2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Shortlists Announced
17 October 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Communications and the Arts
The shortlists for this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have today been announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator Mitch Fifield.
The Awards play an important role in supporting a national appreciation of Australian literature and provide acknowledgement and recognition for authors and illustrators.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Awards reinforce the contribution literary arts make to Australia.
“I am pleased to announce this year’s shortlists. We have a wonderful group of talented authors and I welcome the opportunity to share their works with Australians,” said Prime Minister Morrison.
Minister Fifield said reading has far reaching benefits, it expands our understanding and stimulates our imagination. These Awards reinforce the importance of literature and reading across all ages.
“This year we received more than 500 entries across the six prize categories, an exceptional response from our writers, poets, illustrators and historians,” Minister Fifield said.
“I’d particularly like to acknowledge our panels comprising 15 judges who have read through and shortlisted 30 of this year’s entries.”
For more information about the books, authors and to see the judges’ comments, visit www.arts.gov.au/pmla.
The 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlists are:
Children’s literature
Feathers, Phil Cummings and Phil Lesnie, Scholastic Australia
Figgy Takes the City, Tamsin Janu, Scholastic Australia
Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee!, Lisa Shanahan and Binny Talib, Hachette Australia
Pea Pod Lullaby, Glenda Millard and Stephen Michael King, Allen & Unwin
Storm Whale, Sarah Brennan and Jane Tanner, Allen & Unwin
Young Adult literature
Living on Hope Street, Demet Divaroren, Allen & Unwin
My Lovely Frankie, Judith Clarke, Allen & Unwin
Ruben, Bruce Whatley, Scholastic Australia
The Ones that Disappeared, Zana Fraillon, Hachette Australia
This is My Song, Richard Yaxley, Scholastic Australia
Fiction
A Long Way from Home, Peter Carey, Penguin Random House
Border Districts, Gerald Murnane, Giramondo Publishing
First Person, Richard Flanagan, Penguin Random House
Taboo, Kim Scott, Pan Macmillan
The Life to Come, Michelle de Kretser, Allen & Unwin
Poetry
Archipelago, Adam Aitken, Vagabond Press
Blindness and Rage: A Phantasmagoria, Brian Castro, Giramondo Publishing
Chatelaine, Bonny Cassidy, Giramondo Publishing
Domestic Interior, Fiona Wright, Giramondo Publishing
Transparencies, Stephen Edgar, Black Pepper
Non-fiction
Asia’s Reckoning, Ricard McGregor, Penguin Random House UK
Mischka’s War: A European Odyssey of the 1940s, Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Melbourne Publishing.
No Front Line: Australia’s Special Forces at War in Afghanistan, Chris Masters, Allen & Unwin
The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, Stuart Kells, Text Publishing
Unbreakable, Jelena Dokic and Jessica Halloran, Penguin Random House
Australian history
Beautiful Balts: From Displaced Persons to New Australians, Jayne Persian, NewSouth Publishing
Hidden in Plain View: The Aboriginal People of Coastal Sydney, Paul Irish, NewSouth Publishing
Indigenous and Other Australians Since 1901, Timothy Rowse, NewSouth Publishing
John Curtin’s War: The coming of war in the Pacific, and reinventing Australia, volume 1, John Edwards, Penguin Random House
The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, Judith Brett, Text Publishing
