1988 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1988.

Events

Peter Carey won the 1988 Booker Prize for Oscar and Lucinda The Miles Franklin Award was not awarded this year as the date was changed from year of publication to year of announcement.

Major publications

Novels Peter Carey — Oscar and Lucinda Liam Davison — The Velodrome Rodney Hall — Captivity Captive Helen Hodgman — Broken Words Dorothy Johnston — Maralinga, My Love Thomas Keneally — Act of Grace Alex Miller — Watching the Climbers on the Mountain Gerald Murnane — Inland Morris West — Masterclass Tim Winton — In the Winter Dark

Short stories Rob Hood — Daydreaming on Company Time Olga Masters — The Rose Fancier Frank Moorhouse — Forty-Seventeen

Children's and young adult fiction Graeme Base — The Eleventh Hour Hesba Fay Brinsmead — When You Come to the Ferry Caroline MacDonald — The Lake at the End of the World P. L. Travers — Mary Poppins and the House Next Door Gillian Rubinstein — Beyond the Labyrinth Tim Winton — Jesse

Crime fiction Jon Cleary — Now and Then, Amen Peter Corris — Man in the Shadows : A Short Novel and Six Stories Marele Day — The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender (first in the Claudia Valentine series)

Science fiction and fantasy Damien Broderick Matilda at the Speed of Light (edited) Striped Holes David J. Lake — West of the Moon Lucy Sussex – "My Lady Tongue"

Poetry Gwen Harwood — Bone Scan Judith Rodriguez — The House by Water: New and Selected Poems John Tranter — Under Berlin

Drama Andrew Bovell — After Dinner Jan Cornall — Escape from a Better Place

Non-fiction Tom Cole — Hell West and Crooked Peter Conrad — Down Home: Revisiting Tasmania Laurie Hergenhan (editor) — The Penguin New Literary History of Australia Eric Rolls — A Million Wild Acres Dale Spender — Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers

Awards and honours Dorothy Auchterlonie Green , for "service to Australian literature, particularly as a writer, critic and teacher" Elizabeth Jolley , for "service to Australian literature" Rosemary Wighton , for "public service, to literature and to the community" Tom Hungerford , for "service to literature" David Martin (poet) , for "service to Australian literature" Gavin Souter , for "service to literature and journalism" Len Beadell , for "service to the Public service and to literature"

Lifetime achievement Award Author Christopher Brennan Award Roland Robinson Patrick White Award Roland Robinson

Literary Award Author Title Publisher The Age Book of the Year Award Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen Viking ALS Gold Medal Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble Colin Roderick Award Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda Hyland House

Fiction

International

Award Category Author Title Publisher Booker Prize Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda University of Queensland Press Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region George Turner The Sea and Summer Faber & Faber

National

Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Rod Jones Julia Paradise McPhee Gribble The Age Book of the Year Award Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen Viking The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Tom Flood Oceana Fine Allen and Unwin Miles Franklin Award Not awarded New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards John Sligo Final Things Penguin Books Australia Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Murray Bail Holden's Performance Viking Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Tim Winton Minimum of Two Fremantle Arts Centre Press

Children and Young Adult Award Category Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Children's Gillian Rubinstein Space Demons Omnibus BooksChildren's Book of the Year Award Older Readers John Marsden So Much to Tell You Walter McVitty Books Picture Book Bob Graham Crusher is Coming! Lothian Books New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Young People's Literature Gillian Rubinstein Answers to Brut Omnibus Books Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction John Marsden So Much to Tell You Walter McVitty Books

Science fiction and fantasy Award Category Author Title Publisher Australian SF Achievement Award Best Australian Long Fiction Terry Dowling For As Long As You Burn Aphelion SF Magazine Best Australian Short Fiction Terry Dowling "The Last Elephant" Australian Short Stories #20

Poetry

Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Les Murray The Daylight Moon Angus & Robertson Anne Elder Award Alex Skovron The Rearrangement Melbourne University Press Grace Leven Prize for Poetry John Tranter Under Berlin University of Queensland Press Mary Gilmore Award Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press

Drama

Award Category Author TitleNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Film Script Laura Jones High Tide Radio Script Keith Gallasch and Virginia Baxter Australia-Japan: A Love Story Television Script Anthony Wheeler Olive Play Alma De Groen The Rivers of China Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Drama Alma De Groen The Rivers of China

Non-fiction Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Trevor Wilson The Myriad Faces of War Polity/Blackwells The Age Book of the Year Award Robin Gerster Big-Noting : The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing Melbourne University Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble

Deaths A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1988 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

4 January — Alice Duncan-Kemp, writer and Indigenous rights activist (born 1901) 28 February — Kylie Tennant, novelist, playwright, short-story writer, critic, biographer and historian (born 1912) 31 July — Stephen Murray-Smith, writer, editor and educator (born 1922) 12 November — Vincent Buckley, poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic (born 1925)

See also

1988 in Australia 1988 in literature 1988 in poetry List of years in literature List of years in Australian literature

References