2005 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2005.

Events

• Morag Fraser is appointed as a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, following the resignation of three judges in late 2004 ^[1]
• Murray Bail is accused of plagiarism over several passages in his novel Eucalyptus . Bail later accepts the breach and intends adding an acknowledgment in future editions ^[2]
• The Victorian town of Shepparton unveils a statue of Joseph Furphy, author of Such is Life ^[3]
• Collins Booksellers, Australia's third largest national bookseller, goes into voluntary administration ^[4]

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Diane Armstrong – Winter Journey
• Anne Bartlett – Knitting
• Geraldine Brooks – March
• Brian Castro – The Garden Book
• J.M. Coetzee – Slow Man
• Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels
• Robert Drewe – Grace
• Arabella Edge – The God of Spring
• Delia Falconer – The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers
• Kate Grenville – The Secret River
• Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
• Wendy James – Out of the Silence
• Nicholas Jose – Original Face
• Stephen Lacey – Sandstone
• Steven Lang – An Accidental Terrorist
• Carolyn Leach-Paholski – The Grasshopper Shoe
• Andrew McCann – Subtopia
• Roger McDonald – The Ballad of Desmond Kale
• Alex Miller – Prochownik's Dream
• Joanna Murray-Smith – Sunshine
• Eva Sallis – The Marsh Birds
• Elizabeth Stead – The Book of Tides
• Carrie Tiffany – Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
• Ian Townsend – Affection
• Christos Tsiolkas – Dead Europe
• Brenda Walker – The Wing of Night
• Tim Winton – The Turning

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Randa Abdel-Fattah – Does My Head Look Big in This?
• Isobelle Carmody – Alyzon Whitestarr
• Kate Constable – The Tenth Power
• Gary Crew – The Lace Maker's Daughter
• Mem Fox – Hunwick's Egg
• Morris Gleitzman – Once
• Kerry Greenwood – The Rat and the Raven
• Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
• Barry Jonsberg – It's Not All About You, Calma!
• Justine Larbalestier – Magic or Madness
• Victor Kelleher – Dogboy
• Mardi McConnochie – Fivestar
• Garth Nix – Drowned Wednesday
• Penni Russon – Breathe
• Scott Westerfeld
  • Pretties
  • Touching Darkness
  • Uglies
• Markus Zusak – The Book Thief

Crime

• Robert G. Barrett – Crime Scene Cessnock
• John Birmingham – Designated Targets: World War 2.2
• Peter Corris – Saving Billie
• Colin Cotterill – Thirty-Three Teeth
• Michelle de Kretser – The Hamilton Case
• Garry Disher – Snapshot
• Greg Flynn – The Berlin Cross
• Robert Gott – A Thing of Blood
• Kerry Greenwood – Death by Water
• Gabrielle Lord – Dirty Weekend
• P. D. Martin – Body Count
• Chris Nyst – Crook as Rookwood
• Leigh Redhead – Rubdown
• Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
• Michael Robotham – Lost
• Heather Rose – The Butterfly Man
• Steve J. Spears – Innocent Murder
• Peter Temple – The Broken Shore

Romance

• Lilian Darcy – The Father Factor
• Marion Lennox – Bride by Accident

Science fiction and fantasy

• K. A. Bedford – Eclipse
• Damien Broderick – Godplayers
• Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Well of Tears
• Marianne de Pierres – Crash Deluxe
• Sara Douglass – Darkwitch Rising
• Kate Forsyth – The Shining City
• Catherine Jinks – Evil Genius
• Juliet Marillier – The Blade of Fortriu
• Sean Williams
  • Ascent
  • The Blood Debt
  • The Hanging Mountains

Drama

• Chris Aronsten – Human Resources
• Jane Brodie – A Single Act
• Catherine Lazaroo – Asylum

Poetry

• Alan Gould – The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003
• John Kinsella – The New Arcadia
• Jennifer Maiden – Friendly Fire
• Jaya Savige – Latecomers

Non-fiction

• R.J.B. Bosworth – Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945
• Richard Broome – Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800
• Helen Ennis – Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography
• Pamela Freeman – The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop's Early Years
• Tom Keneally – A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
• Maria Nugent – Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet

