsChildren's Catherine Norton Crossing Omnibus/Scholastic Australia Tamsin Janu Figgy in the World Omnibus/Scholastic Australia Young People's Jaclyn Moriarty The Cracks in the Kingdom Pan Macmillan Australia Victorian Premier's Literary Award Young Adult Fiction Claire Zorn The Protected University of Queensland Press
Crime and Mystery
International
Award Author Title Publisher CWA Gold Dagger Award Michael Robotham Life or Death Hachette
National
Award Category Author Title PublisherDavitt Award Novel Liane Moriarty Big Little Lies Penguin Books Young adult novel Ellie Marney Every Word Allen & Unwin Children's novel Judith Rossell Withering-By-Sea HarperCollins True crime Caroline Overington Last Woman Hanged HarperCollins Debut novel Christine Bongers Intruder Random House Readers' choice Sandi Wallace Tell Me Why Clan Destine PressNed Kelly Award Novel Candice Fox Eden Random House First novel Jock Serong Quota Text Publishing True crime Helen Garner This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial Text Publishing Lifetime achievement Not awarded
Science fiction
Award Category Author Title PublisherAurealis Award Sf Novel Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Illuminae Allen & Unwin Sf Short Story Sean Williams "All the Wrong Places" Meeting Infinity (Solaris Books) Fantasy Novel Trent Jamieson Day Boy Text Publishing Fantasy Short Story Rowena Cory Daniels "The Giant's Lady" Legends 2 (Newcon Press) Horror Novel Trent Jamieson Day Boy Text Publishing Horror Short Story Joanne Anderton "Bullets" In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep (AHWA) Young Adult Novel Kathryn Barker In the Skin of a Monster Allen & Unwin Young Adult Short Story Deborah Kalin "The Miseducation of Mara Lys" Cherry Crow Children (Twelfth Planet Press)Ditmar Award Novel Glenda Larke The Lascar's Dagger Hachette Best Novella or Novelette Sean Williams "The Legend Trap" Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press) Best Short Story Cat Sparks "The Seventh Relic" Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
Poetry
Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Not awarded Anne Elder Award Cathy Altmann Circumnavigation Poetica Christi PressMary Gilmore Award Not awarded Prime Minister's Literary Awards Geoffrey Lehmann Poems 1957–2013 UWA Publishing New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards David Malouf Earth Hour University of Queensland Press Queensland Literary Awards Les Murray Waiting for the Past Black Inc Victorian Premier's Literary Award Jill Jones The Beautiful Anxiety Puncher and Wattmann Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Not awarded
Drama
Award Category Author Title Publisher New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards ScriptJennifer Kent The Babadook Causeway FilmsPatrick White Playwrights' Award Award Neil Levi Kin Sydney Theatre Company Fellowship Tommy Murphy
Non-Fiction
Award Category Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Non-Fiction Not awarded Indie Book Awards Book of the Year Non-Fiction Don Watson The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia Penguin National Biography Award Biography Philip Butterss An Unsentimental Bloke: The Life and Work of C J Dennis Wakefield Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Don Watson The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia PenguinNew South Wales Premier's History Awards Australian History Alan Atkinson The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation Oxford University Press Community and Regional History Babette Smith The Luck of the Irish : How a Shipload of Convicts Survived the Wreck of the Hive to Make a New Life in Australia Allen & Unwin General HistoryWarwick Anderson & Ian R Mackay Intolerant Bodies : A Short History of Autoimmunity Johns Hopkins University Press Queensland Literary Awards Non-Fiction Don Watson The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia Penguin Victorian Premier's Literary Award Non-fiction Alan Atkinson The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation Oxford University Press
Deaths 28 January — Lionel Gilbert, historian, author, and academic, (born 1924) 29 January — Colleen McCullough, novelist (born 1937) 13 February — Faith Bandler, author and civil rights activist (born 1918) 23 February — James Aldridge, novelist (born 1918) 20 March — Malcolm Fraser, politician and author (born 1930) 23 March — Alan Seymour, playwright (born 1927) 20 May — J. S. Harry, poet (born 1939) 29 May — Syd Harrex, poet and academic (born 1935) 20 August — Veronica Brady, poet and critic (born 1929) 4 October — Nan Hunt, children's writer who also wrote as N. L. Ray (born 1918)
See also 2015 in Australia 2015 in literature 2015 in poetry List of years in Australian literature List of years in literature List of Australian literary awards
References
Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.