1963 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1963.

Major publications

Books

• Jessica Anderson – An Ordinary Lunacy
• Jon Cleary – Forests of the Night
• Sumner Locke Elliott – Careful, He Might Hear You
• Catherine Gaskin – The Tilsit Inheritance ^[1]
• Barbara Jefferis – Wild Grapes ^[2]
• Mungo MacCallum – Son of Mars ^[3]
• Randolph Stow – Tourmaline
• Arthur Upfield – The Body at Madman's Bend ^[4]
• Morris West – The Shoes of the Fisherman

Short stories

• A. Bertram Chandler – Beyond the Galactic Rim ^[5]
• Jon Cleary – Pillar of Salt and Other Stories ^[6]
• Peter Cowan – "The Voice" ^[7]
• Frank Hardy – Legends from Benson's Valley ^[8]
• Shirley Hazzard – Cliffs of Fall and Other Stories ^[9]
• Xavier Herbert – Larger Than Life : Twenty Short Stories ^[10]
• Hal Porter – "Gretel" ^[11]
• Colin Thiele – Favourite Australian Stories (edited)
• Patrick White
  • "Clay" ^[12]
  • "Down at the Dump" ^[13]
  • "Miss Slattery and Her Demon Lover" ^[14]

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Nan Chauncy – The Roaring 40 ^[15]
• L. H. Evers – Danny's Wonderful Uncle ^[16]
• John Gunn – The Goodbye Island ^[17]
• Eric Lambert – Dolphin ^[18]
• Joan Phipson – Threat to the Barkers ^[19]
• Eleanor Spence – The Green Laurel
• Colin Thiele – Storm Boy

Poetry

Main article: 1963 in poetry

• Bruce Dawe – "And a Good Friday Was Had By All" ^[20]
• Gwen Harwood – "Suburban Sonnet" (as by "Miriam Stone")
• Dorothy Hewett - What About the People! (with Merv Lilley) ^[21]
• A. D. Hope
  • "Crossing the Frontier" ^[22]
  • "A Letter from Rome" ^[23]
• James McAuley – "Pieta" ^[24]
• Ian Mudie – The North-Bound Rider
• Peter Porter – "Your Attention Please" ^[25]
• Chris Wallace-Crabbe – In Light and Darkness ^[26]
• Henry Kendall – Henry Kendall (edited by T. Inglis Moore) ^[27]
• John Shaw Neilson – Shaw Neilson (edited by Judith Wright) ^[28]
• Judith Wright – Five Senses : Selected Poems ^[29]

Biography

• Miles Franklin – Childhood at Brindabella : My First Ten Years ^[30]
• Xavier Herbert – Disturbing Element ^[31]
• Alan Marshall – In Mine Own Heart ^[32]
• Hal Porter – The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony ^[33]

Non-fiction

• Geoffrey Blainey – The Rush That Never Ended : A History of Australian Mining ^[34]

Drama

• Alan Hopgood – And the Big Men Fly
• Hal Porter – The Tower
• Patrick White – A Cheery Soul ^[35]

Awards and honours

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal [36]	John Morrison	Twenty-Three : Stories	Australasian Book Society
Miles Franklin Award [37]	Sumner Locke Elliott	Careful, He Might Hear You	Angus and Robertson

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers [38]	Joan Phipson	The Family Conspiracy	Constable
Picture Book	No award

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [39]	Ian Mudie	The North-Bound Rider	Rigby

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1963 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 19 July – Garth Nix, novelist ^[40]
• 30 September – Stan Grant, non-fiction writer and journalist ^[41]
• 8 October – Nick Earls, novelist ^[42]

Unknown date

• Jennie Adams, romance novelist ^[43]
• Catherine Jinks, novelist ^[44]
• John Kinsella, poet ^[45]
• Mandy Sayer, novelist ^[46]
• Donna Williams, writer, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and sculptor (died 2017) ^[47]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1963 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 30 January – Will H. Ogilvie, poet (born 1869) ^[48]
• 11 March – Deirdre Cash (Criena Rohan), Australian novelist (born 1924) ^[49]
• 24 July – Ruth Bedford, poet (born 1882) ^[50]

See also

• 1963 in Australia
• 1963 in literature
• 1963 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References

1. "The Tilsit Inheritance by Catherine Gaskin". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
2. "Wild Grapes by Barbara Jefferis". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
3. "Son of Mars by Mungo MacCallum". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
4. "The Body at Madman's Bend by Arthur Upfield". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
5. "Beyond the Galactic Rim by A. Bertram Chandler". ISFDB. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
6. "Pillar of Salt and Other Stories by Jon Cleary". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
7. ""The Voice" by Peter Cowan". Austlit. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
8. "Legends from Benson's Valley by Frank Hardy". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
9. "Cliffs of Fall and Other Stories by Shirley Hazzard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
10. "Larger Than Life : Twenty Short Stories by Xavier Herbert". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
11. ""Gretel" by Hal Porter". Austlit. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
12. ""Clay" by Patrick White". Austlit. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
13. ""Down at the Dump" by Patrick White". Austlit. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
14. ""Miss Slattery and Her Demon Lover" by Patrick White". Austlit. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
15. "The Roaring 40 by Nan Chauncy". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
16. "Danny's Wonderful Uncle by L. H. Evers". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
17. "The Goodbye Island by John Gunn". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
18. "Dolphin by Eric Lambert". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
19. "Threat to the Barkers by Joan Phipson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
20. ""And a Good Friday Was Had By All" by Bruce Dawe". Austlit. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
21. "What About the People! by Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
22. ""Crossing the Frontier" by A. D. Hope". Austlit. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
23. ""A Letter from Rome" by A. D. Hope". Austlit. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
24. ""Pieta" by James McAuley". Austlit. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
25. ""Your Attention Please" by Peter Porter". Austlit. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
26. "In Light and Darkness by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
27. "Henry Kendall selected by T. Inglis Moore". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
28. "Shaw Neilson selected by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
29. "Five Senses : Selected Poems by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
30. "Childhood at Brindabella : My First Ten Years by Miles Franklin". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
31. "Disturbing Element by Xavier Herbert". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
32. "In Mine Own Heart by Alan Marshall". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
33. "The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony by Hal Porter". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
34. "The Rush That Never Ended : A History of Australian Mining by Geoffrey Blainey". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
35. "A Cheery Soul by Patrick White". Austlit. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
36. "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
37. ""£500 Prize for Novel"". The Canberra Times, 17 April 1964, p17. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
38. Austlit - The Family Conspiracy by Joan Phipson
39. Austlit - The North-Bound Rider by Ian Mudie
40. "Garth Nix". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
41. "Stan_Grant". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
42. "Nick Earls". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
43. "Jennie Adams". Austlit. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
44. "Catherine Jinks". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
45. "John Kinsella". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
46. "Mandy Sayer". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
47. Williams, Donna (30 April 2017). "Vale Polly Samuel (aka 'Donna Williams') (1963–2017) Polly's pages (aka Donna Williams)". Donna Williams. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
48. "Ogilvie, William Henry (Will) (1869–1963) by Clement Semmler". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
49. "Cash, Deirdre (1924–1963) by James Griffin". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
50. "Bedford, Ruth Marjory (1882–1963) by Jane Connors". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.