Biographies

• John Baxter – We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light
• Richie Benaud – My Spin on Cricket
• Eric Campbell – Absurdistan: A Bumpy Ride Through Some of the World's Scariest, Weirdest Places
• Maryanne Convoy – Morris West: Literary Maverick
• Peter C. Doherty – The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science
• Graham Freudenberg – A Figure of Speech: A Political Memoir
• Gavin Fry – Albert Tucker
• Aneurin Hughes – Billy Hughes: Prime Minister and Controversial Founding Father of the Australian Labor Party
• Sandy McCutcheon – The Magician's Son
• William McInnes – A Man's Got to Have a Hobby: Long Summers with My Dad
• Brenda Niall – Judy Cassab: A Portrait
• Barry Pearce – Jeffrey Smart
• Jacob G. Rosenberg – East of Time
• Mandy Sayer – Velocity
• Craig Sherborne – Hoi Polloi
• Steve Waugh – Out of My Comfort Zone
• Elisabeth Wynhausen – Dirt Cheap: Life at the Wrong End of the Job Market

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award [5]	Fay Zwicky
Patrick White Award [6]	Fay Zwicky

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year [7]	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	Lantern
ALS Gold Medal [8]	Gail Jones	Sixty Lights	Harvill Press
Colin Roderick Award [9]	Peter Temple	The Broken Shore	Text Publishing
Nita Kibble Literary Award [10]	Gay Bilson	Plenty	Lantern

Fiction

International

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize [11]	Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Andrew McGahan	The White Earth	Allen and Unwin
	Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Larissa Behrendt	Home	University of Queensland Press

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [12]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award [7]	Gail Jones	Sixty Lights	Harvill Press
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award [13]	Andrew O'Connor	Tuvalu	Allen and Unwin
Miles Franklin Award [14]	Andrew McGahan	The White Earth	Allen and Unwin
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Tim Winton	The Turning	Picador
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Tim Winton	The Turning	Picador
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Sonya Hartnett	Surrender	Walker Books
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Gail Jones	Sixty Lights	Harvill Press

Children and Young Adult

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	Michael Gerard Bauer	The Running Man	Omnibus Books
	Younger Readers	Sonya Hartnett	The Silver Donkey	Viking Books
	Picture Book	Alison Lester	Are We There Yet? A Journey Around Australia	Viking Books
	Early Childhood	Mem Fox, illus. Judy Horacek	Where is the Green Sheep?	Viking Books
Davitt Award	Young Adult	Joanna Baker	Devastation Road	Lothian
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Sherryl Clark	Farm Kid	Puffin Books
	Young People's	Steven Herrick	By the River	Allen and Unwin
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Children's	Prue Mason	Camel Rider	Puffin Books
	Young Adult	Joanne Horniman	Secret Scribbled Notebooks	Allen and Unwin
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Young Adult Fiction	Scott Westerfeld	So Yesterday	Penguin Books
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Writing for Young Adults	Anthony Eaton	Fireshadow	University of Queensland Press
	Children's	Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding	A Home for Bilby	Magabala Books

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Davitt Award [15]	Novel	Kathryn Fox	Malicious Intent	Macmillan
	Readers' Choice	Leigh Redhead	Peepshow	Allen & Unwin
	Young Adult Novel	Joanna Baker	Devastation Road	Lothian
Ned Kelly Award [16]	Novel	Michael Robotham	Lost	Time Warner Book Group
	First novel	Malcolm Knox	A Private Man	Vintage Books
	True crime	Helen Garner	Joe Cinque's Consolation	Picador
		Tony Reeves	Mr Big	Allen & Unwin
	Lifetime Achievement	Stuart Coupe

Science fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Aurealis Award	Sf Novel	Damien Broderick	K-Machines	Thunder's Mouth Press
	Sf Short Story	Sean Williams	The Seventh Letter	"Bulletin" Magazine, Summer Reading Edition
	Fantasy Novel	Juliet Marillier	Wildwood Dancing	Pan Macmillan
	Fantasy Short Story	Margo Lanagan	"A Fine Magic"	Eidolon Books ( Eidolon I )
	Horror Novel	Will Elliott	The Pilo Family Circus	ABC Books
		Edwina Grey	Prismatic	Lothian Books
	Horror Short Story	Stephen Dedman	"Dead of Winter"	Weird Tales
Ditmar Award	Novel	Sean Williams	The Crooked Letter	Voyager
	Novella/Novelette	Paul Haines	"The Last Days of Kali Yuga"	NFG Magazine
	Short Story	Margo Lanagan	"Singing My Sister Down"	Black Juice
	Collected Work	Margo Lanagan	Black Juice	Allen & Unwin
Australian Shadows Award		Lee Battersby	"Father Muerte and the Flesh"	Aurealis

Non-Fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year [7]	Non-fiction	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	Lantern
National Biography Award		Robert Hillman	The Boy in the Green Suit	Scribe Publications
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Non-fiction	John Hughes	The Idea of Home: Autobiographical Essays	Giramondo Publishing
New South Wales Premier's History Awards	Australian History	Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller	Degenerates and Perverts: the 1939 Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art	Melbourne University Publishing
	Community and Regional History	Joe Hajdu	Samurai in the Surf: the Arrival of the Japanese on the Gold Coast in the 1980s	Pandanus Books
	General History	Sally Neighbour	In the Shadow of Swords: on the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia	HarperCollins
	Young People's	Allan Baillie	My Story: Riding with Thunderbolt, the Diary of Ben Cross	Scholastic Press
Nita Kibble Literary Award		Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	Lantern
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Non-fiction	Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon	Papunya – A Place Made After the Story	Miegunyah Press
	History	Shane White and Graham White	The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African History Through Songs, Sermons and Speech	Beacon Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	Non-fiction	Robert Dessaix	Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev	Picador

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [12]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year [7]	Dipti Saravanamuttu	The Colosseum	Five Islands Press
Anne Elder Award [17]	Max Ryan	Rainswayed Night	Dangerously Poetic Press
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [18]	Noel Rowe	Next to Nothing	Vagabond Press
Mary Gilmore Prize [19]	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards	Samuel Wagan Watson	Smoke Encrypted Whispers	University of Queensland Press
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Sarah Day	The Ship	Brandl and Schlesinger
Victorian Premier's Literary Award	M. T. C. Cronin	<More Or Less Than> 1-100	Shearsman Books
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards	Miriam Wei Wei Lo	Against Certain Capture	Five Islands Press

Drama

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Patrick White Playwrights' Award	Wesley Enoch	The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table	Currency Press

Deaths

• 11 April – John Brosnan, sf and cinema writer (born 1947) ^[20]
• 10 May – Percy Trezise, children's writer (born 1923) ^[21]
• 13 May – Shelton Lea, poet (born 1946) ^[22]
• 29 August – Margaret Scott, poet and novelist (born in Bristol, England, 1934) ^[23]
• 8 September – Donald Horne, social and political commentator (born 1921) ^[24]
• 14 October – Barney Roberts, poet and short story writer (born 1920) ^[25]
• 18 October – Philip Martin, poet (born 1931) ^[26]
• 1 November –
  • Jenny Boult, poet (born 1951) ^[27]
  • Michael Thwaites, poet (born 1915) ^[28]
• 22 December – Bill Scott, poet and children's writer (born 1923) ^[29]

See also

• 2005 in Australia
• 2005 in literature
• 2005 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References

1. "Fraser a Miles Franklin judge". Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
2. "Taking a leaf from another book". Archived from the original on 1 October 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
3. "New generation finds Joseph Furphy". Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
4. "Collins calls in the doctor". Archived from the original on 20 December 2005. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
5. "Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award". Austlit. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
6. "Writers' solitary life interrupted by award". Theage.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
7. ""More than restaurants"". The Age, 20 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
8. "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
9. "Colin Roderick Award — Other Winners". James Cook University. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
10. "Kibble Literary Award". Australian National University. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
11. "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
12. "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
13. ""Austlit – Australian/Vogel Award 2003-2005"". Austlit. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
14. "Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award (1957-)". Austlit. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
15. ""LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2005"". LibraryThing. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
16. "2005 Ned Kelly Award Winners". Australian Crime Writers. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
17. 2005 National Literary Awards Results Archived 1 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine p. 2.
18. "Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 2005-2007". Austlit. Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
19. "Mary Gilmore Award". Association for the Study of Australian Literature . Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
20. "John Brosnan (1947-2005)". Austlit. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
21. "Percy Trezise (1923-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
22. "Shelton Lea (1946-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
23. "Margaret Scott (1934-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
24. "Donald Horne (1921-2005)". Austlit. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
25. "Barney Roberts (1920-2005)". Austlit. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
26. "Philip Martin (1931-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
27. "Jenny Boult (1951-2005)". Austlit. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
28. "Michael Thwaites (1915-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
29. "Bill Scott (1923-2005)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.

Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.